UC Irvine
Cal Poly Defeats UC Irvine 6-5 to Claim Opening Big West Series
4/2/2017 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
POSTGAME INTERVIEW WITH LARRY LEE
IRVINE, Calif. – Sophomore shortstop Kyle Marinconz drove in the tying and go-ahead runs with a double to the gap in left-center field in the seventh inning, then snapped a 5-5 tie with an RBI single to left field in the ninth as Cal Poly rallied to defeat UC Irvine 6-5 on Sunday afternoon.
The victory clinched the three-game Big West Conference series for Coach Larry Lee's Mustangs, two games to one, and moved Cal Poly (10-17) into a four-way tie with Long Beach State, Cal State Fullerton and UC Davis for first place in the Big West, all 2-1.
UC Irvine, which has lost seven of its last eight games after an 11-5 start, fell to 12-12.
Marinconz finished a 7-for-12 series with his late-inning heroics and his second consecutive three-hit game.
Sophomore right-hander Michael Clark (4-0), who pitched four scoreless, hitless innings for the win Friday night, tossed two more frames Sunday, allowing one hit and no runs and dropping his ERA to 1.73.
The loss went to UC Irvine closer Calvin Faucher (1-3), who has nine saves on the year but entered Sunday's contest with the score tied at 5-5 in the ninth and gave up the winning run.
After securing the first out of the inning, Faucher gave up four consecutive singles. With runners at first and third, Marinconz singled through the left side of the UC Irvine infield to score the go-ahead run.
Clark secured three infield grounders in the bottom of the ninth for the win.
UC Irvine led 3-0 with three runs in the third inning. Cal Poly answered with two in the fifth on Michael Sanderson's bloop single down the right-field line and grabbed a 5-3 lead with three runs in the seventh. Marinconz's double knocked in two and Colby Barrick added an RBI single.
The Anteaters tied the game with single runs in the seventh and eighth frames, setting the stage for Marinconz's ninth-inning heroics.
In addition to the three hits by Marinconz, lifting his average to .262, Barrick and Sanderson also produced three hits apiece as Cal Poly outhit UC Irvine 14-10. Josh George added two singles.
Mikey Duarte and Parker Coss each had three hits for UC Irvine.
Cal Poly hit .310 in the series. In addition to Marinconz's numbers, which included three RBI, Sanderson went 6-for-13 with four RBI and Barrick was 5-for-11 with two RBI.
The Mustang pitching staff compiled a 2.96 ERA with 17 strikeouts and 10 walks en route to Cal Poly's second series win of the season. The Mustangs won two of three games against Wichita State two weeks earlier.
Cal Poly has no midweek game and returns home to host Hawai'i for three Big West games starting Friday night. The Rainbow Warriors are 18-9 after taking three of four non-conference games against Nevada, capped by a 3-2 triumph Sunday.
Photo of Michael Sanderson at top of page and pitcher Michael Clark courtesy of Jack Duffy
