Thursday, March 5
Palm Springs, CA
10:00 AM
UC Riverside
9
vs
5
Texas Tech
Highlanders Tie Best D-I Start With 9-5 Win Over Texas Tech
3/5/2009 2:09:21 PM | Baseball
UC Riverside 9, Texas Tech 5 - Box Score
UC Riverside tied its best start through ten games in its Division I history Thursday with a 9-5 win over Texas Tech at the Palm Springs Invitational. The Highlanders are now 8-2 on the year, which equals the start of the 2003 version of the squad and betters by one game the first ten game stretch of its 2007 Big West Conference Championship team.
Holding on to a 5-4 lead heading into the top of the eighth, Head Coach Doug Smith pinch hit Bryan Horst to lead off the inning and he rewarded that decision with an infield single. Trevor Hairgrove dropped down a bunt putting runners at first and third, and Carl Uhl followed with a walk to load the bases. Texas Tech's Cory Large was in his fourth inning of relief work at this point, having taken over for Red Raiders starter Nathan Karns in the fourth.
Texas Tech stayed with Large as he starred down Highlanders center fielder Joey Gonzales. Gonzales won the battle with a single through the right side, plating two and giving UCR a 7-4 lead. Ryan Goetz, last week's Big West Player of the Week, grounded out to score the Highlanders' third run of the inning before Large was removed in favor of Brian Cloud. A wild pitch sent Gonzales to third, and Tony Nix's subsequent sac fly to left brought Gonzales home.
That gave UC Riverside a 9-4 lead heading into bottom of the eighth, but the odds of the Highlanders relaxing with a five-run lead were long. It was just two days ago that these same Red Raiders entered the top of the ninth against UCR trailing 9-4 before scoring four runs in the inning and putting the tying run at third. The Highlanders escaped with the 9-8 win, but that experience had to be in the back of their heads on Thursday.
Dustin Emmons was on the hill for UC Riverside at that point having taken over for starter Paul Bargas an inning earlier. Emmons retired the first Texas Tech batter in the top of the eighth, but pinch hitter Logan Leslie drilled a solo shot over the right field fence to cut the Highlanders lead to four. Emmons responded with a strikeout and a groundout to end the inning.
UCR threatened in the ninth, but came up empty as they stranded two runners and ended their half ot the inning with a pickoff. Kevin Dickey came in for the Highlanders in the bottom of the ninth to finish things for UC Riverside giving up a one-out double before striking out the last two batters to end the game.
Bargas (1-1) picked up his first win of the season for the Highlanders pitching six innings on the day and striking out five. Goetz and Nix paced UCR with three runs batted in apiece, while Gonzales scored three runs on the day.
Next up for the Highlanders is a 10 am Friday meeting with Gonzaga.
UC Riverside tied its best start through ten games in its Division I history Thursday with a 9-5 win over Texas Tech at the Palm Springs Invitational. The Highlanders are now 8-2 on the year, which equals the start of the 2003 version of the squad and betters by one game the first ten game stretch of its 2007 Big West Conference Championship team.
Holding on to a 5-4 lead heading into the top of the eighth, Head Coach Doug Smith pinch hit Bryan Horst to lead off the inning and he rewarded that decision with an infield single. Trevor Hairgrove dropped down a bunt putting runners at first and third, and Carl Uhl followed with a walk to load the bases. Texas Tech's Cory Large was in his fourth inning of relief work at this point, having taken over for Red Raiders starter Nathan Karns in the fourth.
Texas Tech stayed with Large as he starred down Highlanders center fielder Joey Gonzales. Gonzales won the battle with a single through the right side, plating two and giving UCR a 7-4 lead. Ryan Goetz, last week's Big West Player of the Week, grounded out to score the Highlanders' third run of the inning before Large was removed in favor of Brian Cloud. A wild pitch sent Gonzales to third, and Tony Nix's subsequent sac fly to left brought Gonzales home.
That gave UC Riverside a 9-4 lead heading into bottom of the eighth, but the odds of the Highlanders relaxing with a five-run lead were long. It was just two days ago that these same Red Raiders entered the top of the ninth against UCR trailing 9-4 before scoring four runs in the inning and putting the tying run at third. The Highlanders escaped with the 9-8 win, but that experience had to be in the back of their heads on Thursday.
Dustin Emmons was on the hill for UC Riverside at that point having taken over for starter Paul Bargas an inning earlier. Emmons retired the first Texas Tech batter in the top of the eighth, but pinch hitter Logan Leslie drilled a solo shot over the right field fence to cut the Highlanders lead to four. Emmons responded with a strikeout and a groundout to end the inning.
UCR threatened in the ninth, but came up empty as they stranded two runners and ended their half ot the inning with a pickoff. Kevin Dickey came in for the Highlanders in the bottom of the ninth to finish things for UC Riverside giving up a one-out double before striking out the last two batters to end the game.
Bargas (1-1) picked up his first win of the season for the Highlanders pitching six innings on the day and striking out five. Goetz and Nix paced UCR with three runs batted in apiece, while Gonzales scored three runs on the day.
Next up for the Highlanders is a 10 am Friday meeting with Gonzaga.
Thursday, May 21
Monday, May 04
Friday, May 01
Tuesday, March 24
