IRVINE, Calif. – The North Dakota State baseball team fell short in the series finale at UC Irvine, 10-4, on Sunday afternoon at Cicerone Field at Anteater Ballpark.

Colten Becker got the Bison (0-3) out to the early 1-0 lead in the first inning after he delivered a single through the right side. Following a scoreless second frame, UC Irvine (3-0), who entered the week receiving votes in the USA Today Coaches' Poll, answered with a three-run home run from Anthony Martinez and a two-run home run off the bat of Jo Oyama to steal the 5-1 advantage in the third inning.

Kyle Law sparked the Bison with an RBI single through the right side before Will Busch got home on a wild pitch to pull the Bison back within two, 5-3, in the fourth inning. The Anteaters pushed back in the bottom half tacking on an unearned run after an RBI ground out to make the score 6-3.

Following a scoreless fifth, UC Irvine increased its edge to 7-3 with an RBI double from Caden Kendle. The Anteaters then put game out of reach in the seventh adding three runs on two hits to make the score 10-3 after a single from Abraham Garcia-Pacheco. NDSU went on to drop the contest, 10-4, after James Dunlap notched a two-out RBI single in the ninth.

The Bison totaled 12 hits as a team with seven different players notching at least one. Jack Steil paced NDSU going 3-of-5 at the plate with one run.

Landon Koenig (0-1) made his Bison debut on the mound with one strikeout over 3.0 innings. Joey Danielson closed out the final 2.0 frames and tossed a team-best three strikeouts with one walk.

NDSU will be back in action at Long Beach State on Tuesday night. First pitch is set for 8:00 p.m. CT