Feb. 27, 2018
IRVINE, Calif. – The San Diego State baseball fell to UC Irvine, 9-4, at Anteater Ballpark on Tuesday night. The Aztecs head into next weekend's conference series with a 6-3 record, while UC Irvine improves to 6-2 on the year.
SDSU dug itself a hole to start out, as a trio of walks from starter Ray Lambert forced SDSU to go to the bullpen in the first inning. The Aztecs, which had a 1-0 lead heading into the bottom half of the first thanks to a Dean Nevarez RBI single, faced a 5-1 deficit after the first inning.
The brightest spot for the Aztecs in the setback was freshman Noah Fluman, who put on an impressive performance in his collegiate debut. To start his outing in the bottom of the forth, Fluman retired back-to-back batters via strikeout in a 1-2-3 frame. Fluman finished his collegiate debut with three scoreless innings pitched and only one hit allowed while striking out two.
For the third consecutive game, freshman Matt Rudick recorded a multi-hit performance, going 2-for-4 with a pair of RBI in the leadoff spot. Both of Rudick's RBIs came via a two-out single in the top of the eighth, which cut UCI's lead to 7-4.
Denz'l Chapman also recorded a 2-for-4 night and drove in Julian Escobedo with an RBI single in the fourth inning.
The Anteaters tallied a pair of eighth-inning runs to cap the scoring in the Tuesday night contest.
NOTES
- Since taking over the leadoff spot Sunday against Grand Canyon, Matt Rudick is 7-for-12 (.538) with three RBI in three games played.
- Four different SDSU pitchers made their 2018 debut (Fluman, Eder, Brown, Schmitt) on the mound and three made their first collegiate pitching appearance (Fluman, Eder, Schmitt).
- It is just the second time in the last six years that San Diego State has lost its road schedule opener.
- SDSU is now 5-2 in its last seven meetings with UC Irvine.
- Chase Calabuig extended his on-base streak to 23 games.
QUOTES
Head coach Mark Martinez
Opening comment:
"It's really hard to comeback from a really good UC Irvine team down five runs. I thought our guys showed a bit of character trying to get back into the game. (We) fought hard, but just as far as the pitching staff goes, we're holding guys back based on the fact that we have a conference series coming up this weekend."
On Noah Fluman's performance:
"He pitched exceptionally well. He threw strikes, kept them off balance, and had a big double play. I thought he filled up the strike zone and had great tempo and I'm real proud of him. He's put himself in the mix for sure."
On what to look towards with San Jose State:
"It's a big series for us. To play at San Jose the third weekend of the year is kind of the quirkiness of the Mountain West. We have to be prepared, going up there, it's not an easy place to play and play at a big park and we're also going to be possibly battling some weather up there. Need to go up there and find a way to win the series, for sure.
UP NEXT
Having played five games in the last five days, the Aztecs have a brief hiatus from action before starting Mountain West play this Friday, March 2, at San Jose State.