Riverside—The UC Riverside Baseball Team put together another late rally, Sunday afternoon, earning a split in its four-game, weekend series against Washington with an 8-5 victory.

Down by as many as four runs, and still trailing 5-4 in the bottom of the seventh, the Highlanders plated four in the frame to go up 8-5.

Casey Worden led off the inning turning on a 2-1 offering and ripping it over the fence in deep center field. Vince Fernandez then drew a walk, and advanced to third on an Aaron Cisneros pop up to first. First baseman John Naff tried to double up Fernandez, but his throw back to the pitcher covering first was wide of the mark and sailed into the Huskies' dugout. That allowed Fernandez to move up two bags, and after Thomas Walker was hit by a pitch, Yeager Taylor singled through the right side with the go-ahead run.

That brought Henry Baker out of the bullpen to replace reliever Ryan Schmitten, and he promptly threw a wild pitch that moved Walker and Fernandez up 90 feet each. After Mark Contreras grounded out to first, Lance Berringer was called on to pitch to Michael Farris, but Farris drilled a single to left plating two more Highlanders to put UCR up 8-5.

Matt Ellis (1-0), who entered the game in the top of the sixth, was credited with the win with two innings of one-hit relief. Jacob Worrell tossed the final two innings of shutout baseball to earn his first save of the season.

Tyler Musgrave got the start for the Highlanders, but the Huskies touched him for four earned runs over 3.2 innings and led 4-0 after three-and-a-half.

Washington starter Greg Minier was efficient in his first three innings, needing just 31 pitches to get through the first nine outs. All that changed in the bottom of the fourth, though. Fernandez laced the first pitch he saw through the right side of the infield. advancing to second on a Cisneros ground out. Walker then singled up the middle scoring Fernandez for UC Riverside's first run of the day. After AJ Sawyer flew out to right center, Matt Hardy ripped a 1-0 offering over the left field fence to cut the lead to one, 4-3.

Washington got a run back in the top of the fifth on Josh Cushing's second home run of the season to put the Huskies back up by two, 5-3.

The Highlanders kept plugging away through scoring a run in the bottom of the sixth on a Colby Schultz grounder that scored Mark Contreras from third. And then Worden tied things up at five when he blasted a 2-1 Ryan Schmitten pitch over the wall in dead center.

Schmitten (0-1) was credited with the loss allowing five earned runs in his 1.2 innings of relief.

The Highlanders hit the road for the first time this season, traveling to Potland for a three-game series beginning Friday, March 4.