ON DECK…
GAME 15: UC Davis (6-8) at Sacramento State (8-7)
Tuesday, Mar. 12, 2019
7 p.m.
John Smith Field
Sacramento, Calif.
Game Coverage: Live Stats | Watch

GAME 16: Pacific (10-5) at UC Davis
Wednesday, Mar. 13, 2019
2:30 p.m.
Phil Swimley Field at Dobbins Stadium
Davis, Calif.
Game Coverage: Live Stats

DAVIS, Calif. — The Aggies are set to resume action this week with a pair of back-to-back mid-week battles against Sacramento State (Mar. 12) and Pacific (Mar. 13). UC Davis will first make its way across the Causeway to John Smith Field for a 7 p.m. meeting on Tuesday with the Hornets, followed by a quick turnaround before playing host to the Tigers on Wednesday afternoon with first pitch scheduled for 2:30 p.m. at Phil Swimley Field. 

IN THE POLLS
Sacramento State, Pacific, and UC Davis are all unranked in the national polls this week.

FOLLOW UC DAVIS BASEBALL ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Aggie fans can stay updated with the latest UC Davis athletics news by "liking" us on Facebook (Facebook.com/UCDavisAggies) and following us on Twitter (@UCDavisAggies). Fans can also keep up with the action with the baseball program by "liking" them on Facebook (search for UC Davis Baseball) and following them on Twitter (@UCDavisBaseball).

ABOUT SACRAMENTO STATE
The Hornets began their 2018-19 campaign with a three-game homestand against North Dakota State… After dropping the series opener, 1-9, the Hornets bounced back with a doubleheader sweep to take the series, 2-1, and 8-3… The Hornets then took 1-of-4 against Pacific and UCLA, before sweeping Towson in a pair of doubleheader meetings at John Smith Field… The Hornets also fell in the first of a home-and-home series with Saint Mary's on Mar. 5, 1-10… Freshman Martin Vincelli-Simard paces the squad with a .283 average at the plate to go along with a team-high 15 hits, 11 RBI, and three home runs, while junior Ryan Walstad trails Vincelli-Simard with a .265 average on the season so far… The Hornets are 13-for-18 on the base paths in 2019 and are co-led by Walstad, junior Matt Smith, and senior Bronson Grubbs at three stolen bases apiece… The Aggies are slated to face Nick Tabura (0-1, 3.00 ERA) on the mound on Tuesday… Earning one start in two appearances on the season so far, the sophomore left-hander has allowed just one run on two hits over three innings of work for the Hornets…  Other opponents on the Hornets' non-conference schedule include San Jose State, Nevada, and San Francisco. 

SERIES NOTES
According to records dating back to 1960, the Hornets lead the overall series record with the Aggies, 112-86-3, as well as the Division I record (games played since 2008), 18-11… The Aggies will look to snap a three-game skid against Sacramento State after logging their most recent win on Apr. 4, 2017, when UC Davis edged the Hornets, 7-6… UC Davis secured its first-ever program win over Sacramento State in 1961 by a margin of 2-1… After inclement weather forced the two teams to postpone their first meeting of the season (originally scheduled on Feb. 26 at Phil Swimley Field) Tuesday's matchup marks the first of a home-and-home series on the schedule for 2019. 

ABOUT PACIFIC 
The Tigers began their 2019 campaign on a six-game winning streak after sweeping Chicago State in a three-game series at Klein Family Field and logging their first road victory over San Jose State, 8-1… Pacific kept the streak alive taking the first two of four matchups against Sacramento State, but the Tigers' streak came to an end when the Hornets halted the Tigers, 2-5, in game three… Pacific then bounced back in the finale to take the series with a 6-2 win in game four… Secured its third consecutive series win of the year over Seattle U… Suffered its first series loss after falling in three straight to Cal Baptist… Junior catcher James Free paces the squad with a .377 average at the plate and holds team-high totals in runs (14), hits (23), doubles (5), and home runs (2)… Sophomore infielder Alex Leforestier trails Free with a .333 average over 13 games played, while, freshman outfielder Ben Nemivant also carries a .333 average on the season so far… The Tigers are 10-for-12 on the base paths this year, led by junior infielder Carter Hayes with three stolen bases in 2019… Other non-conference opponents on the Tigers' schedule include Fresno State, Air Force, Nevada, and Stanford. 

SERIES NOTES
According to records that date back to 1960, the Aggies and the Tigers currently split the overall series record, 50-50-1, while the Aggies lead the all-time Division I record (games played since 2008), 17-10… UC Davis will look to continue its four-game streak against the Tigers at Phil Swimley Field after securing their most recent victory two seasons ago on May 22, 2017 by a narrow 3-2 margin… The Aggies' longest winning streak in program history came to an end on May 9, 2017, when the Tigers snapped UC Davis' eight-game streak… UC Davis secured the program's first ever win over Pacific back in 1961, when the Aggies downed the Tigers, 6-4. 

