Fresno, CA—The UC Riverside Baseball Team, fresh off a 3-2 victory over UCLA, travels to Fresno State this weekend for a three-game series with the Bulldogs.
Mark Contreras struck the biggest blow of the night Tuesday in the Highlanders' win over the Bruins (
box score/
recap) clubbing a two-run home run in the top of the eighth, to turn a 2-1 deficit into 3-2 lead. Ryan Lillie recorded the final five outs of the game to pick up his first save of the season.
Contreras has been the team's hottest hitter in the early going with a slash line of .500/.538/.750. He also leads the team in runs scored with four, and is second in RBIs with three.
UC Riverside's pitching staff has an ERA of 3.00, and the Highlanders will send right-hander Ricky Delgado (0-0, 5.79) to the mound Friday in the first game of the Fresno State series. Delgado pitched 4.1 innings of no-hit ball in the season opener vs. Nebraska, but ran into trouble in the fifth (
box score/
recap). Alex Fagalde (1-0, 0.00) replaced him, and tossed 4.2 innings of scoreless baseball to get credit for the win.
Lefty Hazahel Quijada (0-0, 0.00) is scheduled to get his first start of the season Saturday, and Sunday's starter is still to be determined.
Fresno State is 2-2 on the season after splitting its four-game, season-opening series against Oregon. The Bulldogs are hitting .278 while holding the opposition to a .211 batting average. They have allowed just as many runs (20) as they have scored (20), however, nearly two-thirds of those runs allowed came in a 13-1 loss to the Ducks.
Fresno State has five regulars hitting better than .300 on the young season, led by Jesse Medrano's .400. He also leads the team in on base percentage (.438), while Aaron Arruda is the team's top slugger with a .625 slugging percentage.
The Bulldogs will send left-hander Ricky Tyler Thomas (1-0, 1.50) to the mound Friday evening. Thomas struck out nine in his six innings of work against Oregon. Right-hander Ricky Ramirez (1-0, 4.50) gets the call Saturday, and lefty JJ Santa Cruz (0-1, 2.25) gets his first start of the season for Fresno State on Sunday.
The Highlanders and Bulldogs split their only two previous meetings, both of which came in the 2012 season (
view all-time results).
