RIVERSIDE, Calif. - The fans at Riverside Sports Complex witnessed an impressive offensive performance by both squads during Thursday night's Big West opener between the Aggies and host Highlanders. Junior Ryan Anderson paced the UC Davis offense finishing 5-for-5 at the plate with two RBI and one run scored, while freshman Tanner Murray extended his hitting streak to 10 consecutive games. Trailing the Highlanders 11-4 after six innings of play, the Aggies climbed their way back to within one thanks to a heroic six-run effort in the seventh, but five more scores from UC Riverside would shut the door on the Aggies, resulting in a 16-10 victory for the Highlanders.

Anderson's perfect 5-for-5 effort is the first by an Aggie since Tanner Bily finished 5-for-5 in game two of a series against CSUN in 2016. He is the seventh Aggie in the program's Division I era to collect at least five hits in a game--just one shy of the single game record set by David Popkins at CSU Bakersfield in 2012.

The Aggies fall to 6-14 on the season and 0-1 in league play, while the Highlanders tally their first conference win, improving to 11-10 overall.

Four back-to-back singles gave the Aggies a strong start to Thursday afternoon's conference matchup, with freshman Tanner Murray recording a lead-off hit for UC Davis for a third consecutive game. Murray moved to second on a hard hit ball to right field off the bat of Brad Pluschkell, advancing to third on an obstruction called against the UC Riverside infield. Anderson kept the rally alive with an RBI-single that bounced off the glove of the third baseman on its way down the left field line. But the Aggies weren't done yet, after loading the bases off a single to right center by Logan Denholm, an groundout by junior Caleb Van Blake brought another run across for the Aggies to make it 2-0.

Senior Matt Blais made quick work on the mound for UC Davis in the bottom of the first, tossing a 1-2-3 inning for the Aggies that included two strikeouts.

In the top of the third, Anderson tallied his 15th RBI of the season on a single through the right side to bring home Murray, who led off the inning with his second hit of the day, giving UC Davis a 3-0 lead over the Highlanders.

But the UC Riverside offense would find its stride in the their half of the third, first erasing the Aggies' three-run advantage, then overtaking the lead with a three-run homer from Connor Cannon, finishing the inning with six runs on six hits. Cannon finished 3-for-4 on the night and a triple shy of the cycle along with two runs scored and a team-high five RBI.

The Aggies then made it a two-run game in the fourth after an RBI-single from center fielder Garret Kelly allowed senior Ryan Hooper to cross the plate.

The bottom of the inning would see another multi-run stint by the Highlanders, tripling their lead with four runs on five hits before tacking on another in the sixth to give UC Riverside its biggest lead of the night, 11-4.

But an error-riddled seventh inning by the Highlanders coupled with four base hits by the Aggies turned the tide for UC Davis. Kelly led-off the inning with his first double of the season-fifth in his career-and moved his way around the bases following a single to left field from Anderson and an RBI-walk by Denholm. Van Blake drove in two more with his first hit of the night to make it 11-7 in favor of the Highlanders. Two batters later, a misplay by the left fielder would turn a single by Alex Aguiar into a triple, bringing two more runs across in the process. A wild pitch then allowed Aguiar to score UC Davis' tenth run of the game, as the Aggies cut down the deficit from seven runs to one.

But the Aggies' impressive rally would not be enough to overcome five more runs tacked on by the Highlanders, lifting UC Riverside to its first league win of the season.

Matt Blais (2-3) suffered the loss for UC Davis after giving up nine runs on nine hits while striking out five over 3.1 innings on the mound.

Trenton Toplikar (3-2) secured his third win of the season after allowing four runs on nine hits and striking out six over six innings, while Hazel Quijada earned his first save for the Highlanders after allowing one run on two hits and striking out four over 2.2 innings of work.

The two teams continue series action tomorrow (Mar. 30) at 6 p.m. with the finale to follow on Saturday (Mar. 31) at 1 p.m.


UC Riverside 16, UC Davis 10 (03/29/18 at Riverside, Calif.)
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UC Davis............ 201 100 600 - 10 14 1 (6-14, 0-1 Big West)
UC Riverside........ 006 401 14X - 16 20 3 (11-10, 1-0 Big West)
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Pitchers: UC Davis - Blais, Matt; Barraza, Daniel(4); Torres, Joseph(7); Lara, Andres(8) and
Denholm, Logan. UC Riverside - Toplikar, Trenton; Sawyer, AJ(7); Quijada, Hazahel(7) and
Lepre, Anthony.
Win-Toplikar, Trenton(3-2) Save-Quijada, Hazahel(1) Loss-Blais, Matt(2-3) T-3:41 A-149
HR UCR - Cannon, Connor (5); Lepre, Anthony (1).
Weather: Clear skies


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