Recycled Notes

MURRAY SNAGS BIG WEST FIELD PLAYER OF THE WEEK (3/4)
Sophomore infielder Tanner Murray picked up his second career Big West Field Player of the Week nod after averaging .529 (9-for-17) with four extra-base hits, five RBI, and four runs scored in the Aggies' series win over Utah Valley. The Ben Lomond, Calif. native led off Friday's series opener with a solo shot in the bottom of the first and later plated two more runs with a 2-RBI single through the right side to help lift the Aggies past the Wolverines, 7-1. He finished 3-for-4 with a pair of runs scored in game two—one of his three multi-hit performances on the series—before helping the Aggies secure a come-from-behind win to capture the series in game three, thanks to a leadoff triple in the home half of the eighth. Trailing, 1-2, he then came around to score the game-tying run in what would be a three-run effort for UC Davis en route to a 4-2 win. 

AGGIE DUO CAPTURES BIG WEST WEEKLY HONORS - 2/18
After helping the Aggies to a season-opening three-game sweep over Northern Colorado, UC Davis redshirt junior managerial economics major Logan Denholm and senior neurobiology, physiology, and behavior major Chris Brown captured their first career Big West Conference Player of the Week accolades as announced by the league on Monday (Feb. 28).

Brown (1-0) was credited with the win in the Aggies' 12-0 shutout finale win on Sunday after scattering five hits and striking out a career-best six over seven innings on the mound for a 0.00 ERA in his first appearance of the season. The award marks his first career Pitcher of the Week nod.

Appearing in all three games over the weekend behind the plate for UC Davis, Denholm finished the series 5-for-9 at the plate with a team-high seven RBI and four runs scored. In the series finale alone, the El Dorado Hills, Calif.-native tied the all-time program record for doubles in a single game—notching two in the second and one in the sixth—while driving in a career-best four RBI, a performance that helped him earn the league's Field Player of the Week award for the first time in his career.

MR. BASEBALL… TOO FAST!
The Aggies were 13-for-14 in stolen bases last week against Northern Colorado and set a new Division I era single-game record with nine total stoel bases in game two of the Aggies' season-opening doubleheader, surpassing the previous record set by the 2015 squad at Texas State (8). Individually, senior Garret Kelly leads all Aggies with a perfect 4-for-4 record on the basepaths--one of eight Aggies to record a stolen base on the season so far. 

THE AGGIES AT A GLANCE
Coming off a 2018 campaign that saw the Aggies finish 18-35 overall, and 9-15 in Big West play, UC Davis is slated to return two of its top three hitters off last year's squad, including rising sophomore shortstop Tanner Murray. The Big West Freshman Field Player of the Year and All-Big West second team selection capped off his debut season for the Aggies averaging .333 at the plate to go along with 64 hits, 10 doubles and 22 RBI. He stood second only to All-Big West first team honoree Ryan Anderson, who paced the Aggies with a league-leading .345 average in 53 games, collecting 13 doubles, six home runs, and a team-high 36 RBI. The Pleasanton native was taken in the 31st round of last year's Major League Baseball First Year Player Draft by the Rangers. 

The Aggies will also return rising senior infielder Cameron Briggs who finished third on the squad with a .296 average last season to go along with 42 hits and seven doubles, scoring 24 times over 44 appearances and 39 starts. 

Senior left-hander Chris Brown, who was was a mainstay in the Aggies' weekend rotation in 2018, is a veteran of the staff after posting a 5.14 ERA in 15 appearances (14 starts) and striking out 35 in 75.1 innings of work last season. In addition to co-leading the staff in wins with a 4-5 mark, Brown tossed a career-long eight innings to help the Aggies secure their second Big West series win of the season over Long Beach State (Apr. 29), allowing just one run and striking out a pair. Brown will be joined on the mound by fellow rising senior Blake Hannah as well as sophomores Jared Sasaki and Brett Erwin.

Hannah, who was mainly used as the Aggies' mid-week starter in 2018, wrapped up his junior season with a career-best 22 strikeouts over 35.2 innings and threw a season-long five innings in the Aggies' 7-3 win over San Jose State (Apr. 3), surrendering just one hit en route to his third career win. Erwin (0-2, 3.38 ERA), an All-Big West Conference Honorable Mention, appeared in a team-high 20 games out of the bullpen in his debut season and ranked second on the team with three saves. Sasaki (4-6, 4.34 ERA) earned a spot in the Aggies' weekend rotation, making 16 appearances (13 starts) and striking out 33 over 76.2 innings of work.  

