Honolulu, HI—The UC Riverside Baseball Team continues Big West play this weekend as the Highlanders travel to the Aloha State for a three-game series against the Rainbow Warriors.
UCR (20-25, 7-8) still has its sights set on an upper division finish in conference. The Highlanders are in a three-way tie for fourth, with nine Big West games remaining on the docket.
| Big West Baseball Standings |
| Team |
W |
L |
| Cal State Fullerton |
12 |
3 |
| Long Beach State |
11 |
7 |
| UC Santa Barbara |
9 |
6 |
| UC Riverside |
7 |
8 |
| Cal Poly |
7 |
8 |
| UC Irvine |
7 |
8 |
| Hawai'i |
8 |
10 |
| CSUN |
7 |
11 |
| UC Davis |
4 |
11 |
Austin Sodders (4-4, 2.92) makes his team-high 12th start of the season on Friday. The left-hander leads the team with 59 strikeouts in 61.2 innings. Ricky Delgado (0-6, 5.31) gets the nod in game one, Sunday, with Sunday's game two starter to be determined.
Vince Fernandez leads the Highlanders in all three slash line stats—.333 batting average, .424 on base percentage and .446 slugging percentage. His 31 runs scored and 32 RBIs are also tops on the team.
Hawai'i has lost six of its last seven conference games, and is now in seventh place in the Big West. Jacob Sheldon-Collins is doing his best George Brett impersonation for the Rainbow Warriors this season with a .390 batting average which leads the team, as does his .438 on base percentage, and his .439 slugging percentage. The team's .299 batting average and .363 on base percentage are tops in league play.
Hawai'i sends RHP Kyle Von Ruden (6-1, 3.11), LHP Alex Hatch (3-5, 4.77), and RHP Brendan Hornung (3-7, 3.24) to the mound this weekend. The Rainbow Warriors have the third highest ERA in the Big West in conference play (4.55), and strike out the fewest batters (5.4 K/9).
The Highlanders are 4-6 all-time against Hawai'i (
view results), and have dropped four straight to the Rainbow Warriors.
