LOS ANGELES, Calif. --- UC Irvine baseball got a bit of revenge against USC the hard way Tuesday night at Page Stadium with a 12-9 victory.
- The Trojans came into the game winners of three straight against the 'Eaters and looking to draw even in the all-time series with a win
- The game started out in their favor with two first innings runs on consecutive RBI doubles.
- UCI got a pair of their own in the second inning to tie it, but USC responded with five runs in their second, four with two outs to take a commanding 7-2 lead
- The 'Eaters had their work cut out for them, and responded again to the tune of four runs in the third inning
- The bats loaded the bases to start the inning and got one across from a Zach Fjelstad fielder's choice, 7-3
- Blake Penso stepped up and smacked a long home run to right-center field to cut it down to a one-run game, 7-6
- The Trojans preserved their slim lead and tacked on one in their half of the third on a solo home run to make it 8-6
- UC Irvine took its first lead of the game with another strong response in the fourth inning
- A leadoff walk set things in motion, and then with one out, Jacob McCombs sliced a ball into the left-field corner for the RBI double, 8-7
- Chase Call followed with a double up the alley to plate McCombs and tie it, 8-8
- With two outs now and two on, Blake Penso punched the third double of the inning down the right field line scoring Call to take the lead, 9-8
- The bullpens had something to say in the middle innings as the bats went silent until the seventh
- Finnegan Wall came on to start the fourth and tossed three scoreless frames with a strikeout and a nicely-turned double play ball
- USC got its own version from Jackson Baker shutting the Anteaters out for 2.2 innings
- Each team added a run in the seventh as Anthony Martinez made it 10-8 on a sacrifice fly. The Trojans got one of their own after a walk and two wild pitches put him in position making it 10-9.
- A huge moment in the game came in the eighth inning with David Butler new into the game
- He put himself in the bind to start hitting the first batter, walking the next on three pitches, and then hitting a third who was squared around to bunt to load the bases with no out
- Butler dug deep to get the first out via strikeout, but a soft liner toward the hole that was caught on a dive by Will Bermudez, and then finished it off with a bouncer to Fjelstad who stepped on third base to escape the jam with the lead
- UCI added some much-needed insurance in the ninth loading the bases only for Fjelstad to drive a ground-rule double to the deepest part of the park in center field and score two for the 12-9 final
- The batting order stormed the castle for 16 hits including multi-hit games for seven players, and all nine hitters reached base, eight of them twice.
- Penso had the loudest game with three hits and four RBIs including UCI's lone home run along with two doubles
- McCombs also had a three-hit game doubling twice and driving in one
- Fjelstad hit the team's seventh double of the night as he drove in three and reached four times
- Call scored three times to go with his RBI and had two hits while reaching four times
- UCI's five pitchers all recorded a walk and a strikeout finishing with eight and nine, respectively
- Outside of Wall's performance, Butler was the key with two shutout innings and three strikeouts to lock up his second save of the season
- Jaxton Andeel recorded a hold from an inning without allowing a hit
- Ryan Kysar picked up the win, his first as an Anteater, from 1.1 innings of work
- The Anteaters maintain the all-time series lead over USC, 39-37, and extended their win streak to seven.
- UC Irvine finishes up an eight-game, 19-day road trip going 7-1 and now have 12 wins away from home, 10 in true road games
The next stop for the Anteaters is Anteater Ballpark for their next four games. That starts Friday, March 28 for a three-game Big West set with UC Riverside with first pitch at 6:00 p.m.
Postgame Thoughts with head coach Ben Orloff
"It was a good job from us offensively. When it was 7-2, Penso had a couple of giant hits that kept us in it, and then Wall comes in and stabilizes it. Butler made some gigantic pitches with bases loaded, nobody out, one-run game. Fjelstad with the huge double to give us some breathing room in the ninth."
"USC is good and they beat us late early in the season with the grand slam. To be down 7-2 and to be talking about a win here at 10 o'clock, we're really happy to have a win. This is a big win for us and it keeps that belief that regardless of what happens, we can find a way to win."
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