Riverside—It is the dawn of a new era out at The Plex as Troy Percival '91 begins his first season as head coach of the UC Riverside Baseball Team this weekend with a four-game homestand against the Portland Pilots. The 14-year big leaguer and 2003 World Series Champion takes over for Doug Smith who retired last year following 25 years on the UCR bench as an assistant and another decade as the team's head coach.
There are quite a few new faces on the squad this season, as Percival and company look to replace five starting position players and all three members of the weekend starting rotation.
Senior Joe Chavez is UC Riverside's top-returning hitter following a junior campaign that saw him post a slash line of .281/.376/.382 with 22 steals in 27 attempts.
Left-hander Kevin Sprague (0-1, 4.39) moves into the starting rotation this season after spending 2014 as the Highlander's closer. He is joined by RHP Angel Landazuri (3-2, 3.52), who was a long reliever and spot start for UC Riverside last year, and Cody Rogina (1-0, 2.57) who logged 14 innings of relief in 2014.
Portland is coming off of an 11-41 season including a 5-22 in the West Coast Conference. Last year, the Pilots posted a combined slash line of .218/.291/.287 while giving up a line of .306/.380/.418 on the defensive end.
Right-hander Jackson Lockwood (3-3, 3.50) takes to the mound on Friday, followed by righty Kurt Yinger (1-6, 5.51) and lefty transfer Cole Doherty on Saturday, and right-hander Davis Tominaga (1-5, 509) on Sunday.
UC Riverside is 2-4 all-time against Portland, with the Pilots taking two out of three-games in 2007 and 2014 (
view results).
