College Roundup: ‘Eaters edge Gaels

BASEBALL

UC Irvine 8, Saint Mary’s 7 (11 innings)

MORAGA — D.J. Crumlich doubled and scored on a wild pitch in the top of the 11th inning and Brian Hernandez earned his second win on the mound for UCI in the nonconference road game Saturday.

Jordan Leyland led UCI (8-1) with a three-run home run, his first of the season, while Crumlich and Hillman each had an RBI on two hits. Jordan Fox and Christian Ramirez added two hits apiece.

Hernandez pitched 3 2/3 scoreless relief innings.

Saint Mary’s is 3-6.

The series concludes today at 1 p.m.

*

MEN’S BASKETBALL

UC Riverside 75, UC Irvine 66

RIVERSIDE — The loss in the Big West Conference regular-season finale means the Anteaters (13-18, 6-10 in conference) finish tied for seventh and get the No. 8 seed in the conference tournament beginning Thursday at Honda Center.

UCI will play conference champion Long Beach State on Thursday at noon.

Junior Eric Wise had 20 points and 10 rebounds to pace UCI. Senior Darren Moore had 14 points for the ‘Eaters.

Riverside (11-18, 6-10) gets the seventh-place tiebreaker, having swept UCI.

*

Doubleheader

COSTA MESA — Matthew Avery went two for two with two runs batted in to help lead Vanguard to a 5-1 Golden State Athletic Conference win over The Master’s Saturday.

Jeremiah Mejia and Kyle Hardman each had a hit and an RBI in the nightcap the Lions lost, 5-3.

Mejia went two for three with one RBI in the victory. Starter Gabriel Garcia pitched eight innings, striking out 10, while giving up six hits and one run to improve to 4-1 for Vanguard (9-9, 5-3 in conference). Joseph Vega III picked up his third save with a perfect ninth.

The Master’s is 13-6, 4-2.

*

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

UC Riverside 66, UC Irvine 62

IRVINE — Sophomore forward Tayler Champion had a team-high 21 points and a career-high nine rebounds for the Anteaters in the final regular-season Big West Conference game Saturday.

Jade Smith-Williams had 16 points and a game-best six assists, while Jacquelyn Marshall totaled 10 points, all in the first half for UCI (15-14, 7-9 in conference), which finished fifth in the Big West.

UC Riverside (18-11, 11-5) clinched third place.

UC Irvine will play at UC Davis for a first-round Big West Tournament game Tuesday at 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast live by KUCI 88.9 FM as well over the internet at https://www.ucirvinesports.com.

*

MEN’S VOLLEYBALL

UC Irvine def. Pacific

IRVINE — Cory Yoder had a match-high 14 kills to help lead the No. 7-ranked Anteaters to a 25-23, 25-23, 25-16 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation win Saturday.

Carson Clark had 13 kills, Jordan DuFault added 12 kills and Anthony Spittle amassed 46 assists for UCI (11-9, 8-6 in the MPSF).

No. 15-ranked Pacific is 7-12, 3-10.

*

TRACK AND FIELD

Ben Brown Invitational

FULLERTON — Chloe Fata and Alisha Misiaita recorded second-place finishes to lead UC Irvine Saturday.

Fata finished second of 53 runners in the women’s 1,500 meters in 4 minutes, 36.42 seconds.

Misiaita placed second in the women’s shot put with a mark of 48 feet, 6 1/4 inches.