Long Beach, CA—The UC Riverside Baseball Team dropped game two of the team's three-game Big West Conference series at #19 Long Beach State, Saturday, 11-4.
The Highlanders entered the weekend as the top scoring team in the Big West, but Friday, the Dirtbags held them to three hits, and Saturday UC Riverside managed just two hits through the first eight innings of play.
Hazahel Quijada (2-4) returned to the Highlanders' (12-14, 1-4) weekend rotation for the first time since mid-March, but he didn't fare any better than Friday starter Alex Fagalde did the night before. After retiring the side in order in the first inning, Quijada allowed two singles, four walks and a home run in the second, before he was lifted with just one out in favor of Ricky Delgado.
Delgado entered the game with the bases loaded, trailing 4-0. He recorded the second out of the inning on an RBI ground out, but Lucas Tancas, who homered to lead off the frame, doubled down the left field line to clear the bases and make it a 7-0 ballgame. Daniel Jackson singled to right center to drive in Long Beach State's eighth run of the inning, before getting caught stealing for the third out.
Delgado faced the minimum number of batters in the bottom of the third, but in the fourth, he hit a batter, issued one walk, and allowed four base hits, as the Dirtbags increased their lead to 11-0.
Meanwhile, Long Beach State (19-11, 4-1) starter John Sheaks didn't allow a hit to the Highlanders until the top of the fifth when Tony Gudino singled up the middle with two outs. UC Riverside hit number two followed a one-out walk to Cade Peters in the top of the seventh, and came in the form of an AJ Sawyer double. That base knock moved Peters to third, and a Matt Hardy groundout put the Highlanders on the board.
Sheaks was lifted after the seventh having allowed two hits and one walk, while striking out five en route to his fourth win of the year.
John Castro took over for the Dirtbags in the eighth, retiring the side in order. UC Riverside mounted a comeback in the top of the ninth, however, getting RBI base hits from Peters, Sawyer and Hardy to cut the Long Beach State lead to seven, 11-4. The deficit proved too much to overcome, though, as Castro worked out of the jam to close out the game.
The Highlanders and Dirtbags play game three of their three-game Big West series on Sunday beginning at 1 pm PT.
