IRVINE, Calif. – The North Dakota State baseball team dropped a 7-2 decision at UC Irvine on Saturday afternoon at Cicerone Field at Anteater Ballpark.

UC Irvine (2-0) jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the opening frame following an RBI double off the bat of Dub Gleed. The Bison (0-2) answered in the second inning locking the contest, 1-1, after Colten Becker scored on a wild pitch. The Anteaters then regained the lead in the fourth inning after Thomas McCaffrey connected on a two-run home run to left field to make the score 3-1.

The Bison trimmed the deficit down to one, 3-2, scoring their second run on a wild pitch in the fifth inning after Jake Schaffner was able to get home. UC Irvine pushed back in the bottom of the frame plating a pair of runs on a sacrifice fly and an RBI fielder's choice to stretch the lead to 5-2. After a scoreless sixth stanza, McCaffery once again answered for the Anteaters in the seventh with a two-run home run to increase the lead to 7-2. NDSU wasn't able to get anything going over the final two frames and dropped the contest, 7-2.

The Bison connected on five hits as a team with Sam Canton leading the way going 2-of-3 at the plate.

Logan Knight (0-1) made his Bison debut on the mound and logged one strikeout over 3.2 innings of work in the start. Nolan Johnson also checked in for 2.0 frames and tossed one strikeout.

NDSU will conclude it series at UC Irvine tomorrow. First pitch is set for 3:00 p.m. CT