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Box
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| Junior
Drew Garcia picked up two hits, drove in two runs, and
scored a run on Saturday. |
(May
10, 2008) - UCR’s ninth-inning comeback attempt fell
short, dropping a 6-5 decision to UC Davis at the Riverside
Sports Complex Saturday afternoon. Trevor Hairgrove finished
the day 3-for-3 with two runs scored as his third hit of the
day started the two-run rally in the ninth for Highlanders
(17-17, 11-6 Big West).
UC
Davis closer Justin Fitzgerald induced Aaron Wible into a
game-ending double play, allowing the Aggies (30-18, 10-7
Big West) to escape with the victory. UCR could not overcome
the hot Aggie offense that came into the weekend, leading
the conference in hitting. Davis hitters recorded 15 hits
with 13 of them coming in the first five innings
The Highlanders took a 1-0 lead in the first on an RBI single
off the bat of Drew Garcia, scoring Carl Uhl who had led off
the inning with a walk and moved to third on a Joey Gonzales
base-hit.
UC
Davis tied the game with one run in the third on a RBI double
from Jake Jefferies. UCR regained the lead 2-1 in their half
of the third, on an RBI groundout from Gonzales, bringing
home Trevor Hairgrove who had doubled to lead off the inning.
The
Aggie bats came alive to start the fourth and eventually knocked
out Highlander starter Matt Larkins after he allowed two hits
to start the fifth. Davis used eight hits to score two runs
in the fourth and three more in the fifth. Kyle Mihaylo led
the charge in the fifth, lining a two-run double down the
left field line and one batter later he came home on a balk
call on UCR reliever Ryan Platt to make it a 6-2 ball game.
UCR
struggled to put together any type of rally against Davis
starter Brad McAtee in the middle innings, as McAtee limited
the Highlanders to just two hits in the fourth through seventh
innings. But with his pitch count in triple figures, UCR managed
to push a run across in the eighth, as Garcia scored on a
fielder’s choice to cut the Aggie lead to 6-3.
In
the ninth, the Highlanders got to within one, 6-5 off of Fitzgerald,
who entered the weekend with the second most saves in the
conference with 10. After a one-out single by Hairgrove and
a walk to Uhl, Gonzales bounced a single through the right
side to score Hairgrove and Garcia followed with a bloop single
to center field to bring Uhl home. With the tying run on second
and go-ahead run on first, Fitzgerald escaped the threat by
inducing Wible into a 4-6-3 double play to end the game.
McAtee improved to 7-3 after his eight innings of work and
Fitzgerald earned his 11th save. Larkins (6-4) suffered the
loss after allowing five earned is his four inning effort.
Platt pitched well out of the pen and gave the Highlanders
a chance, firing five innings of four hit ball.
The
top three UCR hitters (Uhl, Gonzales, Garcia) each collected
two hits and combined to score two runs, steal two bases,
and drive in four. Hairgrove also scored two runs and stole
a base in the losing effort.
The
two teams wrap up their Big West Conference series on Sunday
at 1:00 p.m.
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