LA JOLLA, Calif. – The UC Riverside Highlanders opened their road series against the UC San Diego Tritons on Friday evening, showing fight throughout but falling 6-0 in a tough matchup at Triton Softball Field.

The Highlanders (14-15, 5-2 Big West) put together several quality at-bats and continued to flash strong defense, turning a clean double play in the sixth and making multiple key stops to limit damage. In the circle, Maddie Heinlin worked her 11th complete game of the season, collected her season high seven strikeouts while walking just one over six innings of work.

Offensively, Rebeca Cabezas sparked UC Riverside with a sharply hit infield single in the sixth, and Leilani Juan followed with a line drive down the left field line to give the Highlanders their best scoring chance. UC Riverside also saw solid plate appearances from Kamryn Davis, who drew a walk and reached base in the first inning, and Haley Saole, who put pressure on the Triton defense throughout the night.

Despite a four-run first inning by UC San Diego, the Highlanders held the Tritons to just two earned runs the rest of the way and kept battling through all seven innings.

UC Riverside will look to bounce back on Sunday, March 22, in a doubleheader against the Tritons, with first pitch set for 1 p.m.