No. 22 Cal Poly Falls to No. 23 UC Irvine, 7-1

Friday, May 10

Irvine, CA

6:30 pm

32-15, 11-8

UC Irvine

30-15, 12-7

Cal Poly

UC Irvine

No. 22 Cal Poly Falls to No. 23 UC Irvine, 7-1

5/10/2013 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

IRVINE, Calif. – Senior right-hander Joey Wagman's quest for his 11th victory of the season has been delayed another week as No. 23 UC Irvine parlayed 14 hits into a 7-1 victory over No. 22 Cal Poly in the opener of a Big West Conference baseball series Friday night in Anteater Ballpark.

Wagman (10-3), two wins shy of the school record set by Garrett Olson in 2005, entered the game with a .176 batting average against right-handers, but UC Irvine started eight right-handed hitters and they combined to go 12-for-26 against the Mustang starter.

Wagman, who allowed five of seven UC Irvine leadoff batters to reach base, walked one and struck out three in 6 1/3 innings.

With the loss, Cal Poly fell into a tie for fourth place with UC Santa Barbara in the Big West, both 11-8. The Mustangs are 32-15 overall, their four-game winning streak snapped, while UC Irvine, alone in third place, is 30-15 and 12-7.

After UC Irvine scored twice in the first inning, including a solo home run by third baseman Taylor Sparks, his ninth of the year, Cal Poly scored its lone run of the game in the second frame on back-to-back doubles by junior third baseman Jimmy Allen and junior left fielder David Armendariz.

UC Irvine broke open the 2-1 contest with single runs in the third, fourth and eighth innings and two more in the seventh.

Besides the two doubles in the second inning, Cal Poly's only other hits in the game were a single and double by sophomore right fielder Nick Torres (pictured at right).

UC Irvine's 14 hits included three by Sparks and two each by shortstop Chris Rabago, catcher Ronnie Schaeffer, right fielder Scott Gottschling and left fielder Jeff Stephens, who also stole home in the fourth inning. Sparks and Gottschling each drove in two runs while first baseman Connor Spencer, the Big West batting leader with a .383 average, went hitless in his first four plate appearances but knocked in two runs as well with a groundout and sacrifice fly.

Anteater junior right-hander Andrew Thurman (5-3) went the distance on the mound for his second complete-game win, scattering four hits with no walks and seven strikeouts. Thurman pitched just four innings in his last outing a week ago at UC Santa Barbara, surrendering six earned runs and 10 hits.

Second game of the series will be played Saturday at 1 o'clock with sophomore southpaw Matt Imhof (4-3, 2.34 ERA) on the mound for Cal Poly against UC Irvine junior southpaw Matt Whitehouse (4-5, 3.33 ERA).

The series finale is scheduled for Sunday, also at 1 o'clock.