Davis, Calif. — Struggling to find a rhythm all day, the UC Davis Aggies dropped Saturday's contest to the UC Irvine Anteaters by a score of 13-2. 

With the Aggie loss, UC Irvine clinches the series at Dobbins Stadium with UC Davis having one more chance tomorrow to salvage the series. 

An opportunity to try and ruin UC Irvine's postseason chances will coincide with Senior Day, as UC Davis will play their final home game of the season tomorrow at 1 P.M. PT, with James Williams III, Nate Freeman, and Nathan Peng partaking in their final home games of their collegiate careers. The ceremony will take place 15 minutes before first-pitch.

Today's loss moves the Aggies to 17-33 on the season with four games remaining in 2023. After the final home game tomorrow, the Aggies will have their final series of the year on the road at Long Beach State to take on the seventh place Dirtbags.

Getting his third start of the year on the mound, Kaden Hogan took the loss after dealing with command issues which is uncharacteristic for the converted position player from Reno. With Anteater offense giving the staff fits again with their versatility and depth throughout the order, it was
Ian Torpey who again was a highlight for the Aggie staff, coming out of the bullpen and throwing one shutout inning, allowing one hit, with no walks and two strikeouts. Even with Torpey shining out of the pen, the Anteater offense proved to be dominate yet again. UC Irvine collected 16 hits on the day with every Anteater starter having a hit. On top of this, seven of their nine starters had RBIs.

Offensively, the Aggies were paced by Leighton Helfrick, who went 2-for-4 on the day with an RBI. After recording three hits yesterday, Helfrick has been one of the more consistent Aggie bats as of late, with hits now in four of his last five games. The Aggies other run today came on a wild pitch, scoring Nick Iverson who reached in the fifth inning on a walk.

HOW IT HAPPENED
The Aggies were trailing 10-0 in the fifth inning when they first put runs on the board. Iverson came across to score the lone run of the inning for UC Davis and get them on the board with the aformentioned wild pitch, bringing home the junior from Culver City.

The Aggies kept the deficit at 10-1 before closing the gap further in the sixth. UC Davis scored once again an RBI single off the bat of Helfrick, which tightened the Anteaters lead to 10-2. The Aggies were unable to get any closer, as UC Irvine added three runs to their tally on the way to a 13-2 final.

GAME NOTES
» UC Davis' highest scoring inning was the sixth, when it pushed one run across.
» UC Davis pitchers faced 53 UC Irvine hitters in the game, allowing 10 ground balls and 11 fly balls while striking out five.
» Helfrick led the Aggies at the plate, going 2-for-4 with an RBI.
» UC Irvine was led offensively by sophomore Myles Smith, who went 2-for-3 with a double and three RBI.
» Junior Nick Pinto led the Anteaters pitching staff, throwing seven innings of two-run ball.