RIVERSIDE, Calif. – UC Riverside opened up conference play this afternoon hosting UC Davis. The Highlanders entered the day on a four game losing streak dropping three straight to Utah Valley in Orem, Utah and dropping a weekday matinee against CBU.
Jaxon Byrd got the start for UC Riverside. In his last outing he threw one inning at CBU. This afternoon he pitched two innings and surrendered three runs on four hits. He took the loss and fell to 0-1.
In the top of the second the Aggies' first three reached base. It started with an infield single by Zach Story followed by back-to-back walks. Byrd settled down a bit and struck out Jaxon Murphy. Story then scored on a ground out by Elijah McNeal making it 1-0 and Byrd got Joey Wright to strike out.
Byrd led things off with a single in the home half of the second and
Lucas Bonham followed with a single. After
Manoah Chapman popped out to second,
David Gibbs lined a single to left and the bases were loaded for
Evan Chavez. He grounded into a fielder's choice and the bases remained loaded for
David Whittle, who grounded out to end the inning.
Tyler Howard led off the top of the third with a single and scored on a double by Braydon Wooldridge made it 2-0 Aggies and knocking Byrd out of the game. The lefty went two plus innings and was responsible for Woolridge at second. Haden Jaden Guerrero came in for Byrd, balked the runner to third and a wild pitch later it was 3-0 Aggies. The lead climbed to 4-0 on an RBI single by Ryan Lee.
In the bottom of the sixth the Highlanders got on the board. With two outs Byrd singled to left and Bonham came to the plate. With the count 1-1, the third baseman crushed his second homer of the year making it 4-2. Bonham is tied for the team lead in homers with Byrd.
Noel Valdez was lifted in the home half of the seventh for Mason Lerma. The Aggies' started threw well going six innings and gave up the two runs on the homer by Bonham and scattered eight hits.
Nothing doing for the Highlanders after the sixth, as the Aggies' pitching staff shut down the bats. Byrd took the loss and fell to 0-1 on the year and Valdez improved to 1-1. Roland Barnes came in and locked up his fourth save on the year.
Game two is tomorrow afternoon at 1PM.
