UC Irvine baseball routs Cal Poly to reach Big West title game; Cal State Fullerton eliminated
FULLERTON — The UC Irvine baseball team banged out 15 hits and a pair of six-run innings to secure a spot in the Big West Tournament championship game with a 15-3 run-rule victory over Cal Poly on Friday afternoon at Goodwin Field.
The top-seeded Anteaters (41-13) will face an opponent to be determined in Saturday’s 7 p.m. game.
Fourth-seeded Hawaii (35-20), which defeated third-seeded Cal State Fullerton, 16-4, in Friday night’s elimination game, will face second-seeded Cal Poly (38-17) on Saturday at 3 p.m. to determine the other spot in the championship game. A UCI win on Saturday night would give the Anteaters the title while a loss would force a winner-take-all game rematch on Sunday at 3 p.m.
UCI charged out of the gate with a strong first inning on Friday, once again getting the first three runners on base and getting RBIs on a Jacob McCombs ground out and a Chase Call single for a 2-0 lead. The Anteaters scored another run off an error in the third, while Trevor Hansen was dialed in on the mound.
UCI broke the game open with six runs in the fourth inning, five of which scored with two outs. Three straight one-out singles made it 4-0, then McCombs hit a three-run home run. Another single brought up Blake Penso, who crushed a two-run homer – his 10th of the season – to center field to stretch the lead to 9-0.
The Anteaters scored six more in the fifth, with Anthony Martinez driving in the first two with a double to right field. A pitching change and a pair of hit by pitches loaded the bases, then Penso ripped a three-run double to left center for a 14-0 lead. Alonso Reyes, the last Anteater without a hit at that point, added an RBI single to center field.
The Mustangs strung together four straight hits to begin the sixth and scored three runs before Hansen (9-2) ended the inning with his sixth strikeout.
The run rule was in effect heading into the seventh, and Cal Poly finally chased Hansen with a walk and a hit. David Utagawa came on for UCI, and a single on his first pitch loaded the bases with no outs. Utagawa got out of the jam with a short fly ball and a game-ending double play.
Martinez finished 3 for 4 with two RBIs, while Penso went 2 for 4 with his eighth home run, five RBIs and two runs scored to pace UCI. Yeaman was 2 for 2 with two walks, four runs scored and an RBI, Call was 2 for 3 with two runs scored and an RBI and leadoff man Will Bermudez went 2 for 5 with two runs scored.
Hansen allowed three runs on nine hits with six strikeouts in six innings, his eighth quality start of the season.
Hawaii 16, Cal State Fullerton 4: The Titans (29-27) squandered some early scoring opportunities and saw their season come to an end with a lopsided loss on Friday night.
Fullerton strung together three straight singles to start the game, capped by Matthew Bardowell’s RBI single, but the Titans missed a chance for a bigger rally by striking out with runners on first and second and no outs and hitting into an inning-ending double play.
Hawaii responded with three runs in the top of the second inning to take a 3-1 lead. Fullerton loaded the bases in the bottom of the second, but was unable to score.
The Rainbow Warriors added single runs in the fourth and fifth to extend its lead to 5-1. The Titans scored on an infield single by Max Ortega in the sixth but left runners on the corners.
Hawaii pulled away in the seventh inning, scoring five runs to open a 10-2 lead.
Fullerton got a two-run double by Carter Johnstone in the seventh inning to cut the lead to 10-4, but the Warriors added six runs in the ninth.
