Salt Lake City, UT—The UC Riverside Baseball Team scored seven unanswered runs Saturday, including three in the ninth, as the Highlanders erased a 5-0 deficit to beat Utah, 7-5, and take the weekend series two games to one.
Alex Fagalde got the start for UC Riverside, but he struggled in his 2.2 innings of work, allowing seven hits, three walks, and five runs.
The Highlanders began climbing out of their five-run hole in the top of the fourth against Utah (20-21) starter Josh Lapiana. Mark Contreras led off the inning with a single to left, and came around to score on Michael Farris' double to left center. Two batters later, Ian Nowak drew a walk, and Tony Gudino's single through the left side made it 2-0 UC Riverside. Steven Mercado II's single through the right side plated Nowak, cutting the deficit to two, 5-3.
UCR (18-25) made it a one-run game in the top of the sixth, thanks to a Mercado RBI ground out that scored Matt Hardy.
It remained a 5-4 game until the top of the ninth. Jacob Rebar (3-5) was on the hill for the Utes, having come on in relief in the top of the sixth. He allowed just one hit up to that point, but ran into trouble early in the ninth. Houston Naucler pinch hit for Mercado and drew a six-pitch walk to start things off. Colby Schultz then beat out an infield single to second, which ended Rebar's night, as Utah went to the bullpen, bringing in Chase Bauerle.
AJ Sawyer's sac bunt put the tying and go-ahead runs in scoring position, and Utah opted to intentionally walk Contreras. That brought pinch hitter Yeager Taylor to the plate, and the sophomore turned on the first pitch he saw from Rebar, sending it into right field for a single that scored Naucler and Schultz. A Cody Sporrer sac fly brought Conteras plateward with an insurance run, putting UC Riverside up 7-5.
Ricky Delgado took over for Fagalde in the third, and kept the Utes in check, allowing just three hits in 4.1 innings of relief work. He handed the ball to Jared Morton (2-2) to start the eighth, and Morton allowed just one hit in two innings, retiring Utah in order in the bottom of the ninth to earn the win.
The Highlanders return home this week for a Monday, 6 pm PT first pitch against LMU. The game was originally scheduled for Tuesday, but potential inclement weather in the forecast caused the game to be moved up a day.
