Sunday, May 28
UC Riverside
8
at
6
UC Irvine
Regular Season Ends on High Note for Highlanders
5/28/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
UC Riverside jumped out to an 8-2 lead and withstood a late rally to win 8-6 at UC Irvine Sunday afternoon in the regular season finale for both teams at Anteater Ballpark. The Highlanders snap a four-game losing streak to finish out at 29-25, 9-12 in the Big West Conference, while the Anteaters fall to 36-22 overall and 11-10.
UCR started strong, scoring three runs in the top of the first off UCI starter Scott Gorgen (7-4). Junior CF Brett Bigler reached first on a fielder?s choice and stole second, breaking the school's Division I single season record for stolen bases with his 26th. Bigler then scored on senior 3B Brian Steinmeyer?s single and Steinmeyer, in turn, crossed the plate on junior LF D.J. Hollingsworth?s double to right field.
The Highlanders continued the scoring with three runs in the fifth on an RBI double from Steinmeyer and a pair of run-scoring singles from sophomore 1B Aaron Wible and senior DH Andrew Clay. Wible added an RBI single in the seventh and another in the eighth when senior C Jeff Abney tripled and came home on sophomore 2B Drew Garcia's sacrifice fly.
Wible finished 3-for-5 with three RBI while Steinmeyer went 2-for-5 with two RBI and three runs scored in his final appearance in the UCR uniform. Hollingsworth also had two hits as seven of UCR's nine starters collected at least one hit each.
UCI second baseman Cody Cipriano answered with a solo home run in the first and designated hitter Zach Robinson scored on an error in the seventh after doubling to right to lead off the frame. In the Anteater ninth, Jaime Martinez doubled to right to lead off the inning. Matt Morris was hit by the pitch and third baseman Tim Wojcik drew a full-count walk to load the bases with one out. Pinch hitter Josh Tavelli tripled to left center and would later score on catcher Aaron Lowenstein?s sacrifice fly.
Gorgen pitched 4 2/3 innings, giving up six runs on eight hits while reliever Gary Nakashima allowed two runs on three hits in 3 1/3 innings. Travis Rhymes struck out one in a scoreless inning of relief.
UCR starting pitcher sophomore RHP James Simmons had his longest outing of the season, tossing 8 1/3 innings, holding UCI to six hits while striking out seven and giving up just three runs. Simmons improved to 9-5, posting the most victories in a season by a Highlander hurler since John Martinez won nine in 2004. He also finished the year with 94 strikeouts, the most since Chris Smith had 127 in 2002. Senior LHP Matt Millett closed out his career with 2/3 innings of work.
UCR started strong, scoring three runs in the top of the first off UCI starter Scott Gorgen (7-4). Junior CF Brett Bigler reached first on a fielder?s choice and stole second, breaking the school's Division I single season record for stolen bases with his 26th. Bigler then scored on senior 3B Brian Steinmeyer?s single and Steinmeyer, in turn, crossed the plate on junior LF D.J. Hollingsworth?s double to right field.
The Highlanders continued the scoring with three runs in the fifth on an RBI double from Steinmeyer and a pair of run-scoring singles from sophomore 1B Aaron Wible and senior DH Andrew Clay. Wible added an RBI single in the seventh and another in the eighth when senior C Jeff Abney tripled and came home on sophomore 2B Drew Garcia's sacrifice fly.
Wible finished 3-for-5 with three RBI while Steinmeyer went 2-for-5 with two RBI and three runs scored in his final appearance in the UCR uniform. Hollingsworth also had two hits as seven of UCR's nine starters collected at least one hit each.
UCI second baseman Cody Cipriano answered with a solo home run in the first and designated hitter Zach Robinson scored on an error in the seventh after doubling to right to lead off the frame. In the Anteater ninth, Jaime Martinez doubled to right to lead off the inning. Matt Morris was hit by the pitch and third baseman Tim Wojcik drew a full-count walk to load the bases with one out. Pinch hitter Josh Tavelli tripled to left center and would later score on catcher Aaron Lowenstein?s sacrifice fly.
Gorgen pitched 4 2/3 innings, giving up six runs on eight hits while reliever Gary Nakashima allowed two runs on three hits in 3 1/3 innings. Travis Rhymes struck out one in a scoreless inning of relief.
UCR starting pitcher sophomore RHP James Simmons had his longest outing of the season, tossing 8 1/3 innings, holding UCI to six hits while striking out seven and giving up just three runs. Simmons improved to 9-5, posting the most victories in a season by a Highlander hurler since John Martinez won nine in 2004. He also finished the year with 94 strikeouts, the most since Chris Smith had 127 in 2002. Senior LHP Matt Millett closed out his career with 2/3 innings of work.
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