Riverside—The UC Riverside Baseball Team begins a five-game home stand Tuesday with a 6 pm PT tilt against #25 San Diego, before welcoming Hawai'i to the Plex for a three-game Big West Conference series over the weekend.
The Highlanders have lost six straight games heading into the week, following a three-game sweep at the hands of #19 Long Beach State. Those losses dropped UC Riverside to 12-15 overall, and 1-5 in conference.
UCR boasted the best offense in the league heading into the Dirtbags' series, averaging 5.63 runs per game. However, the Highlanders were limited to four runs total against Long Beach State, and were shut out twice. UC Riverside's batting average dropped 13 points, from .264 to .251, as the Highlanders hit .134 over the weekend.
UC Riverside's leading hitter in all three slash line categories is outfielder Mark Contreras (.373/.439/.508), although he missed nearly the entire month of March with a hand injury. He was hitting .433 before he was hurt, and upped that average to .457 upon his return, but he is batting .250 for the month of April.
Casey Worden (.300/.327/.380) is the only member of the team hitting .300 or better. Cade Peters leads the team with 18 runs scored, and Connor Cannon has a UCR-high 20 RBIs on the season.
The Highlanders have used eight starting pitchers this season, and Tuesday's starter is still to be determined. As a team, UC Riverside's ERA is 5.13, which is the third highest in the Big West. In conference play, the Highlanders have an ERA of 6.53—also the third highest in the conference.
San Diego beat UC Riverside,10-2, back on March 28 (
box score/
recap). Including that victory, the Toreros have won six of their last nine, and were ranked 19th in the nation last week. They lost two of three at Gonzaga over the weekend, which dropped them to number 25 in the nation.
The Toreros have an ERA of 3.85 on the season, and have struck out 292 batters in 268.2 innings. Teams are hitting a collective .255 against San Diego in 2017. The Toreros have yet to announce their starter for Tuesday.
San Diego has three batters hitting better than .300 on the year, led by Jay Schuyler's .375. Hunter Mercado-Hood tops the team with a .459 on base percentage, and a .704 slugging percentage. He and Roman Garcia (.651 slg) both have eight home runs and 12 doubles on the season.
The Highlanders are 43-44-1 all-time against the Toreros (
view results).
