May 3, 2014

Box Score

NORTHRIDGE, Calif. -- Junior right-hander Spencer Koopmans scattered just four hits over six shutout innings and the UC Davis bats came alive Saturday afternoon, helping the Aggies blast host Cal State Northridge, 11-0, in game two of their Big West Conference series at Matador Field.

The 11 runs tied a season high for UC Davis (18-24, 4-13), which snapped a four-game losing streak with its second shutout of the year, while reaching double figures in runs for only the third time this season. Saturday marked only the third road victory in 18 tries for the Aggies.

The Matadors fell to 17-29 overall and 5-9 in conference play with the loss, watching as their five-game winning streak over UC Davis came to an end.

Koopmans (4-1), who threw just 66 pitches on the day, and Raul Jacobson combined on the six-hit shutout, the latter earning his first save of the season after allowing just two hits over the final three scoreless innings. The Aggies' defense stranded six Northridge base runners -- four of those in scoring position -- helping the pitching staff by turning three double plays to end the second, third, and fifth innings.

Jerry Keel (0-8), the first of three pitchers on the day, suffered the loss for the Matadors despite allowing just three earned on four hits over seven innings.

Koopmans and Keel matched zeros through the first four innings before UC Davis, which was hitless until the third, broke up the shutout in the fifth, taking advantage of a bit of wildness from Keel, who hit John Williams to lead things off and walked both Evan Heptig and Tino Lipson to load the bases. That brought up Adam Young, who sent a ground ball to the left side, deep enough at short to plate Williams on the ground out for the 1-0 lead.

UC Davis scored two more in the seventh on a double to the right field corner by Izaak Silva for a 3-0 advantage, then broke the game wide open with a six-run eighth, sending 10 batters to the plate in the inning. Back-to-back singles by Tanner Bily and Nick Lynch put runners on the corners for Austin March, whose grounder to short plated a run to make it 4-0.

An error and a walk loaded the bases and, following a strikeout that should have ended the inning, Lipson cashed in the Aggies' fifth run of the day with a walk to drive home March for the five-run lead. A two-run single by Young and a two-run double by Kevin Barker -- who doubled for the sixth consecutive contest -- capped the scoring in the frame for UC Davis, as five of the six runs were unearned. The Aggies added two more in the ninth thanks to a Williams ground out and a Lipson single for the final 11-0 tally.

Young, who drove in three, Bily, Lynch, Silva, and Heptig, each finished with two hits on the day, while the top three hitters in the lineup combined to drive in seven of the team's 11 runs. The performance was the 16th multi-hit game of the year for Young, who matched Barker for the team lead.

With hits, Bily (11 games) and Barker (10) kept their lengthy hitting streaks alive, while also reaching base safely for their 12th and 20th consecutive games, respectively.

Nick Murphy was 2-for-3 to lead the Matadors at the plate.

Senior right-hander Evan Wolf (3-4, 4.42 ERA) takes the mound for the Aggies in Sunday's rubber game that is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. He will be opposed by sophomore right-hander Jordan Johnson (2-4, 4.93 ERA) for Northridge, who allowed six runs on five hits in four innings against San Diego State in his last start on April 22.

UC Davis 11, Cal State Northridge 0 (May 03, 2014 at Northridge, Calif.)
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UC Davis.............................. 000 012 062 - 11 12 0 (18-24, 4-13 Big West)
Cal State Northridge............ 000 000 000 - 0 6 2 (17-29, 5-9 Big West)
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Pitchers: UC Davis - Koopmans, Spencer; Jacobson, Raul(7) and Silva, Izaak. Cal State Northridge - Jerry Keel; Louis Cohen(8); Kenny Rosenberg(9) and Nick Murphy.
Win-Koopmans, Spencer(4-1) Save-Jacobson, Raul(1) Loss-Jerry Keel(0-8) T-2:52 A-149
Weather: Sunny, Low 90s, Wind SSE 8mph