IRVINE, Calif. --- UC Irvine baseball won a hard-fought Thursday night battle, 3-1, over Hawai'i at Anteater Ballpark with some clutch defense the difference in the game
- UCI and Hawai'i started off the premier weekend matchup with premium pitching from Riley Kelly and UH's Itsuki Takemoto
- Kelly weaved his way through his first two innings allowing hits to the Rainbow Warriors, but inducing double plays in each inning to keep it scoreless
- In the third inning, Kelly allowed to more hits, but both were erased on impressive throws by catcher Blake Penso to catch both stealing and cut down the threat
- Takemoto limited UCI's offense early on despite a couple hit batsmen, and stranded two runners on base in both the second and third innings
- The offense began in the fourth inning as Chase Call wrapped a double to leadoff the inning, astutely advanced to third in a flyout, and scored on the drawn-in infield off a Blake Penso grounder to lead 1-0
- Hawai'i answered right back with a walk and a double in the fifth inning to immediately tie things up. Ricky Ojeda was called upon to relieve Kelly and get the third out and keep it 1-1
- Both sides continue to get runners on base, but Ojeda and Takemoto shut down all thoughts of rallies as it stayed 1-1 into the seventh
- UCI finally got the lead back after walks against reliever Cory Ronan set up Anthony Martinez who slipped a ball through the shifted infield with two outs to bring in a run and make it 2-1
- Hawai'i had a golden opportunity in their eighth getting a leadoff double and a steal of third putting the tying run 90 feet away with one out
- A safety squeeze attempt was high for ball three, but the baserunner ventured too far off third base, and Blake Penso picked him off before applying the tag at home for the out
- Ricky Ojeda came back to strikeout the hitter and leave the tying run on base
- UCI got a clutch, two-out hit from Frankie Carney to add a run in the ninth, 3-1, and Max Martin put his foot down with the tying run at the plate to collect the save.
- Martin now has nine on the year cleaning up for Ojeda who improved to 8-0 on the season.
- Carney led the offense with two their seven hits plus a run and RBI, and he extended his hit streak to 16 games in the process
- Martinez added another RBI as he stands 14 from the all-time program record
- Penso figured into the scoring driving in the first run and scoring the third along with a hit. His defensive performance recording three caught stealing is the most for an Anteater since Ronnie Shaeffer did it in 2011
- Colin Yeaman was able to extend his hit streak to 21 games singling in his final at-bat as the 'Eaters were thrown out trying to score on the play
The series continues with another 6:00 p.m. first pitch on Friday, April 18.
Trevor Hansen takes the mound opposite Hawai'i's Sebastian Gonzalez.
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