Box Score

DAVIS, Calif. -- Freshman left-hander Robert Garcia allowed just three hits while striking out six over 6.1 innings of work and the UC Davis offense pounded out 11 hits on the day, taking game one of its Big West Conference series with a 9-6 victory over UC Irvine on Friday afternoon at Dobbins Stadium.

The victory put an end to a season-long seven-game losing streak as the Aggies improved to 9-22 overall and 2-8 in conference play. It was the team's first win since defeating San Francisco back on April 5 and its first win at home against the Anteaters since 2012.

UC Irvine, which tried to rally back with a four-run ninth inning before coming up short, fell to 20-14 overall and 4-6 in league play.

Garcia (2-2) was masterful in keeping the Anteater bats at bay, allowing only three singles in the first five innings and stranding a pair in scoring position en route to the win. He was tagged for a pair of unearned runs in the fifth that made it a one-run contest at the time, but was picked up by his offense, which responded with six runs over the next four innings -- including a three-run eighth that proved to be the difference.

Elliot Surrey (2-4) suffered the loss for UCI, charged with six runs on nine hits and striking out two over 6.2 innings of work.

After going down in order in the first, UC Davis scored runs in each of the next four innings to build an early lead. A Ryan Hooper double plated Cameron Olson, who finished 3-for-3 with a pair of doubles, for the 1-0 lead, and a sacrifice fly by Tanner Bily put the Aggies up by a pair. Junior Mark Cardinalli then led off the fourth with his first home run of the season, lining a shot over the wall in left, to make it 3-0, before the Anteaters took advantage of some wildness to make it a one-run contest.

Garcia opened the inning with a pair of strikeouts, but the second one put a runner on base as a wild pitch on a swing by Alex Guenette put a runner on. A comebacker to the mound was thrown away at second base as the Aggies tried to turn two, putting a pair on for Cole Kreuter, who singled to right field for UCI's first run of the game. An RBI groundout by Grant Palmer made it 3-2 before Garcia induced an inning-ending ground ball to short to end the threat.

UC Davis got both runs back in its half of the fifth as a single through the box by Bily scored Cameron Briggs, and Cardinalli drove home another with a sac fly two batters later, to rebuild the Aggies lead to 5-2. An RBI single by Olson, who reached base in all four of his plate appearances on the day, in the seventh extended the advantage before UC Davis plated three more in the eighth on an RBI single by Brad Pluschkell and a two-run double down the right field line by Spencer Henderson for a 9-2 lead.

Those final three scores proved to be crucial as UC Irvine rallied against the Aggies' bullpen in the ninth to make things interesting. After getting UC Davis out of a jam in the seventh and retiring the side in order in the eighth, freshman Chris Brown was greeted by a pinch-hit single off the bat of Jonathan Munoz to start the ninth, and the Anteaters followed with a pair of walks to load the bases with nobody out.

Matt Blais came in out of the bullpen and induced a pair of fly balls for the first two outs, the first scoring a run, but back-to-back singles by John Brontsema and Mitchell Holland inched the Anteaters even closer, making it 9-5. A ground ball to the right side that should have ended the game was thrown wide of the bag, allowing another run to score and make it 9-6, but Blais caught Andrew Martinez looking at a called third strike, stranding a pair, to end the game.

Briggs finished 2-for-2 with a pair of runs scored, including his first career extra-base hit with a third-inning double, and was joined by Ryan Hooper, who doubled and finished 2-for-4, in the multi-hit club. Seven of the Aggies' nine starters finished with a hit, while the top three in the UC Davis order combined to drive in six of the team's nine runs on the day. In all, six of the Aggies' 11 hits went for extra bases.

Brontsema finished 2-for-5 with an RBI to pace the Anteaters' offense as four other players finished with base hits.

Game two of the series is scheduled for Saturday afternoon (April 23) at 1 p.m. at Dobbins Stadium.

UC Davis 9, UC Irvine 6 (Apr 22, 2016 at Davis, Calif.)
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UC Irvine........... 000 020 004 - 6 6 0 (20-14, 4-6 BIG WEST)
UC Davis............ 011 120 13X - 9 11 3 (9-22, 2-8 BIG WEST)
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Pitchers: UC Irvine - Surrey, Elliot; Vetrovec, Shaun(7) and Guenette, Alex. UC Davis - Garcia, Robert; Brown, Chris (7); Blais, Matt (9) and Denholm, Logan.
Win- Garcia, Robert (2-2) Loss-Surrey, Elliot(2-4) T-2:59 A-367
HR UCD - Cardinalli, Mark (1).
Weather: mostly cloudy, very windy
Brown faced 3 batters in the 9th.