The Aggies will look to fill the shoes of weekend starter Matt Blais as well as reliever Connor Loar, who were both lost to graduation. Blais (4-8, 5.55 ERA), led the staff in strikeouts (50) and innings pitched (84.1), and paced the Big West with four pick offs. He threw his second career complete-game against Northern Colorado on Mar. 16, allowing just two runs on nine hits while striking out a career-high nine. Loar (3-3, 1.74 ERA), who joined UC Davis in 2017 as a junior-transfer out of Chabot College, found his stride in 2018 carrying a team-best 1.74 ERA to go along with a team-high four saves over 19 appearances out of the bullpen. The All-Big West Conference Honorable Mention tossed a career-long five innings in the Aggies' extra-inning win over San Francisco (Apr. 24), allowing just two hits.

ALL HANDS ON DECK
UC Davis is set to play four of its games against two teams that advanced to last season's NCAA Tournament, including Big West colleague, Cal State Fullerton, who advanced to the super regionals. The Titans went 3-0 to sweep the Stanford Regional as the No. 3 seed, first upsetting the No. 2 seed Baylor, 6-2, then posting back-to-back wins over No. 1 seeded Stanford, before falling 2-1 to Washington in the super regional series. 

Among other post-season qualifiers, the Aggies will make their way to Sunken Diamond to face Stanford (No. 1 seed in the Stanford Regional) on Apr. 16. Last season, the Aggies fell in their home opener at Phil Swimley Field by a narrow one-run margin, 2-3, to a then-ranked No. 13 Cardinal squad. 

The remainder of the non-conference schedule includes a three-game series at Pepperdine (Mar. 8-10), three meetings with Pacific and San Francisco (two at home and one away for each), and a three-game series at Utah during the Aggies' conference bye week on May 23-25 in Salt Lake City.

CAL STATE FULLERTON PICKED TO REPEAT IN BIG WEST POLL
According to a vote of the league's coaches, Cal State Fullerton, is picked to stand atop the 2019 league standings for the second consecutive season after picking up three first-place votes en route to a total of 70 points. UC Irvine earned the second slot with 67 points and four first-place votes, while Long Beach State was selected third with 62 points and one first-place vote. Cal Poly was selected fourth and received the final first-place vote (60), followed by UC Santa Barbra in fifth (49), Hawai'i in sixth (32), CSUN in seventh (29). UC Davis (19) came in eighth ahead of UC Riverside (17) in ninth.

FOLLOW UC DAVIS BASEBALL ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Aggie fans can stay updated with the latest UC Davis athletics news by "liking" us on Facebook (Facebook.com/UCDavisAggies) and following us on Twitter (@UCDavisAggies). Fans can also keep up with the action with the baseball program by "liking" them on Facebook (search for UC Davis Baseball) and following them on Twitter (@UCDavisBaseball).

AGGIES TO WELCOME SEVEN NLI SIGNEES IN 2020
UC Davis baseball head coach Matt Vaughn announced the signing of seven high schoolers, including two Davis locals, to National Letters of Intent to continue their academic and athletic careers at UC Davis beginning in the 2020 season. The all-California group includes Davis locals Zach Carrell (Davis Senior HS '19) and Jonah Henrickson (Davis Senior HS '19), as well as Northern California talents Nathanael Freeman (Benicia, Calif. / Benicia HS '19), Joseph Lampe (Petaluma, Calif. / Casa Grande HS '19), and Mt. Shasta native Kaden Riccomini (Mt. Shasta HS '19). The Aggies will also welcome Southern California talents Kai Janowicz (Avila Beach, Calif. / Mission College Preparatory HS '19) and Nicholas Iverson (Culver City, Calif. / Maranatha HS '19).

ABOUT UC DAVIS
Providing a small-town community feel while providing a world-class academic experience, UC Davis is home to more than 37,000 students and centrally located between San Francisco, Lake Tahoe, and the Napa Valley. The No. 5-ranked public university in the nation, according to the Wall Street Journal and Times Higher Education, offers nearly 100 graduate programs and more than 100 academic majors across four colleges and six professional schools, ranking among the world and nation's best in numerous disciplines, including veterinary science, agriculture, and plant and animal programs.

AGGIE EVO
Established during the 2017-18 academic year, the Aggie EVO System is UC Davis Athletics' investment in the primary mission of preparing student-athletes for a successful "launch" after graduation. Thanks to a collaboration of alumni, university resources, corporate partners, coaches and Student-Athlete Outcomes staff, all Aggies are guided over four years to acquire the skills, knowledge, opportunities and tools to better know and navigate the "World of Work" after graduating from UC Davis. Follow the Aggie EVO system on Twitter and Instagram at @AggieEVO.

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