Riverside—North Dakota scored three runs in the first inning and tacked on six more in the seventh and eighth to pick up a 9-5 victory over the UC Riverside Baseball Team Saturday in game two of the teams' three-game series.
UND touched Highlanders starter Keaton Leach (1-2) for three runs in the top of the first thanks to three singles, two wild pitches and a walk. North Dakota (4-8) threatened in the second as well loading the bases with two outs, but Leach worked out of the jam.
In the third, Leach sent two pitches over the head of Daniel Lockhert, causing both teams to leave their benches, but cooler heads prevailed, and play resumed.
It remained a 3-0 game until the bottom of the fourth when Vince Fernandez lifted a towering fly ball down the right field line and over the fence. Fernandez trotted around the bases and the UCR fight song player briefly, but the first base umpire never made a call signaling if the ball was fair or foul. Instead, he called the home plate and third base umpire together for a conference before finally ruling that Ferandez's shot was, indeed, a home run..
UC Riverside (7-12) made it a one-run game in the bottom of the sixth taking advantage of a North Dakota miscue. Pinch hitter Robby Witt led off the inning with a grounder to short that dribbled through Tyler Follis' legs for an error. Austin Colvin singled through the right side, and Alex Rubanowitz laid down a sac bunt putting runners on second and third. Mark Contreras' ground out to short plated the Highlanders second run of the day.
That was as close as UCR would get, however, as North Dakota sent eight men to the plate in the inning, scoring five to go up 8-3. They tacked on another run in the top of the eighth thanks to a two-out single, a pair of wild pitches and a Ryan Reese single to right.
Down to their last three outs, the Highlanders rallied, taking advantage of two more North Dakota errors to cut the lead to four at 9-5, but Witt grounded out to short with runners on second and third for the final our of the game.
Zach Muckenhirn (1-3) picked up the win for North Dakota, while Andrew Thome pitched four innings for his first save of the season.
UNC and UCR play game three of their three-game series on Sunday, March 15 beginning at 1 pm PT at The Plex.
