HONOLULU, Hawai'i --- UC Irvine baseball dropped the opener Friday night at Les Murakami Stadium to the host Hawai'i Rainbow Warriors, 14-6.
- The night started out with a pitcher's duel between Trevor Hansen and Hawai'i's Isaiah Magdaleno
- The pair allowed one total hit between them in three shutout innings
- Hansen picked up five strikeouts over that time
- Magdaleno skirted around seven walks that he issued in four innings of work, but managed to wriggle free without allowing a run and leaving six Anteater runners on base
- Hawai'i flipped the script in the fourth inning loading the bases in the inning's first three hitters which included an error as the rain began to make an impact
- Hansen battled back getting a popup and strikeouts for two outs
- The Warriors found a way through Hansen with a pair of infield singles and another that just slid through to put four runs on the board
- A two-run double ended Hansen's night after 3.2 innings and the 'Eaters trailing 6-0
- Hawai'i piled on with four more runs in the fifth inning with thanks to three extra-base hits and a squeeze bunt to make it a 10-0 advantage
- UCI's offense awoke in the sixth inning with pinch-hitter Landon Gaz doubling home a pair and Frankie Carney scoring him to draw to within 10-3
- Hawai'i answered with four runs in the seventh and shutdown pitching down the stretch to secure the win
Hawai'i 14, UC Irvine 6
- Hansen was tagged with the loss despite all six runs he allowed being unearned
- UCI's offense was primarily supplied by the pair of Frankie Carney and Landon Gaz
- Gaz came on as a pinch-hitter in the sixth pelting a double the other way to score UCI's first two runs
- He added a two-run home run with two outs in the ninth
- Gaz finished with four RBIs and has now reached in eight consecutive plate appearances
- Carney followed up each of Gaz's hits with run-scoring singles of his own as Gaz scored three runs on the night
- Connor Dietsch helped get Gaz one more at-bat in the ninth with a two-out single for his first collegiate hit
The series returns to action Saturday, April 11, with
Finnegan Wall going up against Hawai'i's Hekili Robello in another 9:35 p.m. Pacific Time first pitch.
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