IRVINE, Calif. --- UC Irvine baseball fell Friday night in Anteater Ballpark, 10-5, to Cal Poly as they saw the Mustangs leapfrog over them in the Big West standings.
- City of Irvine Night at the ballpark started off Irvine's way with a spotless first for Nick Pinto on the mound and the offense got a big two-run single for Dub Gleed for a 2-0 UCI lead
- A run in the Cal Poly's second was quickly answered in the Anteater second by a booming home run by Chase Call to lead off the frame and a second run on a two-out Caden Kendle double made it 4-1 UCI early
- Both pitchers began to settle in with Pinto getting out of a couple tough jams in the middle innings while Mustang lefty Jakob Wright quieted UCI's bats holding them hitless for the next four innings
- In the sixth, Cal Poly got some clutch hitting with a two-run single and a safety squeeze laid down to even things up at 4-4
- Cal Poly broke the tie in the eighth in a big way as freshman Braxton Thomas knocked in his fourth run of the night with a smash that Dub Gleed nearly snagged but brought home the go-ahead run. The Mustangs rode that wave and proceeded to add five more runs all with two outs to build a 10-4 advantage in the eighth
- UCI had a chance to get that back as the first four hitters reached in their eighth now trailing 10-5 with nobody out after an Abraham Garcia-Pacheco hit by pitch. Cal Poly Tanner Sagouspe found another gear and got out of the jam and turned UCI away in the ninth as well to secure the 10-5 defeat
- Kendle and Gleed had multi-hit games of the eight hits UCI managed. Gleed drove in two while five different 'Eaters crossed home plate
- Nick Pinto did not factor in the decision going 6.1 innings, and his seven strikeouts on the evening gave him 309 in his career tying Glenn Swanson for third-most in program history
- Ricky Ojeda was dealt his first career loss allowing a pair of runs in 1.1 innings
The 'Eaters are now 33-9 on the year, and their 14-5 Big West record is 0.5 games behind Cal Poly now at 16-6. The series continues Saturday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. with
Trevor Hansen on the mound heads up against junior Steven Brooks.
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