Dirtbags Fall 7-2 In Nonconference Tilt At UCI

Sunday, February 23

Irvine, Calif.

1:00 PM

Long Beach State University

2-5

UC Irvine

4-3

Long Beach State

UC Irvine

Zack Domingues was 2-for-3 with a walk and a run scored in the loss.

2/23/2014 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

Feb. 23, 2014

Box Score

IRVINE, Calif. - Michael Hill and Zack Domingues combined for five hits but the Long Beach State Dirtbags fell 7-2 at UC Irvine on Sunday. UC Irvine's 13 hits helped the Anteaters (4-3) put constant pressure on the Dirtbags (2-5) en route to the win.

The Anteaters had a runner in scoring position in every inning but the eighth to key the win but left 13 runners aboard to keep the game close until a three-run seventh. A couple triples from Taylor Sparks and Connor Spencer padded the lead from 4-2 to 7-2.

Domingues led off the game with a single and later scored on Ino Patron's sacrifice fly to give the Dirtbags the early lead. An appeal on the same play resulted in the third out as Michael Hill was called out for leaving early from second, abruptly ending the early rally.

Spencer responded for UC Irvine when he knocked in Chris Rabago in the bottom half of the inning and Rabago gave UCI the lead in the second with a two-RBI single just over the reach of Jason Alexander on the mound. Both hits came with two outs in the inning.

The 3-1 lead stayed until the sixth with Dirtbag pitchers pitching out of jams in the third and fifth. UCI left the bases loaded in both innings as Alexander and Josh Frye wiggled out of the jams unscathed.

The Dirtbags closed the gap in the sixth when Michael Hill led off with one of his three singles in the game. He moved to third on a perfectly executed hit-and-run with Patron at the plate. Zack Rivera then squeezed Hill home to narrow the deficit to 3-2.

A Dirtbag miscommunication led to a Sparks double to lead off UCI's half of the sixth and he scored moments later on a Spencer single to regain the two run advantage. The two combined again in the seventh to run the lead up to five.

Evan Brock took his second win of the season on the mound and struck out five. All five Ks actually came consecutively between the third and fourth innings. Jimmy Litchfield pithed the three-inning save. Jason Alexander was pegged with his first loss of the season.

UC Irvine was playing for a piece of history as they earned head coach Mike Gillespie's 1,000th career win.

The Dirtbags return to Blair Field on Tuesday for a 6 p.m. matchup with USC.