Riveriside—The UC Riverside Baseball Team welcomes UC Santa Barbara to The Plex this weekend as the Highlanders open up a three-game Big West Conference series against the Gauchos on Friday, April 28 beginning at 6 pm PT. Friday and Saturday's games are being broadcast around the world on ESPN3.
UC Riverside (14-22, 2-10) is coming off of a 7-4 victory over San Diego State Tuesday, which saw the Highlanders snap a five-game losing skid, as Mark Contreras tied the NCAA record for triples in a game with three (
box score/
recap). The center fielder also went five-for-five on the night, raising his batting average to a team-high .402.
Contreras also leads the team in on base percentage (.458) and slugging percentage (.598), and brings a team-high 14-game hitting streak into the weekend. His slash line figures would rank first, second and second respectively in the Big West, but Contreras has not played in enough games yet to qualify for the conference leader board due to an injury that kept him out of the lineup for most of the month of March.
Colby Schultz is the other UC Riverside regular hitting better than .300 with a .301 batting average. As a team, the Highlanders are hitting .249/.318/.359 including .234/.290/.326 against league foes.
Right-hander Ryan Little (1-5, 4.61) makes his fourth straight start, and fifth overall for the Highlanders on Friday, after spending most of the season coming out of the pen. As a starter, Lillie has worked five or more innings on four occasions, and at least seven innings three times. His best start of the year came two weeks ago vs. Hawai'i when he allowed just five hits and one earned run in 7.0 innings, striking out a season-high nine batters (
box score/
recap).
Righty Alex Fagalde (5-3, 2.46) gets the starting nod on Saturday. Most recently, he took the hard-luck loss at CSUN on April 22, giving up seven hits over 7.2 innings, and allowing no earned runs (
box score/
recap). Unfortunately, the Highlanders committed some key defensive miscues, and gave up three unearned runs in the 3-0 loss to the Matadors.
Sunday's starter is TBD.
UC Santa Barbara (18-20, 4-5) hasn't played a conference opponent since taking two of three from UC Irvine on April 13-15. Since then, the Gauchos have gone 3-2, picking up mid-week wins over Pepperdine and CSU Bakersfield, while dropping two of three vs. San Diego State.
As a team, UCSB leads the Big West with a .412 slugging percentage and is second with a .277 batting average. The Gauchos slash line numbers in league play are even better at .301/.345/.484.
Five of the team's regulars are hitting better than .300, led by Colton Burns' .336/.448/.441. Sam Cohen and Austin Bush are UC Santa Barbara's top power threats, with slugging percentages of .529 and .517 respectively. Bush's nine home runs on the year are tops in the conference.
The Gauchos' staff ERA is 4.72 on the season—sixth best in the Big West. Right-hander Noah Davis (6-3, 4.57) takes the mound, Friday, In 67.0 innings, he has struck out 53 batters, walking 16.
Left-hander Kyle Nelson (5.3, 3.84) gets the start on Saturday. He has logged 58.2 innings on the year, striking out 49, and walking 19.
On Sunday, UC Santa Barbara sends righty Chris Clements (1-5, 6.56) the hill. Clements has allowed 71 hits in 46.2 innings in 2017, striking out 36, and walking 10.
The Highlanders are 30-22 all-time against the Gauchos (
view results), and have won four of the last five meetings between the clubs.
