Cal Poly Rallies to Defeat No. 23 UC Irvine, 7-3

Saturday, May 7

Irvine, CA

5 pm

21-20, 10-7

UC Irvine

30-13, 9-5

Cal Poly

UC Irvine

Cal Poly Rallies to Defeat No. 23 UC Irvine, 7-3

5/7/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

IRVINE, Calif. – For the first time this season, Cal Poly rallied from an eighth-inning deficit to win a game.

Coach Larry Lee's Mustangs parlayed a leadoff walk, five singles and a pair of safety squeeze bunts into a five-run rally and turned a 3-2 deficit into a 7-3 victory over No. 23 UC Irvine on Saturday at Anteater Ballpark.

The win evens the Big West Conference baseball series at a game apiece with the finale set for Sunday at 2 p.m. on ESPNU. Cal Poly improves to 21-20 overall and 10-7 in conference games while UC Irvine falls to 30-13 and 9-5.

Cal Poly entered Saturday's game with a 4-11 record away from Baggett Stadium, a 6-15 mark in day games and winless in 14 games when trailing after eight innings while UC Irvine was 19-1 at home.

But the Mustangs, who trailed 3-0 after four innings, scored single runs in the seventh and eighth innings to get on the scoreboard and turned the game around with their five-run ninth-inning uprising which included a controversial call.

Mitch Haniger drew a walk to lead off the ninth, bringing J.J. Thompson to the plate. Thompson drove the first pitch from UC Irvine closer Brian Hernandez down the left field line and out of the ballpark for an apparent go-ahead two-run home run.

Three or four seconds after the ball cleared the fence, the home plate umpire raised both hands in the air, either to call time out or to signal the ball foul. UC Irvine's catcher and third baseman both told a reporter after the game that it was a home run, but it was ruled foul by the umpires.

Thompson eventually singled to keep the rally going and DJ Gentile's RBI single to right-center field scored Haniger, tying the game at 3-3. Matt Jensen's single through the left side of the UC Irvine infield tallied Thompson, gave Cal Poly a 4-3 lead and made the controversial call a moot point.

Back-to-back safety squeeze bunts by Evan Busby and Bobby Crocker (pictured above) cashed in two more runs and Denver Chavez capped the rally with an RBI single to left field.

Senior southpaw Frankie Reed gave up a harmless single in the bottom of the ninth and retired the other three UC Irvine batters to wrap up the victory, Cal Poly's sixth in nine games against top-25 teams this season.

Senior right-hander Steven Fischback (right) (5-2) earned the victory by allowing three runs and nine hits in eight innings. He walked one and struck out four, throwing 127 pitches.

Fischback ran into serious trouble only once when he gave up three runs on four hits in the fourth inning. Throw out that frame and he allowed just five hits in the remaining seven scoreless frames.

Ronnie Shaeffer singled to drive in two runs in the fourth and Tommy Reyes followed with a run-scoring single of his own to give UC Irvine its 3-0 lead.

Mike Miller doubled to lead off Cal Poly's seventh inning and scored on Gentile's single to right fieid. Crocker doubled with two outs in the eighth and came home on a bloop single to left-center field by Chavez, pulling Cal Poly to within one run and setting the stage for the Mustangs' heroics in the ninth.

Cal Poly outhit UC Irvine 13-10, led by Miller's three hits which lifted his batting average to .369. Chavez, Thompson, Gentile and Jimmy Allen all added a pair of hits for the Mustangs.

Hernandez (3-1), who suffered the loss, started the game at third base and collected two hits for UC Irvine, as did Jordan Leyland and Tommy Reyes.

Anteater starter Matt Whitehouse, not involved in the decision, allowed two runs and seven hits in 7 2/3 innings with no walks and eight strikeouts before giving way to the bullpen.

Haniger's leadoff walk in the ninth inning Saturday was the first free pass issued by UC Irvine pitchers in the series.

Freshman right-hander Chase Johnson (1-4, 4.06 ERA) will start on the mound for Cal Poly against UC Irvine junior right-hander Crosby Slaught (4-1, 4.72 ERA).