Baseball Ready for Matchup vs. LMU on Wednesday

RIVERSIDE, Calif.—After the excitement of a four-game weekend series against Nebraska to begin the season, the UC Riverside Baseball team will turn the page and take on Loyola Marymount on Wednesday at 3 p.m. at the Riverside Sports Complex.

Getting a win on Wednesday would break a streak of six straight loses to LMU, which goes all the way back to May 2014. The teams will face each other again on April 16 at 6 p.m. in Los Angeles.

Junior right-hander Kevin West gets the start for the Highlanders. He appeared in two games against Nebraska, allowing one hit in two innings. He picked up the save in a 10-9 win in the first game of the doubleheader vs. Nebraska on Saturday.

West made nine appearances last season, starting three of them. He finished the season 0-3 with a 5.64 ERA. In 2017, he made 13 appearances (four starts), going 0-1 with a 5.40 ERA.

While the Highlanders went just 1-3 against Nebraska, they scored a total of 23 runs. Sophomore outfielder Ari Gerber and freshman catcher Alec Arnone stood out in the four games against Nebraska. Gerber went 4-for-7 in two starts, while Arnone caught three games and went 5-for-9 with a double and two RBIs.

Junior Nick Kafer also had a productive weekend. He had four hits and five RBIs, one of which came on a solo home run in Game 3 of the series.

"I liked our offense a lot," head coach Troy Percival said after the series. "We just need to be better with runners in scoring position."

Following Wednesday's game against LMU, the Highlanders will head north to take on San Jose State in a three-game series beginning on Friday at 6 p.m. It marks the first time the two schools have played each other since 2002. UCR is 2-1 all-time vs. Spartans.

The rotation for the three-game series is still to be determined.