CORVALLIS, Ore. --- UC Irvine baseball took on No. 11 Oregon State Sunday at Goss Stadium and Coleman Field with the series hanging in the balance, and the hosts found a way to win, 7-4.
- A cloudy, drizzly day in Corvallis began with starters Ryder Brooks and Ethan Kleinschmit controlling things early
- Both starters threw shutout ball for the first two innings punching out seven hitters between them
- Brooks made the longest outing of his career pitching into the sixth inning on 110 pitches and finishing his start with just three earned runs allowing and the bases loaded
- Oregon State got some help from the Anteaters defense with two errors in the third inning that helped the leadoff hitter get all the way to third base
- A single would bring him home followed by a wild pitch to make it 2-0.
- A hard shot off the glove of Anthony Martinez was enough to add to the inning as the Beavers led, 3-0
- Martinez struck back with a home run to leadoff the fourth inning and cut into the lead,3-1
- The Beavers got the run back, but this time Colin Yeaman homered in response in the sixth inning to draw within 4-3
- Oregon State finally got to Brooks in their sixth loading the bases and forcing his exit. Finnegan Wall came in and allowed all three runs to score on a single and a sac fly as the Beavers padded their lead, 7-3
- UCI had a big chance to strike back quickly loading the bases in the seventh, but could only manage one run on a sac fly to make it 7-4
- Anteater hitters were stymied the rest of the way, and all day struggled striking out 15 times as they dropped the finale and series by a score of 7-4
- Brooks drew the loss and was unfortunately saddled with all seven runs despite throwing 72 strikes of the UCI-high 110 pitches in a game this season
- Wall relieved him going 1.2 innings and Max Martin went the final inning getting out of his own bases loaded jam as each added one strikeout
- The offense fared a little better than Saturday with seven hits and five additional baserunners
- Yeaman and Chase Call had two-hit days with Yeaman blasting his 10th home run
- Martinez's home run was his fourth of the year and 24th in his Anteater career while finishing with two more RBIs
- The loss drops UC Irvine to 23-7 on the season as it relinquishes its first weekend series of the year
UCI takes a break from the midweek matchup and heads back on the road for their next series starting Friday, April 11, with three games at UC Davis
Postgame Thoughts from head coach Ben Orloff
"Another competitive game. We had our chances, but they probably got one more big hit than we did. Proud of the competitiveness and fight from our team. Tough to come up here and win, tough to play in these conditions, but proud of the fight."
"Ryder through the ball good. Needed some defense in that third inning when they scored three, but he threw the ball well, competed and for sure threw the most pitches for him, and he gave us a chance to win."
"We're disappointed to not win. All year, the belief that we can win and that we are a good team, that's still there. No silver linings for not winning, but we know we can be a really good team."
Â
Â
