Riverside—The UC Riverside Baseball Team returns home to The Plex this Tuesday for the first time in more than four weeks with a 3 pm PT first pitch against UNLV.
The Highlanders picked up their first Big West win of the season on Friday, snapping an 11-game losing streak in the process, with a 3-2 victory at Long Beach State (
box score/
recap). They nearly picked up conference win number two the very next day, falling 4-3 in 10 innings to the 49ers (
box score/
recap).
Left-hander Antonio Gonzales (0-0, 11.37) gets the start for UC Riverside tomorrow against the Rebels. It is the second start of the season for the La Verne, California native, who also got the nod back on February 15 vs. Portland. Gonzales did not factor into the decision, as the Highlanders picked up a 9-7 win (
box score/
recap).
UNLV is 16-22 overall including 3-15 in conference play and 3-13 on the road. Dylan Ellis leads the Rebels offense with a slash line of .370/.446/.543, but only one other player sports a batting average north of .300 (Joey Armstrong at .324). As a team, UNLV is hitting .271/.348/.362, but the opposition is batting .298/.375/.422 on the year.
Right-hander Joey Lauria (3-2, 3.82) gets his second start of the season for the Rebels. He has logged 33.0 innings over 13 appearances in 2015 with 38 strikeouts and just seven walks during that time.
The Highlanders are 18-8 all-time against UNLV (
view results) including an 8-2 victory in the last meeting between the clubs on April 29, 2014 (
box score/
recap).
