RIVERSIDE, Calif – The Highlanders of UC Riverside returned home to the Riverside Sports Complex after an exciting stint on the road to host the College of the Holy Cross Crusaders in a four-game series. On Tuesday, the ballclub traveled to Loyola Marymount in Los Angeles and won 3-2 in a pitcher's duel.
Holy Cross, hailing from Worcester, Mass., didn't waste a minute to get things started. The Crusaders notched two runs in the first inning off Highlander starting pitcher,
Abbott Haffar, in his third appearance this season. Haffar walked the first batter he faced, putting a Crusader on base. In between Haffar dealing two swinging strikeouts, the base runner stole second. A Holy Cross double shot down the right field line scored the runner on second. A base hit to De Los Reyes at shortstop scored another run before a ground out ended the inning.
Three Highlanders were left on base in the bottom of the second, leaving the Crusaders pair of runs unanswered. A pair of singles and a groundball to short stop put Holy Cross up 3-0 before UC Riverside would get on the scoreboard.
In the bottom of the third, Highlander bats woke up and scored four runs on two hits to take the lead.
Dylan Orick walked to get on base and advanced to third on a base hit to right field from
Jacob Shanks. Shanks stole second, lining up right behind Orick in scoring position.
Garrett Calvert reached base on balls to load it up for UCR.
Damien Sanchez earned the first RBI of the game for the Highlanders, reaching base after getting hit by a Crusader pitch, sending Orick home.
Travis Bohall smacked a three-RBI double deep to left field that scored Shanks, Calvert and Sanchez. The Highlanders led 4-3 entering the fourth inning.
Trouble found the Highlanders in the top of the sixth inning when
Kevin West loaded the bases after relieving Haffar. Haffar threw five complete innings, letting up three runs on eight hits, walking two and striking out seven.
Riley Ohl came in to get the Highlanders out of the jam, but not before two Crusader runs crossed home plate.
Connor Martin took over on the mound for Ohl in the seventh. Holy Cross got one final run off the Highlanders in the eighth inning, scoring on a wild pitch to extend their lead to 6-4.
UC Riverside had a hole to dig out of and not a lot of time to do so in the bottom of the ninth, and Head Coach Troy Percival utilized almost every player in the Highlander dugout to effectively get the job done.
Nick Pena pinch hit for
Ethan Payne, landing on base after getting hit by a pitch. Calvert moved him to third with a single up the middle.
Ari Gerber came in to pinch run for Calvert.
Houston Naucler pinch hit for
Damien Sanchez, and drove in Pena with an RBI single to right field.
Joey Nicolai pinch hit for De Los Reyes, scoring the tying run with a powerful double to left center. The bench tied the game 6-6.
The walk-off run would come just one extra-inning later, after
Andre Granillo came in and retired the three Crusaders he faced one, two, three. The game winner came from
Dylan Orick after
Taylor Juline and Nate Webb were walked on to base. Orick singled deep to left, as third base coach
Justin Johnson sent Juline sliding into home for the Highlander's second walk-off extra-inning win of the 2020 season.
The Highlanders improve to 7-6 overall. The Highlanders and the Crusaders meet again tomorrow, Friday, March 6 at 6 PM at the Riverside Sports Complex for game two of the four-game set.
