UCI rallies to beat Pacific

BASEBALL

UC Irvine 5, Pacific 4

IRVINE — Taylor Sparks belted a fastball off the left-field pole for a two-run, walk-off home run to lift the Anteaters to the Big West Conference opening win Friday night.

The Anteaters (15-9) were down to their final out in the bottom of the ninth, trailing 5-4 with Christian Ramirez standing on second following a leadoff single and a sacrifice bunt by pinch-hitter Dillon Moyer. Sparks, who was two for four with two runs batted in, stepped to the plate and hit a first-pitch offering from reliever John Prato Matthews for his team-high third round-tripper of the year.

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Santa Ana 7, Orange Coast 6

SANTA ANA — Bryan Garza went two for four with four runs batted in, but the Pirates had their eight-game winning streak snapped after the Orange Empire Conference loss Friday.

Bijan Rademacher went two for three with one RBI and three runs for OCC (24-3-1, 11-2 in conference), which had eight hits to Santa Ana’s seven. The Pirates committed four errors.

The Dons are 19-7, 8-5.

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Azusa Pacific 17, Vanguard 4

AZUSA — Nikko Tountas went three for four with two runs batted in for the Lions in the Golden State Athletic Conference game Friday.

Bryce Arroyo (one RBI, one run) and Henry Yates (one run) had two hits each for Vanguard (14-13, 5-11 in conference).

APU, ranked No. 5, is 26-6, 15-2.

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MEN’S VOLLEYBALL

UC Irvine def. UC Santa Barbara

IRVINE — Jeremy Dejno had 14 kills to lead the No. 1-ranked Anteaters to a 25-16, 25-22, 25-22 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation win Friday at Crawford Court.

Carson Clark had 11 kills, Zachary La Cavera had 23 digs and Chris Austin had 34 assists for UCI (19-3, 15-3 in the MPSF).

UCSB, ranked No. 15, is 5-17, 3-14.

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Orange Coast def. San Diego Mesa

SAN DIEGO — John Christian had 10 kills to help the Pirates win the Pacific Coast Conference match, 25-21, 25-17, 25-7, Friday.

Chris Van Buren had nine kills and two aces and Michael Ensign had 36 assists and four blocks for OCC (10-4, 8-1 in conference).

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MEN’S TENNIS

Azusa Pacific 8, Vanguard 1

AZUSA — Lukas Larsson and Robin Wagner won at No. 3 doubles for the Lions in the Golden State Athletic Conference Friday.

Vanguard, ranked No. 6, is 9-6.

No. 4-ranked APU is 14-1.

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SOFTBALL

Santa Ana 9, Orange Coast 6

COSTA MESA — Nicolette Lujan went four for four with two runs batted in and a run for the Pirates in the Orange Empire Conference game Friday.

Alosina Skipps was three for four with one RBI and one run, while Rebecca Kendrick (two RBIs, one run) and Kayla Blanco (one RBI, one run) had two hits each for OCC (8-22, 2-12 in conference).

Santa Ana is 17-9, 8-6.