SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – Behind a dominant afternoon from its bullpen, No. 30 UC Irvine pulled out a pair of hard-fought decisions over Missouri State, topping the Bears by a 3-2 score in the first game of the two clubs’ doubleheader, before claiming a 4-1, 11-inning victory in the nightcap Friday afternoon at Hammons Field.
Brandon Lewis’s three-run home run in the top of the 11th capped a comeback win for the nationally-ranked Anteaters, who scratched out an unearned run to erase a 1-0 MSU lead in the sixth inning, then rode a stellar performance from its pitching staff that saw UCI hold the Bears hitless over the final 7 2/3 innings.
In all, three UC Irvine relievers combined to post 6.1 hitless innings of relief in the twin bill, striking out 12 MSU hitters in the process to lock up the abbreviated series sweep.
Game 1 – UC Irvine 3, MSU 2 (7 inn.)
UC Irvine starting pitcher Andre Pallante (1-1) set the tone for the afternoon, holding the Bears in check throughout his 5 2/3 innings and allowing just a pair of second-inning runs on Brooks Zimmerman’s mammoth home run. The junior All-America candidate fanned six, walked one and allowed only two hits, before reliever Taylor Rashi put the finishing touches on the victory by retiring all four Bears he faced.
UC Irvine (7-3) took advantage of a hit batsman and a Mikey Filia double to set up its first scoring chance of the afternoon in the top of the second. Ryan Johnston’s squeeze brought home Jacob Castro, and Jake Palmer’s chopper to the right side of the MSU infield plated Filia for an early 2-0 Anteater advantage.
The Bears responded with their lone scoring rally of the game, as Anthony Herron, Jr., drew a leadoff walk from Pallante, before Zimmerman laid into the right-hander’s 2-1 offering and drove a two-run shot over the Missouri State bullpen in left field to knot the score at 2-2.
Lewis went just 2-for-9 on the day, but both hits proved crucial to the Anteaters’ success, as UCI promptly struck up another scoring chance to start the third thanks to its third baseman’s leadoff double. A Brendan Brooks sac bunt moved Lewis to third, and Andre Antone smoked a double into the right-field corner to chase home Lewis with the go-ahead run.
From that point, Pallante handcuffed the Bears by retiring 14 of the next 16 hitters before yielding to Rashi with two out in the sixth. AfterLogan Geha reached via a hit by pitch and stole second to give MSU its best scoring chance of the day, Rashi induced a ground ball to shortstop off the bat of Herron to escape trouble and maintain the 3-2 UCI edge.
UC Irvine threatened to add to its lead in the top of the seventh, using a walk to Johnston and a double by Palmer to put two runners in scoring position with nobody out. But sophomore closer Connor Sechler extinguished the rally, getting a sharp grounder to John Privitera at second against a drawn-in MSU infield and a pair of strikeouts to keep the Bears within striking distance.
But Rashi wouldn’t need the extra run support, quickly dispatching MSU in the bottom of the seventh on two strikeouts and a ground ball to first to secure his third save of the season.
Game 2 – UC Irvine 4, MSU 1 (11 inn.)
Lewis belted his fifth home run of the season after Palmer drew a leadoff walk and Christian Koss reached after being struck by a Sechler pitch to start the decisive 11th inning. That blow followed another standout effort by Anteaters relievers Trenton Denholm and Jordan Bocko, who joined forces on 5.1 hitless innings to secure the victory.
MSU (3-7) seized its lone lead of the afternoon in the second inning following back-to-back singles from Herron and Zimmerman. Herron moved to third on Joey Polak’s fly ball to deep center and trotted home when Collin Clayton beat the throw to first on a fielder’s choice bouncer to second.
Bears junior hurler Logan Wiley was in command throughout his afternoon, retiring the first 10 UCI hitters of the game and 15 of 16 Anteaters over the first five innings.
But Filia logged a base hit to start the sixth and a rare fielding error on MSU’s career fielding percentage leader Ben Whetstone combined with another squeeze bunt brought Mike Peabody around with the tying run and ended Wiley’s afternoon.
The right-hander struck out seven UC Irvine hitters and allowed just one unearned run on two hits in his 5.2 innings, before Sechler went to work for the second time in the series. The Bears closer avoided further harm with an inning-ending strikeout in the sixth, then worked out of jams in each of the next two innings as well.
His efforts were matched by the UCI bullpen, first by Denholm, who struck out five of the seven hitters he faced after taking over for starter Tanner Brubaker in the sixth. Then Bocko (3-0), who wiggled out of a ninth-inning threat by picking Privitera—the potential game-winning run—off second with one out. He proceeded to fan three of the next four Bears to get the game to the 11th, where he then punched out two more MSU hitters to seal the win following the Anteaters’ key rally in the top half of the inning.
Herron led the Bears with a 2-for-4 effort, finishing his day with three hits in six at-bats. Sechler (1-1) suffered the mound setback, despite 3 1/3 scoreless innings to start his appearance. In all, he would allow three runs on five hits in his 4.1 innings, finishing the series with 5 1/3 innings of work over the two games.
Missouri State will wrap up its initial home stand of the season Tuesday (March 5) with a 3 p.m. non-conference game against Oral Roberts.
Courtesy of: Missouri State Athletics Communications
