SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- Nick Marinconz's long single off the wall in left field in the bottom of the ninth inning knocked in the winning run as Cal Poly rallied for three runs and a walk-off 4-3 victory over first-place and No. 25 UC Irvine in the first game of a Big West Conference baseball doubleheader Saturday afternoon at Baggett Stadium.
With one out in the ninth, Cal Poly trailing 3-1, Tate Samuelson was hit by a pitch and took second on defensive indifference. An out later, Taison Corio reached base on a throwing error, took second on the error and stole an unattended third base, Samuelson scoring.
With the bases loaded and two outs, Corio scored on a wild pitch to tie the game. Marinconz hit a deep fly ball to the wall in left field and it popped out of the glove of Luke Spillane as he crashed into the wall, Sam Biller scoring the winning run.
Nick Marinconz celebrates game-winning
RBI single in ninth inning of the opener.
UC Irvine rode the combined three-hit pitching of Michael Frias and Gordon Ingebritson to a 4-1 victory in the nightcap for a split of the twinbill.
The split leaves Cal Poly with a 17-14 overall mark and 7-8 in Big West games while UC Irvine went to 21-11 and 15-4, tied for first place with UC Santa Barbara, which swept UC San Diego by scores of 15-10 and 15-5.
Both starting pitchers in the opener tossed brilliant games.
Cal Poly's Andrew Alvarez recorded six scoreless innings before he was touched for two runs in the seventh. One was unearned, he struck out seven and was not involved in the decision.
UC Irvine's Nick Pinto (4-2) allowed just one run and four hits through eight innings before giving up all three runs in the ninth. All were unearned due to the two-out error. Pinto struck out three and also walked three.
Freshman Evan Tomlinson (1-0), in his first appearance on the mound this season, earned the win by securing the final two outs in the top of the ninth inning on a fly ball to center field and a grounder to second after UC Irvine had loaded the bases with one out.
Cal Poly struck first with a solo home run by Brooks Lee in the opening inning, his seventh of the year and second as a right-handed hitter.
Lee and Emmerson each had two of Cal Poly's six hits.
In the nightcap, Cal Poly held an early lead for the third time in the series as singles by Nick DiCarlo and Sam Biller preceded an RBI groundout by Joe Yorke in the second inning.
UC Irvine tallied a pair of runs in both the fifth and seventh frames to turn the game around and Frias (5-0) allowed just one run and two hits over eight innings for the win with nine strikeouts. Ingebritson pitched the ninth inning for his first save.
The loss went to Travis Weston (3-4), who gave up four runs and eight hits in a complete-game effort, striking out four. He got little run support as the Mustangs collected just three hits for the game.
DiCarlo singled twice for two of Cal Poly's three hits.
Catcher Dillon Tatum was a thorn in the side of the Mustangs. Hitting a home run in UC Irvine's 11-6 win Friday night, Tatum added a single in Saturday's opener and two home runs and a double in the nightcap. He has eight home runs for the season.
Final game of the series will be played Sunday at 1 o'clock with Cal Poly freshman right-hander Bryce Warrecker (1-1, 7.98 ERA) to face UC Irvine junior righty Peter Van Loon (1-2, 6.54 ERA).
