Northridge, CA—The UC Riverside Baseball Team is back on the road this weekend as the Highlanders travel to CSUN for a three-game Big West Conference series with the Matadors.
UCR is coming off of a dramatic, 8-6, extra-inning, walk-off win over UNLV on Tuesday that saw Vince Fernandez blast a two-run home run over the center field wall at The Plex in the bottom of the 11th inning (
box score/
recap). It was the sixth long ball of the year for the Livermore, California native, who leads the team in home runs, doubles, triples, RBIs, slugging percentage and stolen bases.
Joie Dunyon (1-0, 3.89) gets the Friday start for the Highlanders after solidifying his spot in the rotation last weekend with an eight-inning, six-hit, zero-walk performance at Long Beach State which gave UC Riverside its first conference win of the season, 3-2 over the Dirtbags (
box score/
recap).
Kevin Sprague (2-4, 4.41) takes his turn on the hill on Saturday, while Sunday's starter has yet to be determined.
CSUN (24-15, 3-9) is just ahead of the Highlanders in the Big West standings. The Matadors are coming off of a 6-2 home win over San Diego State on Tuesday. Their conference wins have come against Hawai'i, Cal State Fullerton and #13 UC Santa Barbara.
Pitching has been the team's strong suit, with a collective 2.49 ERA. Right-handed pitcher Calvin Copping (4-4, 3.03) throws Friday afternoon, followed by lefty Jerry Keel (4-4, 2.09) on Saturday and right-hander Rayne Raven (5-3, 1.98) on Sunday. The trio is averaging nearly a strikeout per inning.
Yusuke Akitoshi leads CSUN regulars with a .313 batting average and a .390 on base percentage, and he is second on the squad behind Chester Pak (.453) in slugging percentage at .417.
The Highlanders are 82-83-1 all-time against the Matadors (
view results) after taking two-of-three from Northridge at The Plex a year ago.
