Box Score Fresno, CA—The UC Riverside Baseball Team brought its late-inning magic to the ballpark for the second straight game, erasing a 3-0 deficit in the eight and ninth, and pushing the winning run across in the 18th on an RBI single by freshman Connor Cannon.
The 18 innings tied the program record for its longest game ever, originally set back in 1979 against Chapman University.
Fresno State (2-3) jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first thanks to a lead off double by Scott Silva, a wild pitch, and an RBI ground out.
Silva was in the mix again in the bottom of the third, leading off the frame with a single up the middle. Austin Guibor doubled to right center scoring Silva with the Bulldogs' second run of the game. Jake Stone's fly out to center moved Guibor up 90 feet, and after a Jared Akins walk put runners at the corners, Jesse Medrano singled to right to make it 3-0 Fresno State.
UCR (3-1) starter Ricky Delgado settled down after that, going six innings and striking out four.
Meanwhile, the Bulldogs' Ricky Tyler Thomas kept the Highlanders off balance, allowing just one hit, and striking out 15 through seven innings of work. He gave way to Ryan Jensen in the top of the eighth, and UC Riverside immediately took advantage of the pitching change.
Yeager Taylor drew a one-out walk, advancing to second on a wild pitch, and Michael Farris drew a four-pitch free pass to bring the tying run to the plate. The Bulldogs made another call to the bullpen, bringing in Edgar Gonzalez, and he got Colby Schultz to strike out swinging for the second out of the inning.
Gonzalez wasn't so fortunate over the next two batters, walking Mark Contreras on four straight pitches to load the bases, and allowing a single to left off the bat of Cannon which drove in two. Gonzalez finally recorded the third out of the inning on a Tony Gudino groundout,
The Highlanders jumped on Gonzalez again in the top of the ninth with an infield single by Aaron Cisneros, and an Ian Nowak single to right. Skyler de Los Reyes pinch ran for Cisneros, and Cade Peters' single to left center scored de Los Reyes with the tying run.
The teams traded zeroes over the next eight innings, with each having a handful of chances to end the game, but it wasn't until the top of the 18th that the Highlanders were able to break the tie. Daniel Martinez reached on an error by the Bulldogs first baseman, and Schultz promptly sacrificed him to second. Contreras flew out to left, but Cannon delivered a two-strike single through the left side that brought Martinez plateward.
Head Coach Troy Percival brought on closer Ryan Lillie to secure the win, and he struck out the side in recording his second save of the season. Trenton Toplikar (1-0) got credit for the win tossing two innings of scoreless relief.
The Highlanders and Bulldogs play game two of their three-game series on Saturday, February 25 at 2:05 pm PT.
