Baseball Lives On to Regional Final with Sweep, Comeback Win

Courtesy of UC Irvine Athletics Media Relations

GAME 1
UC Irvine baseball won twice Sunday routing North Dakota State, 18-3, and coming back to top Stanford, 8-4, to survive into the Regional Final Monday night at Klein Field at the Sunken Diamond.

The day started out with a bang as the Anteaters (43-17, 32-8) first had to get by Summit League champions North Dakota State, and UCI wasted little time.

Five runs in the top of the first highlighted by a towering three-run home run by Dillon Tatum pushing him into a tie for the Anteater single-season lead with his 14th. Quickly, the 'Eaters were adding to the lead scoring four times in the second inning as Nathan Church started it off with a solo home run, and it was 9-0 UC Irvine after two innings.

While the offense was dialing things in, Trenton Denholm was having his own dominant outing on the mound starting off with a pair of zeroes, and riding that through seven innings in a return to Northern California one last time. He pitched into the eighth inning before exiting allowing just six hits, a single run, and picking up three strikeouts en route to his 21st career win.

GAME 2
The big matchup had begun with Stanford (35-15) trying to end the regional with a win. They got things going with a run in the second inning on a first-pitch, solo home run by Nick Brueser to go up 1-0.

Peter Van Loon would bounce back and halt the scoring while striking out five in his first two innings. Stanford starter Quinn Mathews got out of a couple early jams including getting Dillon Tatum to groundout with the bases loaded in the first.

The Anteaters would flip the script in the third inning, however, as Mike Peabody reached on a hit by pitch, and Justin Torres turned around a high fastball for his second home run of the regional to put UCI ahead, 2-1.

The Cardinal now staring at their first deficit of the weekend, they would immediately turn the tide in the fourth inning. A pair of runners on base brought up Tommy Troy who parked a ball in the exact spot Brueser did to swing the lead back to Stanford, 4-2.

The eighth inning began with the same 4-2 score, and the feel shifted with one out as Luke Spillane drilled a ball down the line called foul. After review, the call was overturned giving Spillane a double. Next up with pinch-hitter Jake Palmer, scratched late before Sunday's first game, on to hit, and his liner off the glove of pitcher Joey Dixon did just enough as Palmer slid head-first into first for the single.setting the stage for Church.

The third-year Anteater, after breaking the UCI single-season hit record earlier in the game on an infield single, found the biggest part of the field in left-center splitting the outfielders to bring two runners home and tie the game up.

After another pitching change and an intentional walk to Mike Peabody, it was up to the rest of the lineup to find the offense, and they did. Thomas McCaffrey reached out for another infield single of the pitcher to score the go-ahead run in Church. Jacob Castro followed with an infield single of his own to score Peabody and make it 6-4.

Connor McGuire was next up batting for the second time in the inning and pelted a double down the line to bring more insurance home finishing a six-run frame to lead 8-4.

COMPLETE RECAP
BOXSCORE – NORTH DAKOTA STATE
BOXSCORE – STANFORD


The 2021 Season Comes to a Close for UCSB

Courtesy of UC Santa Barbara Athletics Media Relations

The 2021 season came to a close for UC Santa Barbara Baseball Sunday night, as the Gauchos were defeated in the Tucson Regional Championship by No. 5 Arizona 5-2. 

UCSB ends the season with an impeccable 41-20 overall record, which is the sixth most wins in program history. The Gauchos went 2-2 in their 12th NCAA Regional appearance and outscored its opponents 29-16. 

Following the completion of the Tucson Regional, Marcos Castanon and Rodney Boone were named to the All-Tournament Team. Castanon went posted a .500 batting average with 10 RBI, three doubles, a home run, and five runs. Boone was the starting pitcher in UCSB's opening win over No. 23 Oklahoma State where the lefty had 11 strikeouts in 7.1 innings to pick up his 11th win of the season.

COMPLETE RECAP
BOXSCORE

UCSB Defeats No. 23 Oklahoma State 13-3

Third-seeded UC Santa Barbara is off to the championship round of the Tucson Regional after knocking off No. 23 Oklahoma State 13-3 Sunday afternoon. UCSB will now have a quick turnaround facing No. 5 Arizona tonight at 6 PM PT and with a win will see the Wildcats again Monday evening with the winner advancing to the Super Regional round.

The Gauchos were dominant from the jump in their second meeting of the weekend with the Cowboys as they scored 12 runs on 13 hits in the first four innings. A mixture of small ball, solid base running, and a few timely extra-base hits helped the Gauchos put the contest away early.

COMPLETE RECAP
BOXSCORE