UC Riverside 6, Cal 5 - Box Score
UC Riverside 5, Cal 2 - Box Score
UC Riverside (2-1) bounced back from a season-opening 8-7 loss to Cal Friday, with a pair of wins against the Bears (1-2) in a Saturday double header.
Freshman
Matt Andriese got the start in the first game and threw five innings of five-hit ball, but four of those hits came in the second inning when the Bears hung a four-spot on the board. That erased a 2-0 UCR lead the Highlanders manufactured in the first off of a
Carl Uhl single, a balk, an error, a walk and a wild pitch. UC Riverside tied the game in the top of the fourth when they loaded the bases scoring one run on an RBI single from Uhl.
The Highlanders scored the go-ahead run in the eighth as a
Brian McConkey ground out plated
Michael Nesbitt who opened the inning with a double. They added an insurance run in the top of the ninth when
Joey Gonzales connected on his second home run of the season. It was a run UCR would need as closer
Joseph Kelly, who entered the game to start the eighth, gave up a leadoff homer to Austin Booker to halve the Highlander advantage. Brett Jackson followed with a double, but Kelly settled down and retired the next three batters in order for the 6-5 win.
Matt Montgomery picked up the win for UC Riverside, his first of the season, pitching two innings of scoreless relief in the sixth and seventh. Kelly got credit for his first save of the year.
In the second game,
Paul Applebee took to the hill for the Highlanders throwing a complete-game four-hitter, striking out eight. The Bears touched him for single runs in the fourth and eighth, but the UCR offense staked the junior to a 4-0 lead after two innings, and the Bears never really threatened.
Bryan Horst scored the first run of the game for the Highlanders drilling a one-out double to right-center and coming around to score on a
Michael Hur sac fly. UCR tacked on three runs in the second courtesy of a McConkey RBI-double and a two-run jack off the bat of
Trevor Hairgrove. A Uhl single in the fifth brought Hairgrove home for the Highlanders final run of the day in the 5-2 win.
UC Riverside heads to Stanford Sunday afternoon for a single game at Klein Field. First pitch is slated for 1:00 pm PT.