Portland, OR—The UC Riverside Baseball Team makes its way to the Beaver State this weekend for a four-game series against the Portland Pilots. It is the first road trip for the Highlanders who began the season splitting a pair of four-game series against Kansas State and Washington.
Lefty Austin Sodders (0-1, 0.82) makes his third straight Friday night start for UC Riverside, March 4 beginning at 6 pm PT at Portland's Joe Etzel Field. The junior college transfer from Riverside City College has been as good as advertised this season, striking out 15 in 11.0 innings while allowing just seven hits and one unearned run.
Right-hander Angel Landazuri (1-1, 11.00) gets the nod in game one of Saturday's twin bill which starts at 1 pm, while righty Ricky Delgado (0-1, 4.85) takes his turn on the mound in the night cap at 4 pm. Sunday's 1 pm starter is TBD, but Tyler Musgrave (1-0, 5.19) got the call in game four of the first two series of the season.
UC Riverside has gotten some excellent pitching performances out of their bullpen, led by Keaton Leach who has seen action in three games so far this season, throwing 7.2 innings without allowing an earned run. Three other members of the relief corps—Alex Fagalde (4.0 innings), Jared Morton (3.1) and Ran Lillie (2.2) have yet to allow a single run on the year.
Two members of the Highlanders are hitting better than .300 led by 2015 Second Team All-Conference performer Vince Fernandez at .367. He also leads the squad with a .457 on base percentage, while Casey Worden's .556 slugging percentage is tops on the team.
Portland enters the weekend with wins in five of its first eight games . Three of those wins came against Big West foe, UC Davis, with two more coming in a four-game series against Oakland
Right-hander Jordan Wilcox (1-0, 2.61) makes his third start of the year on Friday, followed by right Davis Tominaga (1-1, 2.70) in game one Saturday and lefty Jordan Horak (0-0, 3.60) in game two. Right-hander Kevin Baker (0-1, 19.64) gets the call on Sunday. Wilcox (12 Ks in 10.1 innings) and Horak (11 in 10.0) are both averaging better than a strikeout per inning. Wilcox has also only walked one batter all season long.
The Pilots offense is a study in contrasts as five regulars are hitting better than .300, led by Cooper Hummel who has a slash line of .500/.556/.700. Ryan Barr (.412/.524/.529) and Caleb Whalen (.400/.486/.733) are also flirting with Ted Williams territory, but six other players with at least four starts apiece are hitting .235 or below including four hitting below the Mendoza line, and two who are sub-.100.
The Highlanders are 6-4 all-time against Portland (
view results) with wins in each of the last five games, including a four-game sweep to start the 2015 campaign.
