March 2, 2008
Box Score
DAVIS, Calif. - Senior first baseman Evan Hudson hit a walk-off single to left field to cap a come-from-behind 14-13 victory and a four-game series sweep over Utah at Dobbins Stadium Sunday afternoon. The two teams combined to score 27 runs off 34 hits in a slugfest that saw wind gusts at over 40 mph.
It is the Aggies first sweep since the 2004 season and improves their record to 6-3. The Utes have now lost the first seven games of their season.
"Beating the same team four times is a very hard thing to do," said Aggie coach Rex Peters. "We had to get some breaks for that to happen, but we also had to play well."
UC Davis battled back from eight runs down to tie the game after the sixth inning at 12-12. Utah took the lead in the ninth inning with an RBI-single from Michael Beltran. Trailing by a run, the Aggies started the bottom half of the ninth with an infield single from Ryan Royster and a drag bunt single from Ty Kelly. Both runners advanced on a wild pitch the next at bat. After an intentional walk to Jake Jefferies loaded the bases, Hudson looped a single under a diving shortstop into left field to score Royster and pinch runner Daniel Cepin.
"This is a good character win for us," said Peters. "We kept playing hard. We were focused on having quality at bats and scratched our way back into it."
All eight Aggie hitters had at a least one hit in the game while all but two drove in runs. Kelly cranked out a game-high four hits and a triple in six at bats, scored two runs and drove in another. Hudson and senior Kevin James each drove in four runs off multiple hits and scored runs. Jefferies had another solid game with three hits, two runs scored and an RBI. In addition, Grant Hirneise drove in two runs of a two-run shot in the third inning and Ryan Royster added three hits, a double and three runs scored.
Robert Chimpky was credited with the loss for Utah as he gave up the winning runs after coming in to close the game in the ninth. For the Aggies, Bryan Evans earned his first win of the season by pitching the final two innings. Andy Suiter settled things down for the Aggies after the team had given up 10 runs through the first three innings. Suiter allowed two runs and struck out a game-high eight batters in 4.1 innings of work.
Austin Jones was the hot hitter for the Utes as he drove home four runs off two hits and scored two more. Cody Guyman, Jesse Shriner, Beltran and DC Legg all had two RBIs in the slugfest.
The game started at 1 p.m. with winds of over 25 mph and gusts that at one point reached 44 mph. Utah opened that first inning with eight runs - three more runs than they had scored in any game during the series. Legg singled home two runs and Guymon doubled home two more to lead the way. The inning began with a double and two singles.
The Aggies responded in the bottom half of the inning with two runs to cut into the lead. Kelly doubled home the first run while Jefferies brought home the second on a single.
Utah scored a single run in the second and both teams both added single runs in the third inning to make the score 10-3. The Aggies climbed within four with a three-run fifth. Hirniese highlighted the inning with a two-run homer to left field - his first home run of the season.
After giving two more runs back to the Utes in the sixth inning, UC Davis scored six runs in the bottom half of the frame to tie things at 12-12. Hudson doubled home two runs to start the scoring and James doubled home two more to highlight the huge inning.
Utah took the lead again in the ninth inning off an RBI-single from Beltran. The Utes had two runners on base, but Evans ended the threat by striking out two of the final three batters to give the Aggies the eventual chance at winning the game.
The Aggies begin a five-day stretch of games on Wednesday as they host San Francisco at 2 p.m. The final four games of that stretch are part of the annual River City Classic.
