March 28, 2011
Game 1 Box Score | Game 2 Box Score
SAN JOSE, Calif. - The UC Davis baseball team rebounded from a 5-2 loss in the first game by scoring a season-high nine runs later in the evening to claim a 9-1 win, splitting Monday's doubleheader in San Jose.
UC Davis moves to 4-14 overall as the evening victory snapped a five-game losing streak. San Jose State moves to 15-7 on the year.
The Spartans took an early 2-0 lead to start the first game, which was played at Blethen Field on the campus of San Jose State, after Jason Martin and Craig Hertler pulled off a double steal with one out, then scored later in the first inning.
UC Davis got a run in the third when Brett Morgan walked, then advanced all the way to third on a base hit from Daniel Cepin before scoring off an RBI single from Paul Politi.
Scott Lyman retired the side in both the second and third inning as the Aggies' starting pitcher and was replaced by Dayne Quist in the fourth, who gave up a run to Danny Stienstra who scored on a single by Tyler Christian.
The Aggies held the Spartans hitless in the fifth, but gave up two additional runs in the sixth. Politi scored UC Davis' final run in the eighth inning after leading off with a single, stealing second, then coming home on Eric Johnson's RBI single.
Anthony Kupbens and the Aggie pitching staff threw another impressive game during the evening matchup as both teams relocated to Municipal Stadium. Kupbens gave up only one earned run on four hits and struck out four batters in five full innings as the Aggies' starter. David Popkins gave up two hits, but did not allow a run in three innings of relief work while Tom Briner closed out the game with two strikeouts in the ninth inning.
The Aggie bats came alive as well in the second game as UC Davis put up a season-high nine runs on 15 hits, also a season-high, in a performance highlighted by home runs from Morgan and Popkins.
Both teams were scoreless through the first three innings, until UC Davis scored in the fourth after Popkins hit a single with two outs, then scored two plays later on a base hit from Scott Heylman. Morgan then led off the fifth inning with a solo homer down the left field line to put the Aggies up 2-0.
The Spartans' sole run of the game came in the fifth inning as Michael Reiling scored off an RBI single by Stienstra.
UC Davis put up two more runs in the sixth, then followed that with a three-run seventh inning that included Popkins' home run and a two-RBI double from Morgan. The Aggies led off the eighth with back-to-back singles from Johnson and Lyman, who would also pull off a double steal, then score on an RBI base hit from Alex Dreyfuss.
Morgan was 3-for-6 with three RBI while Popkins was 3-for-4 with two runs. Dreyfuss also registered three hits and drove in two runs.
UC Davis returns to action Wednesday in a 6 p.m. matchup against Santa Clara at Schott Stadium before hosting Cal State Fullerton to open Big West Conference play.
