Bakersfield, CA—The UC Riverside Baseball Team travels to Bakersfield this weekend for a three-game non-conference series against the Roadrunners.
The Highlanders (5-9) are coming off a pair of tough losses to UNLV, dropping a 4-2 decision on Tuesday (
box score/
recap) and a 5-4 game on Wednesday (
box score/
recap). UC Riverside is now 1-5 in games decided by two runs or less and 1-4 in games decided by one run.
UCR is having to play from behind quite a bit as well, as the opposition is outscoring the Highlanders 39-15 in the first three innings including 13-1 in the first. Power, and the occasional lack of it, has also been key to UC Riverside's fortunes. The team is 5-2 when homering, and 0-7 when it fails to leave the yard.
Senior right-hander Tyler Musgraves moves into the Friday night slot after Austin Sodders and Ricky Delgado were each used for an inning during the Highlanders' games against UNLV. Musgraves is 2-0 with a 3.07 ERA, and has allowed just 10 hits in 14.3 innings. He has also walked 11 batters during that time, which is something the rest of the team has struggled with as well.
Left-hander Austin Sodders gets the starting nod on Saturday. He is 0-2 with a 4.40 ERA, but the UC Riverside offense backed him up with just one run in his first two starts. The junior has a team-high 19 strikeouts in 14.1 innings, but has also walked a team-high 13 batters.
Righty Ricky Delgado takes the mound on Sunday. He brings an 0-3 record and a 5.79 ERA with him. His 18.2 innings on the season are tops on the squad, and he has just issued just seven walks on the year.
As a staff, Highlanders pitchers have walked 80 hitters in 127 innings, while opponents have issued 46 free passes in 126.2.
UC Riverside now has four batters hitting better than .300 led by Casey Worden at .333. Worden also leads the team in the two other slash line categories with an on base percentage of .418 and a slugging percentage of .500.
Mark Contreras is hitting .317 and takes a seven-game hitting streak into the weekend, while Vince Fernandez is batting .315 and leads the team with six multi-hit games, and Aaron Cisneros is at .302.
CSU Bakersfield is 4-8 overall, and has lost six straight following a mid-week defeat at the hands of UC Irvine. The Runners lost four games at the Arizona Wildcat Invitational over the weekend, and a road game at Fresno State to start off the month of March.
Bakersfield starts three right-handers this weekend—Steven Gee (1-1, 4.70), Andrew Hansen (1-1, 3.44) and AJ Monarrez (0-1, 3.86). Gee has 10 strikeouts and four walks in his 15.1 innings of work, while Hansen has seven punch outs and five free passes in 18.1 innings, and Monarrez leads the team with 14 Ks and nine walks in 16.1 innings. All three pitchers boast opponent batting averages against of .325 and lower.
Offensively, the Runners are led by Dustin Frailey. His .458 batting average, .536 on base percentage and .688 slugging percentage are all tops on the team. Three other Bakersfield regulars are hitting better than .333.
The Highlanders are 12-5 all-time against the Roadrunners (
view results), but Bakersfield won both games a year ago.
