MESA, Ariz. --- UC Irvine baseball battled with No. 16 Vanderbilt to close out the MLB Desert Invitational to a thrilling 9-8 loss Sunday at Sloan Park, home of the Chicago Cubs Spring Training.
- Both teams held leads in the back-and-forth game full of runs
- Vanderbilt got a solo home run in the first inning for the early 1-0 lead, and they looked like they would coast building a 5-0 lead from two runs each in the third and sixth innings
- The Anteater offense stormed back with a six-run sixth inning for their first lead, 6-5
- Colin Yeaman got things going with a double the other way, and scored on Chase Call's triple to left field
- Call would score in a Jacob McCombs double in the right field corner to make it 5-2
- Zach Fjelstad battled back from an 0-2 count to walk in a run and close in more, 5-3
- Will Bermudez clutched up once again doubling to right-center to tie the game, 5-5
- The go-ahead run was courtesy of Vanderbilt pitcher England Bryan as a wild pitch plated Fjelstad for a 6-5 UCI lead
- UCI added a run on James Castagnola's RBI double in the seventh for some much-needed insurance, 7-5
- The game flipped back in the eighth inning as David Butler loaded the bases before handing the ball over to Max Martin who gave up a grand slam to the first batter he faced putting the Commodores back on top, 9-7
- UCI was down to its last strike before Castagnola popped back up to smash a home run to left field and close the deficit to 9-8 before the final out was recorded.
- UCI's 1-5 hitters came through with all nine hits and two-RBI days by Bermudez and Castagnola. Castagnola also scored twice along with McCombs
- Four Anteater pitchers worked through the Commodore lineup starting with Trevor Hansen who allowed just one earned run in 3.1 innings
- Riley Kelly struck out a pair in 2.2 innings
- David Butler was stuck with the loss, but not after a spotless seventh inning
- Max Martin led all 'Eaters with four strikeouts over two innings
- UC Irvine finishes the weekend 2-1 including a 1-1 record against top-25 opponents
Next up is the home opener in Cicerone Field at Anteater Ballpark on Tuesday, February 18. UCI welcomes Big Ten opponent USC for a 6:00 p.m. first pitch before heading back on the road the following weekend.
Postgame Thoughts from Head Coach Ben Orloff
Overall thoughts on Sunday's result:
"You'd like to win that game. It was a good weekend, but the best part was the competition, the belief our guys had when it was 5-0, and we've played three day games, it's a long trip, playing Vanderbilt, to compete through all that. To pitch it as good as we did late in that game for a long time and you get the big inning and add on another. Home run in the ninth gets the tying run to the plate. Overall, good weekend for us."
On what sparked the 6th-inning rally:
"Getting Bowker out of the game helped, but it was strike zone discipline, one good at-bat after another, nobody trying to do it all with one swing when you're down 5-0. Strung together good at-bats, mixed in some extra-base hits, a walk, hit by pitch, sac, it was really good offense and fun to be part of."
On Sunday's pitching performances:
"We've got to play better defense. You can't give anybody, especially Vanderbilt, any extra opportunities. We can play a lot better defense than we did and that extended a lot of those innings which led to runs. We've got to defend better and avoid throwing as many walks."
Overall thoughts on UC Irvine's weekend at the MLB Desert Invitational:
"You play to win and there's no consolation to losing, but you've got Nebraska who's going to be a postseason team, Vanderbilt's going to be a postseason team, the pundits have New Mexico as the second-best team in the Mountain West, good opening weekend. In college baseball, if you win two every weekend, you're in a good spot. A really good start to our season."
Â
Â
Â
Â
Â
Â
Â
Â
