LOS ANGELES — The UC Irvine baseball team has its first three-game losing streak of the season, putting the Anteaters in a win-or-go-home situation for the rest of their four-team NCAA regional.
UCI stranded 10 base runners in a 4-2 loss to Arizona State in a Los Angeles Regional opener on Friday night at Jackie Robinson Stadium. The Anteaters (41-16) will square off with Fresno State (31-28) in an elimination game on Saturday at noon.
UCI starting pitcher Trevor Hansen and ASU starter Ben Jacobs delivered strong first innings to kick off a tightly contested game, but the Sun Devils (36-22) got a leadoff home run from Jacob Tobias in the second and Isaiah Jackson hit his 17th homer of the season two batters later for a 2-0 lead.
The Anteaters responded with a two-out rally in the bottom of the second. James Castagnola drew a walk, then Alonso Reyes ripped a double off the center field fence to cut the margin in half. Frankie Carney followed with a high-hopper, reaching first on a low throw, and the ball skipped away from the ASU first baseman, allowing Reyes to score for a 2-2 tie.
The Anteaters had an opportunity for more in the inning, loading the bases before Anthony Martinez hit a fly ball to the warning track for the third out.
ASU regained the lead in the fourth inning with a pair of opposite-field doubles inside the third-base line. Hansen got out of that inning with a pair of strikeouts, but UCI trailed the rest of the night and could never cash in its best opportunities.
UCI got the first two runners on base in the fifth and moved both into scoring position with a sacrifice, but a strikeout and a flyout left them on base. The same thing happened in the seventh inning, when the Anteaters – now trailing 4-2 – had the bases loaded before hitting into an inning-ending double play.
Will Bermudez doubled down the third-base line in the ninth to bring the tying run to the plate, but a strikeout and a flyout ended the game.
Hansen (9-3) allowed three runs on six hits in 6-1/3 inning, with eight strikeouts and two walks – his ninth quality start of the season.
Bermudez had the lone two-hit game for the Anteaters, who were held to five. Four other Anteaters reached twice in the game.
Tobias went 3 for 4 with a homer, two doubles and three runs scored for ASU, while Jackson was 2 for 4 with his homer and two RBIs. Six of the Sun Devils’ eight hits were for extra bases.
If UCI wins on Saturday, it advances to a Sunday 3 p.m. elimination game against the loser of Saturday night’s UCLA-ASU game. UCLA, the No. 15 national seed, hammered Fresno, 19-4, on Friday afternoon.
UCI, which won the Big West Conference regular-season title, has stumbled a bit since the calendar turned to May. In addition to the three-game losing streak, the Anteaters are 8-7 since they ascended to No. 9 in the Baseball America rankings and defeated Cal State Fullerton at Angel Stadium in their final April game.
They lost two games in a row to Cal Poly with a chance to win the Big West Tournament last week.
