The SDSU baseball team (11-26, 5-13 Mountain West) lost a hard-fought game against No.17 UC Irvine (25-8, 11-4 Big West) Friday night by a score of 4-3.
With the regular season for SDSU entering its final month, the Aztecs are left searching for consistency across all facets to end on a high note. The 2024 season has been back-and-forth, winning a series against New Mexico, a top-four team in the conference, as well as beating an SEC team in Missouri.
The young SDSU team has flashed their potential but is still looking for continuity on a series-to-series basis. They now find themselves on the road against a top 25 team in the nation, a real test to gauge the type of team they can be.
UC Irvine would immediately jump out to a 2-0 lead in the second inning drawing two walks, an RBI double and a sacrifice fly, utilizing situational at-bats to bring runners home. This lead would be extended to 4-0 in the fourth inning thanks to a 4-hit inning by the Anteaters.
As they have all year when faced with an early deficit, the Scarlet and Black would chip the lead down and find their way back into the game late. Outfielder Jacob McCombs would blast a solo home run in the sixth inning to make the game 4-1 — this would be McComb’s fourth homer of the season.
After entering the game in the seventh, SDSU pitcher Jadon Bercovich pitched two scoreless innings while recording three strikeouts and allowing just one hit to keep the game in striking range.
Outfielders Jacob McCombs and Irvin Weems would begin the eighth inning with a pair of base hits to give SDSU life. An RBI single from outfielder Jake Jackson and an RBI single from infielder Manoah Chapman would cut the lead to 4-3.
The UCI pitching staff would strand the remaining runners for SDSU in the eighth, and then record a 1-2-3 inning in the ninth to shut the door on an Aztec comeback.
The Scarlet and Black will get another shot at the No.17 Anteaters at 6:00 p.m. in Tony Gwynn Stadium on Saturday, April 20 then head back to Irvine to end the series the following day at 1:00 p.m.
