IRVINE, Calif. – Washington State held an early lead but dropped its series-finale at No. 22 UC Irvine Sunday afternoon.
 
The Cougars received two hits from Rob Teel and a pair of doubles from Andres Alvarez but the Anteaters used a three-run homer in a four-run fifth inning that broke open a 3-3 tie. UC Irvine improved to 15-4 overall and are picked to finish second in the Big West Conference.
 
In the first, the Cougars used four straight two-out hits to push two runs across as RBI-singles from Teel and Collin Montez gave WSU a 2-0 advantage.
 
In the fourth, Teel led off the inning with a lined single into center and Montez was hit by a pitch. Following a sacrifice bunt, Koby Blunt brought home Teel with an RBI-groundout to shortstop for a 3-0 advantage. In the bottom half, Irvine cut the lead to 3-2 with a two-run homer to left centerfield.
 
In the fifth, the Anteaters used a Cougar throwing error to tie the game at 3-3 before a three-run homer to left field made it a 6-3 UCI lead.
 
In the seventh, Andres Alvarez led off the inning with a double the other way down the right field line and later scored on a two-out single to left field by Kodie Kolden. UCI answered in their half of the seventh with two runs for an 8-4 advantage.
 
 INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Kyle Manzardo singled in the 1st to extend his hitting streak to a team season-best 10 games
Collin Montez singled in the 1st to extend his hitting streak to 7 games, on-base streak to 18
Trent Sellers worked a perfect 8^th inning, recording a pair of strikeouts
 
NEXT UP
The Cougars will wrap up their four-game road trip with a nonconference contest at Loyola Marymount Monday at 2 p.m.