Box Score

DAVIS, Calif. -- Sophomore right-hander Blake Peters tossed 3 1/3 innings of shutout baseball in relief to earn his first career win and freshman Logan Denholm's squeeze pushed across the go-ahead run in the sixth, helping lift UC Davis to a 4-3 victory over Portland in Sunday's series finale at Dobbins Stadium.

The Aggies clinched their first win of the young season, improving to 1-3 overall, while helping Head Coach Matt Vaughn collect the 100th win of his coaching career. The Pilots suffered their first loss, falling to 3-1.

"I think we took a step forward today," Vaughn said. "After our first three games, it would have been really easy for our guys to just come out and cash it in, but they played hard and we got a good start from Nat (Hamby) and great relief out of Blake (Peters)."

Peters (1-0) allowed just two hits in his appearance out of the bullpen, coming on in the sixth to inducing an inning-ending ground ball to strand runners at the corners then, after setting down in the side in order in the seventh, worked a double play after a lead off walk and a fly ball to end the eighth. He then worked around a one-out single to strand the tying run on base with a pair of fly balls.

Senior right-hander Nat Hamby earned the start, but took a no-decision, allowing two earned on five hits over 5 2/3 innings, striking out four. He retired the first seven batters he faced and allowed just two hits around a tough third inning when Portland scored all three of its runs.

"I thought we had the right guy in that position," Vaughn said of Hamby. "It would be very easy for him to come out and say, 'I've got to do it all' and get away from playing the game one pitch at a time when things can spin out of control. He's a veteran guy, he didn't let that happen, and he gave us a chance to win the game."

Cole Doherty (0-1) took the loss in relief for the Pilots, allowing the go-ahead run on just one hit in two innings of work.

For the first time this season, UC Davis was first on the board, plating a pair of runs in the opening inning after a 1-2-3 top half. A one-out sacrifice fly by Ryan Anderson with runners at the corners plated Alex Aguiar (who was hit by a pitch to lead-off the inning) for the 1-0 lead, and junior Mark Cardinalli followed with a single through the left side, scoring Tanner Bily from second base to make it 2-0.

The Pilots got the runs back plus one as part of a big fourth inning as back-to-back doubles by Grant Taylor and Caleb Whalen broke up the shutout, and Ryan Barr added a shot back up the middle for a single that tied the game at two. Portland pushed across a third run thanks to a couple of errors on a ball hit by Kevin Farley, scoring Kevin Wade, who jarred the ball loose on a play at the plate to put the Pilots ahead.

Freshman Alex Roeser got the rally started in the fifth, plunked by an 0-2 pitch to lead-off the inning, was sacrificed to second, moved to third on a wild pitch, and scored on Brad Pluschkell's ground ball to short to make it 3-all.

That set up the decisive sixth for the Aggies as Anderson reached when a pop-up was misplayed on the infield to lead-off the frame, and they didn't waste the opportunity. A sacrifice by Cardinalli and a looping single by junior Mason Novak put runners on the corners for Denholm, who laid down a perfectly placed bunt to the right side, easily scoring Anderson for the winning run.

Bily finished 2-for-4 as the middle of the UC Davis order combined for all five of the team's hits on the day. Barr and Cody Hawken each had two hits to lead Portland, which out-hit the Aggies, 7-5, for the game.

A four-game, five-day opening weekend comes to a close on Monday (Feb. 22) for UC Davis, which plays host to Stanford at 2 p.m. at Dobbins Stadium. The Cardinal are coming off a series win in which they took two-of-three from No. 22 Cal State Fullerton over the weekend.

UC Davis 4, Portland 3 (Feb 21, 2016 at Davis, Calif.)
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Portland............ 000 300 000 - 3 7 1 (3-1)
UC Davis............ 200 011 00X - 4 5 2 (1-3)
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Pitchers: Portland - HORAK, Jordan; DOHERTY, Cole(5); FISHER, Alex(7) and HUMMEL, Cooper. UC Davis - Hamby, Nat; Peters, Blake (6) and Denholm, Logan. Win- Peters, Blake (1-0) Loss-DOHERTY, Cole(0-1) T-2:31 A-316
Weather: sunny, 62 deg., N7 mph
HORAK, J faced 1 batter in the 5th.