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No. 9 UC Irvine beats Cal State Fullerton at Angel Stadium

April 30, 2025

ANAHEIM — The UC Irvine baseball team took a breather from its Big West Conference schedule on Tuesday night, a rare chance to perform under the lights at Angel Stadium against a friendly rival, and with an opportunity to cap the month on a positive note.

A day after ascending to No. 9 in the latest Baseball America Top 25 poll, their highest ranking since 2014, the Anteaters checked all the boxes in a 5-1 victory against Cal State Fullerton, ending the month of April with eight consecutive wins for the second season in a row.

“It’s easy to be fired up. Angel Stadium, Cal State Fullerton,” UCI coach Ben Orloff said. “We were fired up to play. We need to play better, but it is pretty cool to play here at Angel Stadium, where a lot of our kids have never played on a big league field before.”

UCI (33-9 overall) was coming off a three-game sweep against second-place Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo last weekend, giving the Anteaters a four-game cushion over the Mustangs for first place in the Big West with three weeks left in conference play.

Nine more conference games remain for UCI, including a three-game series against Fullerton to finish the regular season on May 15-17.

“That’s when we want to be playing our best ball in May and June, so on the right direction,” UCI first baseman Anthony Martinez said after going 3 for 4 with a walk and two runs scored against the Titans.

The Anteaters were ranked 24th in Baseball America’s preseason poll after finishing 20th last season.

They’ve steadily moved up to their highest ranking in Orloff’s seven seasons at the helm, but that number has little meaning to him.

“It’s good for propaganda, it’s good for the families, it’s good for recruiting, but the reality is, it means nothing,” he said. “There’s so much left to go. The goal isn’t to be somewhere on April 25. … Even last weekend at Cal Poly, it wasn’t about playing for first place or second place. We’re trying to get better.”

Martinez led off the second inning with a sharp single to center after Fullerton catcher Max Ortega could not glove a high foul against the screen behind home plate.

Rowan Felsch dropped a one-out single into right-center and Will Bermudez then pulled an RBI double off the base of the wall in left for a 1-0 lead.

The Anteaters loaded the bases with still just one out in the inning before Frankie Carney rolled a squibber up the third-base line. Carter Johnstone touched his bag for the second out and threw home for the tag on James Castagnola to complete the inning-ending double play.

Fullerton reliever Chad Gurnea struck out the first two batters to start the third before issuing back-to-back walks to Chase Call and Martinez.

Castagnola then grounded a 2-and-2 pitch through the left side to score Call from second for a 2-0 lead.

Gurnea then walked two more batters to force in a run and make it 3-0.

The Titans took advantage of two successful bunts to load the bases with no outs in the third and cut it to 3-1 on a sacrifice fly by Andrew Kirchner, but couldn’t draw any closer in the inning.

Nobody scored again until the eighth, when the Anteaters loaded the bases with one on a hit batter and two walks. Colin Yeaman then grounded a single off the glove of Johnstone and into left field to score two runs and extend the lead to 5-1.

The Anteaters closed the game with six shutout innings of relief, capped by Ricky Ojeda striking out the side in the ninth.

“The jitters were going,” Martinez said. “Obviously we can play better than we did today, but great to come out with a win.”

The Big West Tournament is scheduled for May 21-25 at Cal State Fullerton, followed by the NCAA Regionals the following weekend. Orloff believes the Anteaters have the right makeup to make a deep run this postseason.

“It starts with pitching and defense for us,” he said. “The offense gets the attention, but we win because of pitching and defense, and if we keep pitching at the level we’re pitching it, and playing good defense, I think we’ll be a team that has a chance to, hopefully, play beyond Memorial Day.”

The Titans (23-21) sit one game back of Cal Poly in third place after sweeping a three-game series at UC Davis last weekend.

Fullerton lost seven of its first eight games to start the season, and then dropped its first five conference games before an eight-game winning streak righted the ship.

Orange County Register

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No. 9 UC Irvine beats Cal State Fullerton at Angel Stadium

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