danny-suarez-uci-bsb-2024-2025-nebraska-mlbdesertinvitational
Matt Brown
10
Winner UC Irvine UCI 1-0
5
Nebraska NEB 0-1
Winner
UC Irvine UCI
1-0
10
Final
5
Nebraska NEB
0-1
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
UC Irvine UCI 1 0 0 5 4 0 0 0 0 10 11 1
Nebraska NEB 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 0 1 5 8 0

W: Ojeda, Ricky (1-0) L: McConnaughey (0-1)

Game Recap: Baseball | | Alex Roberts-Croteau

'Eaters Win 10-5 on Opening Day over No. 24 Nebraska

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. --- UC Irvine baseball started 2025 off on the right foot with a 10-5 victory to open the MLB Desert Invitational Friday afternoon against No. 24 Nebraska in Salt River Fields at Talking Stick.
  • UCI made the first noise with a two-out first-inning rally getting a Chase Call single and RBI double by Jacob McCombs for a 1-0 lead.
  • The 'Eaters got some distance between them and the Cornhuskers thanks to a five-run fourth inning highlighted by 2-out, 2-run singles from Will Bermudez and Chase Call for a 6-0 lead
  • After Nebraska got a couple runs back, UCI's bats responded in the fifth with four more runs including a booming, three-run, two-out triple by Colin Yeaman to extend the lead to 10-2
  • UC Irvine's staff was the unsung hero on Friday with a brilliant outing from three top arms:
    • Danny Suarez set the tone from the start with three scoreless, one-hit innings and four strikeouts before running into trouble in the fourth
    • Ricky Ojeda picked him up shutting down the threat and pitching into the eighth allowing just one earned run and striking out four of his own
    • Max Martin wrapped up the final two innings allowing one run and striking out two
  • A lot of first-timers got their shot on Friday with Division I debuts for Yeaman, Alonso Reyes, and Davis D'Errico, and Anteater debuts for Zach Fjelstad and Jacob McCombs. As a group, they had five hits, scored five runs, and drove in six
  • UCI's win comes over No. 24 Nebraska, the 93rd win over a ranked team in program history coming off two in the 2024 season. UCI also takes over the all-time series lead with the Cornhuskers at 5-4.
UCI's weekend continues Saturday at 11:30 a.m. PT against New Mexico in Sloan Park, the Spring Training facility of the Chicago Cubs in Mesa, Arizona.

Postgame Thoughts from Head Coach Ben Orloff
"Good win. Opening day is always tough. We were able to score first and Suarez pitched well until the fourth, but he gave us a chance to stabilize things early. These opening day games can go sideways fast. He did a good job, a lot of different offensive production from a lot of different guys which is good to see. I really liked the bullpen; when we can play from ahead and turn it over to the guys we have in there, it's a good winning formula for us."

"Ricky comes into a big spot where it's bases loaded, we had just scored a lot and they were getting back into it. He gets the strikeout and then the grounder on a nice play by Fjelstad. Even Max Martin, he inherits a runner and gets the double play, those guys were good. We scored 10, but we really pitched well for a majority of the game. Even when it went sideways on it, we were able to stay away from the huge inning."

"That run in the first with two outs and nobody on helped us settle in. McConnaughey's pitching we were not having much success with that, but to not overreact to it, hang around, do enough, and string together good at-bats in a row together in back-to-back innings, that's the name of the game."

         
 

 
 
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