Baseball Battles The Beach In Search Of Third Place Big West Conference Finish

May 16	6 pm PT	vs. Long Beach State	RHP, Jake Smigelski	Game Notes	1440 am		Listen	Live Stats	(951) 827-4653 For Tickets
May 17	6 pm PT	vs. Long Beach State	RHP, Zach Varela		1440 am	Watch On ESPN3	Listen	Live Stats	(951) 827-4653 For Tickets
May 18	1 pm PT	vs. Long Beach State	LHP, Ben Doucette		1440 am	Watch On ESPN3	Listen	Live Stats	(951) 827-4653 For Tickets

Riverside—The UC Riverside Baseball Team continues its late push for an NCAA postseason berth as the Highlanders host Long Beach State (27-23, 12-6) this weekend for a three-game Big West Conference series at The Plex.

The Highlanders' (23-24, 10-8) RPI improved to 69 in the nation following their wins over Cal State Fullerton last weekend. A series victory over the Dirtbags, ranked 52 in the country entering the week, would raise UC Riverside's profile further, and set them up for a potential third place finish in the Big West.

UCR is coming off of a 9-6 victory over Loyola Marymount on Tuesday that moved the Highlanders to within a game of .500 (box score/recap). Five Highlanders had at least two hits on the night, and Cody Rogina picked up his first win of the season with three scoreless innings of relief.

Drake Zarate was named the Big West Conference Field Player of the Week on Monday following his performance against the Titans (read the release). He is now hitting .301 on the season. Thomas Walker recently took over the team lead in batting average, and is now hitting .347 including .394 in conference play. His .446 on base percentage and .545 slugging percentage against Big West competition are also tops on the squad.

The Highlanders pitching rotation has remained unchanged over the past two months as Jake Smigelski (7-5, 3.35) gets the nod on Friday, Zach Varela (5-4, 3.11) pitches on Saturday and Ben Doucette (3-4, 4.84) takes to the mound on Sunday. Sunday is also Senior Day for the Highlanders as they will honor the eight members of the Class of 2014.

Long Beach State opened the 2014 season with four straight losses, and bounced around the .500 mark for much of the season before going on a tear recently, particularly in conference play. The Dirtbags have won four straight conference series and are 9-3 during that span. Overall, they have won nine of their last 11 games.

LBSU's pitching staff has a 3.03 ERA on the season led by a pair of weekend starters with sub-2.00 marks—Friday starter Andrew Rohrbach (6-1, 1.92) and Saturday starter Josh Frye (6-0, 1.91). Nick Sabo (3-5, 3.50) gets the start on Sunday for the Dirtbags.

Offensively, just two members of the squad are hitting .300 or better—Garrett Hampson (.315) and Ino Patron (.300). As a team, Long Beach State has an offensive slash line of .255/.328/.332.

The Highlanders are 26-41 all-time against the Dirtbags (view all-time results). Long Beach State has won five straight against UC Riverside including a three-game series sweep in 2013.

Baseball Battles The Beach In Search Of Third Place Big West Conference Finish

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