IRVINE, Calif. – Cal State Fullerton baseball dropped game two of its series to UC Irvine by a score of 12-5 Saturday afternoon at Anteater Ballpark. The Titans are now 7-8 on the season and 1-1 in Big West play.
The Titans once again jumped out to an early lead, scoring one run in the top of the second inning on a sacrifice fly by Cole Urman to bring home Nate Nankil.
Nankil led-off the inning with a double to left field, his seventh of the season. Moises Guzman moved Nankil to third on a bunt single before Urman drove in the run on a sacrifice fly to put the Titans up 1-0.
UC Irvine responded with one run in the bottom of the third inning on a sacrifice fly of its own to tie the game at 1-1.
The Anteaters scored six runs in the bottom half of the fifth inning to take a 7-1 lead. Three of the six runs UC Irvine scored came on bases loaded walks. UC Irvine added to its lead in the sixth inning with two runs to take a 9-1 lead.
The Titans never gave up, scoring four runs in the seventh inning to cut it to a 9-5 game. Fullerton scored on a sacrifice fly by Maddox Latta to bring home Eli Lopez before an RBI single by Zach Lew drove in Jack Haley.
T7 | Lot of game left! #TusksUp | @zachlew20 pic.twitter.com/yEj653AcfA
— Titans Baseball (@FullertonBSB) March 18, 2023
Caden Connor later drove in Carter White on a sacrifice fly followed by an RBI single by Nankil scored Lew.
T7 | @nankils619 comes through to make it a 9-5 game! #TusksUp pic.twitter.com/pVDS4tIhWh
— Titans Baseball (@FullertonBSB) March 18, 2023
White had another great day at the plate for the Titans, going 3-for-4 with a run. White is hitting a team-high .474 this season. In 32 at-bats this season White has not struck out.
Nankil also did his part at the plate with a 3-for-4 day to go along with a run, an RBI and a double. Nankil has a tied for team-high seven doubles this season.
Trevor Hinkel got the start on the mound for Fullerton and went 4.2 innings, allowing seven earned runs on five hits. Hinkel drew the loss and is now 0-3 on the year.
Nick Pinto (2-0) got the win for UC Irvine after giving up just one earned run on four hits in 5.1 innings of work. Pinto walked two and struck out three batters as UCI improved to 12-4 on the year.
The Titans and Anteaters will meet Sunday afternoon for the series deciding game three with first pitch scheduled for 1:00 p.m. PT.
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