Box Score April 24, 2016 Box Score
DAVIS, Calif. -- Two big innings by the UC Irvine was more than enough for the Anteaters on Sunday afternoon, as the visitors scored four in the third and six in the eighth to break open a one-run game and take the series from host UC Davis with an 11-1 win in the finale at Dobbins Stadium.
The Aggies fell to 9-24 overall and 2-10 in the Big West Conference with the loss, led by a 2-for-3 day by sophomore Ryan Hooper, who hit .500 for the series with a pair of doubles and logged his second multi-hit game of the season. UCI improved to 22-14 overall and evened its conference mark at 6-6 with the win.
Right-hander Alonzo Garcia (4-2) earned the win for the Anteaters, holding the UC Davis bats to just five hits and allowing just one first-inning run over seven innings while striking out three. Senior right-hander Nat Hamby (1-4) suffered the loss, allowing five runs on nine hits and striking out a pair of six innings of work.
Things started out promising for the Aggies, as a one-out single by Spencer Henderson was quickly cashed in by teammate Mark Cardinalli in the home half of the first. The junior bounced a fair ball over the third base bag and into the left field corner for a double and a 1-0 lead.
The double was Cardinalli's fifth of the season and his second extra-base hit of the weekend after he homered in Friday's opener.
UC Davis held that lead until the third when UC Irvine strung together four straight one-out hits to take the lead for good. A double by Cole Kreuter led-off the rally -- the Anteaters first extra-base hit of the series -- and was followed by RBI singles from Evan Cassolato and Mitchell Holland for a 2-1 advantage. Two batters later, Jonathan Munoz roped a two-run single up the middle to score two more and Irvine was off an running with a 4-1 lead.
The Anteaters tacked on another in the fourth on an RBI double by Cassolato, who finished 3-for-4 with three RBI, and sent 11 batters to the plate as part of a six-run eighth after the Aggie pitchers had set down nine of the next 11 without allowing a hit.
Tanner Bily also added a hit for UC Davis, which stranded five on base -- three in scoring position -- for the game. Bily has now reached base safely in his last eight consecutive contests. The top five hitters in the Irvine line up combined for 11 of the team's 15 hits on the day while driving in six.
UC Davis takes on Nevada in a mid-week clash on Tuesday (April 26) at 4 p.m. in Reno, before returning home to open a three-game series against Pacific on Friday (April 29) at 2:30 p.m. Two of the three games against the Tigers will be played at Dobbins Stadium, with Saturday's game two scheduled for 6 p.m. in Stockton, Calif., and Sunday's finale in Davis, Calif., at 1 p.m.
UC Irvine 11, UC Davis 1 (Apr 24, 2016 at Davis, Calif.)
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UC Irvine........... 004 100 060 - 11 15 0 (22-14, 6-6 BIG WEST)
UC Davis............ 100 000 000 - 1 5 0 (9-24, 2-10 BIG WEST)
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Pitchers: UC Irvine - Garcia, Alonzo; Miller, Mitchell(8); Riddle, Dylan(9) and Reitano, Matt; Mazur, Griffin. UC Davis - Hamby, Nat; Brown, Chris(7); Blais, Matt(8); Peters, Blake(8) and Denholm, Logan; Diaz, Ignacio.
Win-Garcia, Alonzo(4-2) Loss-Hamby, Nat(1-4) T-2:48 A-347
Weather: puffy clouds, sunny day
Brown faced 2 batters in the 8th.