Box Score Davis, CA—The UC Riverside Baseball Team banged out 13 hits Sunday afternoon, including a season-high tying six doubles, as the Highlanders upended UC Davis, 11-6.
Those 11 runs are the most UC Riverside has scored in a game this season since the team plated a season-high 14 against Holy Cross on March 6 (
box score/
recap).
Aggies' starter Robert Garcia (2-6) allowed just one hit over his first four innings of work, but things unraveled for the left-hander in the top of the fifth. Tony Gudino got things started for the Highlanders with a lead-off double to right center. Ian Nowak took his place on second four pitches later, lacing a double of his own down the left field line to put UC Riverside up 1-0.
After Colby Schultz drew a walk, AJ Sawyer doubled to left, scoring Nowak and Schultz. Two batters later Michael Farris' single to left made it 4-0 Highlanders (19-28, 4-14).
UC Davis (17-26, 9-12) cut the lead in half in their half of the fifth, when Cameron Briggs' single up the middle scored Alejandro Lara and Mark Cardinalli.
UC Riverside extended its lead in the top of the sixth with yet another double, as Sawyer drove in Gudino for his second run of the game.
The Aggies inched closer in the bottom of the seventh thanks to a Elijah Ontiveros infield single that plated Cardinalli.
Highlanders startet Ricky Delgado (1-2) went 6.2 innings, scattering five hits and allowing three runs, while Nick Shur pitched a scoreless one-and-two-thirds of relief to take the game to the ninth.
The Highlanders tacked on six more runs in the top of the inning, sending 11 men to the plate. It was a good thing they did, as the Aggies scored three runs in their half of the game for the final five-run margin of victory.
UC Riverside returns to the Inland Empire this week for a three-game Big West series against UC Irvine beginning Friday, May 19.