Milka Soko
2
UC Santa Barbara UCSB 40-15-1, 16-8 Big West
3
Winner UC Riverside UCR 15-40, 4-20 Big West
UC Santa Barbara UCSB
40-15-1, 16-8 Big West
2
Final
3
UC Riverside UCR
15-40, 4-20 Big West
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
UC Santa Barbara UCSB 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 2 8 2
UC Riverside UCR 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 X 3 6 0

W: Sprague, Kevin (4-7) L: Bieber,Shane (8-4) S: Lillie, Ryan (6)

Game Recap: Baseball |

Baseball Ends 2015 Season With Back-To-Back Wins Over #8 UC Santa Barbara

Riverside—The UC Riverside Baseball Team closed out its 2015 season Saturday afternoon with a second consecutive, 3-2 victory over #8 UC Santa Barbara (listen to audio highlights).

The Highlanders also celebrated the careers of their six seniors (view photo gallery), many of whom figured in Saturday's win. Starter Kevin Sprague tried to match the Friday evening performance of his teammate, fellow senior Joie Dunyon, who held the Gauchos to five hits over 8.2 innings in picking up the win. Sprague was nearly as effective scattering six hits over 6.2 innings without walking a batter.

He kept UCSB (40-15-1, 16-8) off the board for the first six innings, and during that time, the Highlanders staked Sprague to a 2-0 lead. Vince Fernandez put UC Riverside on top in the bottom of the first sending a 1-0 offering from the Gauchos Shane Bieber (8-4) over the right field fence.

Senior Joe Chavez helped the Highlanders (15-40, 4-20) score run number two in the bottom of the fourth. Shortstop Clay Fisher fielded Chavez's grounder in the hole cleanly, but his throw was wide of the mark allowing Chavez to motor all the way around to third. Mark Contreras brought him home with a ground out to short putting UCR up 2-0.

Sprague (4-7) began to falter a bit in the seventh, allowing consecutive singles to Cameron Newell and Paddy O'Brien. A sacrifice bunt moved both runners up 90 feet, and the next batter, Peter Maris, lifted a sacrifice fly to left, slicing the Highlanders' lead in half.

Ryan Lillie came on in relief of Sprague, ending the threat with a ground out to short.

UC Riverside got the run back in their half of the seventh, thanks to the efforts of two more seniors. Alex Rubanowitz reached on a one-out single, and last night's pitching hero, Dunyon, replaced him as a pinch runner.

Matthew Ellis singled sending Dunyon to third, advancing to second on the throw, and Austin Colvin's sacrifice fly put the Highlanders back up by two.

The Gauchos touched Lillie for a run in the eighth, but in the ninth, the freshman retired the side in order to secure the win, and his sixth save of the season.