Riverside—The UC Riverside Baseball Team concludes its nine-game home stand this week with games Tuesday and Wednesday against nationally-ranked Oregon. First pitch Tuesday at The Plex is slated for 6 pm PT, and Wednesday's game begins at 3 pm.
The Highlanders have won three of their last four games including taking two of three from Tulane over the weekend. The Green Wave entered the week with the best ERA in the nation, but the Highlanders scored 13 runs in the three-game series. UCR also picked up Big West Conference Pitcher (Angel Landazuri) and Player (Mark Contreras) of the Week honors for their play over the weekend (
read story).
Joie Dunyon (0-0, 1.76) gets the start on Tuesday for UC Riverside. It will be his second start of the season. The first came back on March 11 vs. Bakersfield (
box score/
recap) where Dunyon gave up four hits and walked three in 4.2 innings of work, allowing three unearned runs. He did not figure in the decision.
Jesus Gonzales makes his third start of the year for the Highlanders on Wednesday. He lasted 4.1 innings allowing three hits and no earned runs at Washington State on February 28 (
box score/
recap), but gave up three earned runs in 3.0 innings at San Francisco on March 8 (
box score/
recap).
Oregon enters the week with a 15-8 overall record including 2-4 in Pac-12 play. The Ducks began the season with a 10-1 record, but have gone just 5-7 since.
Pitching is Oregon's strong suit as they boast an ERA of 3.09 and are holding opponents to a .220 batting average as a staff. Right-hander Trent Paddon (1-2, 10.12) makes his fourth start of the season for the Ducks on Tuesday, while lefty Jacob Corn (1-0, 6.35) make his second start on Wednesday.
Spot starter and reserve Jakob Goldfarb is the lone member of the Ducks sporting a batting average north of .300. He is hitting .309 on the year, and is second on the team on in base percentage (.564) and third in slugging (.455). Shaun Casey has four dingers on the year for Oregon, but is batting just .231 with a .330 on base percentage. The Ducks play in one of the most pitcher-friendly parks in the nation, and 13 of their 22 games thus far have been in Eugene, Oregon.
The Highlanders are 1-4 all-time against the Ducks (
view results), but Oregon swept the three-game series between the clubs a year ago.
