RIVERSIDE, Calif. – UC Riverside (8-8) split its Sunday doubleheader against Utah (1-13) to take a 2-1 weekend series win over the Utes.
GAME 1
Led by right handed pitcher Cole Percival (2-1), the Highlanders took a 3-2 win in Sunday's first game for its fourth straight win this week. Through eight innings, the freshman held the Utes to just two hits and no runs, striking out three.
Both sides were unable to scratch until the bottom of the seventh, when UC Riverside exploded for four hits and three runs, doing all of its damage with two outs on the board.
Freshman utility Nathan Webb was the first to get aboard with a single to center field. After senior second baseman Cody Sporrer earned a walk, the Highlanders picked up their first two runs of the day double off a double by Anthony Lepre. The junior catcher finished with two RBI for the fourth time this season.
Two more UCR singles – first from junior Justin Mannens, and then from redshirt sophomore Cade Peters – would bring Lepre home, making it 3-0.
Backed up against the wall, the Utes' bats would come to life in the ninth when they picked up three of their five hits. However, senior right hander Jared Morton would come in late to get the last out of the day, earning his fourth save of the year.
Mannens and Peters both led the way with identical two-of-four marks at the plate.
GAME 2
The Highlanders nearly erased a four-run deficit in the final game of the weekend, but despite a game-high three hits from redshirt senior Tony Gudino, the hosts would fall, 7-4.
UC Riverside was hurt by errors, tallying four compares to none for the Utes. The visitors jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the third.
UCR got on the board in the bottom of the fifth, as its first three batters of the inning reached to load the bases. A wild pitch allowed Mannens to make it home from third, cutting the Utah lead to 2-1, but the Utes picked up three straight outs after that.
Following a three-run inning by Utah, the Highlanders would again load the bases with no outs on the board in the bottom of the sixth. Junior Dean Miller's single up the middle would bring home both Sporrer and Gudino, reducing the deficit to just two runs, 5-3.
Junior Matt Hardy knocked his first home run of the season in the following inning towards left field, making it 5-4.
Unfortunately for the Highlanders, their comeback effort fell short, as they gave up one more run in both the eighth and the ninth.
UC Riverside's ten hits were the most in any of game of its series with Utah.
NEXT UP
The Highlanders will play the final game of their ten game home stand this Wednesday, when they host Grand Canyon at 6:00 p.m at The Plex.
