IRVINE, Calif. --- UC Irvine baseball won Saturday's duel in Anteater Ballpark with Cal Poly coming back in the 10th inning for a 4-3 victory to even the series.
- A masterfully pitched and defended game went extra innings before the fireworks started
- Ricky Tibbett on for his third inning of work in the 10th got the first two outs before a sharp single through the infield for Ryan Stafford's third hit of the game kept it going
- A steal of second added to the tension before a ground ball effectively ended the inning, but it somehow went off the glove of Dub Gleed allowing Stafford to score and put the Mustangs ahead for the first time all day, 3-2
- In the bottom of the inning, the UC Irvine bats got working with Caden Kendle shooting a single just over the shortstop
- Anthony Martinez blasted a ball the other way that just fell beyond the outstretched glove of Cal Poly's center fielder to score Kendle from first base and tie the game
- After a pitching change and a pinch-runner, Gleed came up for some retribution and laid down a perfect sacrifice to put the winning run on third base with one out
- Will Bermudez waited and got a pitch he liked sending it off the left field wall to bring home the game-winner, 4-3
- Prior to the 10th inning, all the offense came from two clustered attacks
- UCI pounced in the first inning with a single, triple, and double within the first four hitters to take a 2-0 lead
- In the fourth inning, the Mustangs got a single, a fake-bunt-slash triple, and a grounder to even things up, 2-2
- Starting pitching was the theme of the day as Trevor Hansen matched career highs going six innings with eight strikeouts taming the Mustang bats
- Steven Brooks on the other side settled in after the rough first inning to retire 11 straight at one point and no-hit the Anteaters until the sixth finishing with seven strikeouts over seven innings
- Defenses backed up each pitcher with solid defense for the Anteaters highlighted by Myles Smith going over the left field fence in foul territory to make a spectacular catch. Cal Poly played errorless ball with Joe Yorke making multiple outstanding plays at first base to cut down on Anteater rallies
- The Anteaters improve to 4-1 in extra inning games, their fourth win by walk-off, and come from behind in the final inning to win for the fourth time in the last two weeks
- The program honored the teams from the early 1970s especially the 1973 and 1974 Division II National Champion programs on the 50th Anniversary of the 1974 title with members in attendance and head coach Gary Adams in attendance to throw out the first pitch
The series hangs in the balance with Sunday's 1:00 p.m. start, and a pair of freshmen going at it with
Brandon Luu for the Anteaters and Griffin Naess from Cal Poly
Postgame Thoughts with Will Bermudez
"When they brought in Torres, JT told us he likes the inside fastball, he wants to command that zone so just stick there, put a good piece on it and good things will happen. Took his advice and we won the game."
"This team is just resilient, pick up your brother, and us having that in our clubhouse and seeing that on the field speaks volumes because no matter what happens or what the score is, we're always going to get each other's back and good things happen when we do that."
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