FULLERTON, Calif. --- The Big West Championship concluded Sunday afternoon as the Anteaters were unable to take home the top prize falling 6-4 to Cal Poly at Goodwin Field.
- The Anteaters were off to the races in the first inning against Cal Poly starter Ethan Marmie as he would walk a batter and hit two to load the bases, but get out of the bases loaded jam to keep it scoreless
- Finnegan Wall got the start for UCI getting all three hitters he faced in the first, but a hit by pitch in the second followed by a triple broke the scoreless tie, and a groundout from the next batter made it a 2-0 Cal Poly lead in the second
- The Mustangs did not have a ton of opportunities, but did cash in nearly every time they got someone on base
- Wall made a huge stand in the third inning after a walk and two bunt singles to begin the frame loaded the bases
- He would field a comebacker from the next batter start a double play with Blake Penso behind the plate, and a flyball for the final out helped him fully escape the jam
- The UCI offense did not have the same fortune with hit by pitch as seven were plunked by starter Marmie in his 5.2 innings and he walked four others.
- In four of the first five innings, UCI got multiple runners on base and a runner in scoring position, but could not get the big hit as Marmie allowed just one infield single while hanging onto his 2-0 lead
- The Mustangs jumped on Wall again in the sixth getting a two-out single followed by a home run to make it a 4-0 lead
- UCI's offense finally found some life as the leadoff batter was hit, and then after a two-out walk, Marmie exited having thrown 96 pitches
- Anthony Martinez smacked a ball to the second baseman in shirt right field, and his low throw was not scooped up extending the inning and scoring the team's first run
- Jacob McCombs followed and kept a fly ball fair down the right field line and hit it out suddenly tying the game, 4-4
- Wall's day ended after six innings, his longest outing as an Anteater and Ricky Ojeda came on in a tie game
- A leadoff walk reached second base on a wild pitch, and with a single the Mustangs quickly regained their lead, 5-4
- A single and a sacrifice bunt put two in scoring position and ended Ojeda's day.
- David Utagawa was called upon and after loading the bases from an intentional walk, got a much-needed double play ball to keep it a one-run game as he would help keep the 'Eaters in it with 1.2 scoreless frames
- UCI's bats continued their search for even things back up, but despite hard-hit balls down the stretch, they all found fielders stifling any thought a threat.
- The Mustangs got another insurance run in the ninth and closed things down to take home the first Big West Championship crown in 21 years
- The 'Eaters finished with five hits included two each from Frankie Carney and Chase Call. McCombs had the other on the home run to drive in three
- Wall was impressive pitching into the sixth for the first time in his career eclipsing his previous career high of 4.1 innings
- Ricky Ojeda dropped his first game of the season to run his record to 13-1
- The All-Tournament Team was named following the game with Anteaters Trevor Hansen, Blake Penso, and Jacob McCombs on it
- Hansen threw a quality start striking out six over six innings to win UCI's game on Friday
- Penso homered and drove in seven over the tournament while hitting .313
- McCombs had just two hits, but both left the yard finishing with nine RBIs, scoring four times, reaching five times on hit by pitch, and did not strike out
The regular season concludes for the Anteaters with an overall record of 41-15. The Big West regular season champions are in prime position for an NCAA Regional berth finishing the regular season with an RPI of 22, a 7-6 record in Quad 1 wins, and 25 wins away from home including the second-best true road record in the nation at 20-5.
UC Irvine's future is in the hands of the selection committee whom will unveil the postseason field Monday, May 26, in the NCAA Selection Show at 9:00 a.m. on ESPN2
Postgame Thoughts
Head Coach Ben Orloff - "Congrats to Cal Poly, very deserving Big West tournament champion. For them to do it how they did, come out of the loser's bracket, deserving champion, and we wish them the best of luck next weekend. Thank you to Cal State Fullerton for putting on a good event. Not the result we wanted. We want to win every night. Thought we got a really good start out of
Finnegan Wall, longest outing on the season by a lot. Turned two huge bases loaded double plays to keep us in it when we weren't getting hits, and with our opportunities we didn't get the big hit."
"Right now this hurts, and there's no good message to the team. We'll kind of let this sit for a bit and regroup once we get home and meet as a team tomorrow."
"I don't know how much work you can do at this point. To move on from this which feels uncommon to have a loss like this going into the postseason, it's very emotional. We will probably not practice tomorrow, practice Tuesday and Wednesday. I think this time of the year it's about who can do the things that they do well at a high level. I think that's what wins in the postseason, so I don't think its about practicing new stuff. It's also emotionally draining to lose last night, lose today, and physically taxing, some guys with bumps and bruises. I think it's about getting home, resting, and mentally regrouping and getting ready. We've got a lot out in front of us. When we meet as a team at the start of the year, we talk about the goal here in winning a national championship, and we want to win every night, and we wanted to win today really bad and win a Big West Championship. The ultimate goal is still to win three games next weekend and put ourselves in one of the final 16 teams."
Chase Call - "I think all of us are fine with being hit by pitch just because it adds runners to the bases. It's something that we work on. If you look at any of the starts, we're up there near the top of the leaderboards, so that's fine but really it's just like cutting off the corners and trying to get something middle to hit and we really couldn't do that. We grounded into a couple double plays and double play chances, but we really just need to work on putting the ball in play a little bit more."
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