SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. – The Highlanders bounced back from an 8-2 loss in game one to split their Saturday doubleheader at Cal Poly with a 9-6 win to end the day at Baggett Stadium. Long relief became a win after 4.1 innings of work from
Abbott Haffar in game two as UC Riverside (11-19, 9-14 Big West) halted a three-game losing streak.
The Highlanders held a 2-1 lead in the sixth inning of the first game after
Nathan Webb's single scored
Jacob Shanks. Starter
Taylor Juline looked good through six innings before the Mustangs got loose for what eventually became seven runs in the seventh. That was followed by three more strikeouts by Mustangs' starter Andrew Alvarez, who finished his day with 12 Ks.
The Highlanders were quickly down 4-0 after the first inning of game two before two Mustang errors in the third led to two runs to score, followed by an RBI single by
Dylan Orick to make it a 4-3 game with the Highlanders happy to be in it.
Starting pitcher
Tyler Frazier settled down in the bottom of the third , then the Highlanders loaded the bases with one out in the fourth.
Travis Bohall struck out swinging before
Ely Stuart's single scored
Joey Nicolai and
Marcellus Pearson for a 5-4 UCR lead. Frazier set the home team down in order again in the fourth and
Joey Nicolai knocked in
Nathan Webb for a 6-4 lead before Frazier hit his career pitch count and the game became tied with two two-out doubles by the Mustangs in the bottom of the fifth.
Tied at 6-6, Abbott Haffner took the hill in relief for UCR and got Joe Yorke to ground out, leaving Nick DiCarlo stranded. The Highlanders then loaded the bases again in the sixth, plating three runs on RBIs by
Anthony Mata and Joe Nicolai (2). Haffner struck out three and did not allow a Mustang to reach third base en route to earning his first win of the season.
The Highlanders can achieve a series split by beating Cal Poly Sunday in the last of this four-game set at Baggett Stadium. Following Sunday's game, UC Riverside returns home to host UC San Diego in a four-game series beginning Friday at 6 p.m. at Riverside Sports Complex.
