RIVERSIDE, Calif. – The UC Riverside Men's Baseball team certainly showed that they were happy to be back in Riverside this weekend. The team won the deciding game in the three-game series versus Hawai'i, 4-3. The Highlanders exploded with offense on Friday but Sunday was won on the mound.

Sophomore Abbot Haffar was outstanding for the Highlanders Sunday afternoon as he pitched eight innings while only allowing two runs with three strikeouts. Haffar threw seven scoreless innings before finally allowed a run. The sophomore kept the Warriors off balance all afternoon as he got 10 fly outs and eight ground outs.

Junior Connor Cannon extended his hitting streak to 13 games as he singled in his first at bat in the bottom of the second inning. Cannon has had a monster week for the Highlanders as he's hit three home runs with eight RBIs with a slash line of .500/.684/1.250. Cannon moves into second place in the Big West with nine home runs. His .853 slugging percentage is the highest in conference play.

Freshman Damien Sanchez had a two-RBI single in the bottom of the fourth inning while senior second baseman Justin Mannens also had an RBI single in the bottom of the sixth which turned out to be the winning run.

Senior Yeagar Taylor kept his consistent approach and collected two hits himself to increase his already impressive batting average to .336 which is good for ninth in the Big West. He's been hitting like Ted Williams in conference play with an average of .405 to go with two home runs and eight RBIs.

The Highlanders will look to build on their successful week and keep the well-rounded effort going as they travel to Los Angeles on Tuesday, April 16^th to take on LMU. The game will get started at 6:00 p.m.