James Castagnola leads UC Irvine baseball to win over Fresno State in NCAA regional
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James Castagnola hit a two-out three-run homer in the second inning and UC Irvine never looked back in an 8-3 victory over Fresno State on Saturday in an elimination game of the Los Angeles Regional.
No. 2 seed UC Irvine (42-16) awaits the loser of the nightcap between top-seeded host UCLA and No. 3 seed Arizona State in a Sunday elimination game. Fresno State finishes 31-29.
Castagnola’s homer came after Fresno State starter Aidan Cremarosa (6-6) hit Jacob McCombs leading off before walking Blake Penso with one out. McCombs hit a two-out solo shot in the third and Alonso Reyes walked and scored on a double play in the fourth for a 5-0 advantage.
Jacob McCombs and Blake Penso put UC Irvine in position to win, but the Anteaters come up short at critical times in a 4-2 loss to Arizona State in the NCAA regionals.
Lee Trevino singled in an unearned run that Anteaters reliever David Utagawa (2-0) inherited from starter Riley Kelly in the fourth and Eddie Saldivar hit a two-out solo homer off Utagawa in the fifth to get the Bulldogs within 5-2.
McCombs, who went three for four, singled in a run in the seventh and Colin Yeaman and Anthony Martinez had RBIs in the ninth for UC Irvine.
Justin Stransky had an RBI single in the eighth off Anteaters reliever Max Martin, who replaced Utagawa after he gave up a leadoff single to Saldivar.
Kelly surrendered two runs — one earned — on four hits in 4⅔ innings. Martin gave up a hit in two scoreless innings to close it out.
Cremarosa yielded five runs in six innings. Drew Townson followed and gave up three runs while retiring four batters.
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