Wild Pitch In Bottom Of The Ninth Sends Baseball To 7-6 Defeat At San Diego

Tuesday, April 22

San Diego, CA

6:00 pm

UC Riverside

17-19

San Diego

27-14

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
UC Riverside	0	1	0	0	0	3	1	0	1	6	7	4
San Diego	2	0	0	0	1	0	1	2	1	7	9	2

Photo by: Carlos Puma

Wild Pitch In Bottom Of The Ninth Sends Baseball To 7-6 Defeat At San Diego

4/22/2014 9:56:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

San Diego, CA—Shuyo Chang's RBI single in the top of the ninth tied the score at six and the Highlanders and Toreros appeared headed for extra innings, but San Diego put runners on the corners with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, and a wild pitch gave them a 7-6 victory (Box Score).

Angel Landazuri got the first collegiate start of his career, and the Toreros jumped on him early scoring a pair in the first. Austin Bailey led off the game with a single up the middle, and Connor Joe's double to lef center put San Diego up 1-0. A Andrew Daniel fly out to center moved Joe to third, and Louie Lechich grounded out to first to make it 2-0.

The Highlanders (17-19) cut the lead in half in the top of the second without the benefit of a base hit. Matt Ellis and Alex Rubanowitz drew one-out walks off of Toreros starter CJ Burdick, and a wild pitch moved both runners up 90 feet. Burdick then walked Cody Hough to load the bases and Joe Chavez lifted a sac fly to left slicing the San Diego (27-14) lead in half. Bolasky was hit by a pitch loading the bases again, but relief pitcher Seve Romo came in and got Francisco Telle to pop out to short.

Landazuri settled down after the first keeping the Toreros off the board in the second and third before giving way to Dylan Stuart. After logging a scoreless fourth, Stuart gave up an unearned run in the fifth as Bailey reached on a two-out error by Nick Vilter. After a wild pitch, Joe singled to short to put runners at the corners, and Daniel singled to center putting San Diego back up by two.

Romo was still on the mound in the top of the sixth, and he retired Thomas Walker on a fly ball to center to open the frame, but Matt Ellis singled to left and Rubanowitz singled through the right side putting runners on first and third. San Diego made the call to the bullpen again, bringing in Max MacNabb. MacNabb walked Hough to fill the bases, and struck out Chavez for the second out of the inning. He then got Devyn Bolasky to hit a grounder to third for what should have been the final out of the inning, but Joe's throw to first was off the mark, and scoring Ellis and Rubanowitz to tie the score at three. MacNabb then got Tellez to ground to first, but Josh Goossen-Brown couldn't handle it, and Hough scored to put the Highlanders up 4-3.

PJ Conlon came on in the top of the seventh, and David Andriese greeted him with a solo shot over the right field wall giving UC Riverside a two-run cushion.

The Toreros got a run back in their half of the seventh when Joe doubled down the left field line off of Jordon Kron (1-6) scoring Bailey who walked to start the inning. San Diego regained the lead in the eighth as Jesse Jenner reached on a Hough error, and scored when Kyle Holder homered to right.

UC Riverside wasn't done, however, as Nick Vilter led off the top of the ninth with a double down the left field line. A David Andriese ground out to second moved Vilter to third, and the Toreros walked Walker intentionally. Matt Ellis struck out bringing Chang to the plate with the game on the line. Chang delivered, coming through with a single through the right side, scoring Vilter and tying the score at six.

Kevin Sprague (0-1), who got the final two outs of the eighth, returned for the Highlanders to pitch the ninth. After getting Joe to fly out to center, Sprague gave up a single to right to Daniel. The ball got by Andriese, though, and Daniel made his way all the way to third. Sprague then struck out Lechich for the second out, and intentionally walked Jenner. Sprague's first pitch to Holder was off the mark, and Daniel was able to score on the wild pitch.

The Highlanders remain on the road this weekend as they travel to UC Santa Barbara for a three-game series with the Gauchos.