Riverside—The UC Riverside Baseball Team returns to the Inland Empire this week for a pair of games against UNLV. First pitch on Tuesday, March 8 is scheduled for 6 pm PT at The Plex, and Wednesday's game is slated to begin at 3 pm.
Left-hander Devin Mckesson (0-0, 27.00) gets his first start of the season for the Highlanders (5-7). The freshman has two relief appearances on the year, tossing an inning against Washington in game one of their February 27 double header, and one-third of an inning at Portland on March 4. Wednesday's starter is TBD.
After splitting its first two series of the season, UC Riverside dropped three of four games at Portland last weekend. The pitching staff allowed the Pilots to hit just .211, but the Highlanders walked 30 batters over the four games, and Pilots base runners swiped 18 of 21 bases.
Aaron Cisneros (.341/.412/.568) and Casey Worden (.325/.413/.500) continue to pace the UCR offense. Cisneros' eight RBIs are tied with Thomas Walker for the team lead, and Walker and Fernandez have each scored a team-high nine runs on the year.
UNLV is 3-6 entering the week following a three-game weekend series that saw the Rebels take two of three from San Jose State.
Cody Roper (0-0. 1.69) takes the mound Tuesday for UNLV. He has two appearances on the year, both in relief. In 5.1 innings, the senior right-hander has allowed just one hit, walking four and striking out three. Wednesday's starter for the Rebels is TBD.
As a staff, UNLV has an ERA of 6.15. The Rebels have also had problems with issuing free passes as they have walked 56 batters in 82.0 innings.
Offensively, two UNLV starters are hitting better than .300 led by Payton Squier (.424/.472/.424). Kyle Isbel (.33/.379/.593) lead the team in slugging, but as a team, the Rebels have a slash line of .223/.310/.338. Three UNLV regulars are hitting below .200, and three others are hitting .214 and below.
The Highlanders are 19-9 all-time against the Rebels (
view results), but UNLV has won four of the last six meetings between the clubs.
