Davis, Calif. -
Mark Wolbert homered,
Nate Freeman pitched seven innings to pick up a win and UC Davis defeated CSU Bakersfield 7-5 to open a three-game series.
The win was UC Davis' second straight after starting the season 0-15.
Wolbert's first-inning homerun was the first of his career as the freshman continues to find his way with the bat, going 2-4 to drive his hitting streak to four games and scored twice to make it eight straight games with a run scored.
J.D. Mico went 1-4 with a run to increase his streak to 10 straight games with a hit.
Nick Leehey went 1-3 with an RBI double and a run, hitting safely for the fifth straight game.
Jake Brandel was 1-4 with an RBI single in what was his seventh straight game with a hit while
Nick Iverson drove his team-leading RBI total to 11 by going 1-4.
Jonah Henrickson was 1-2 with two runs scored, giving him eight runs over the Aggies' last three games.
For the fourth straight game, UC Davis employed an opener with
Daniel Carrion pitching the first inning and
Leroy Yau the second before giving way to
Nate Freeman for the final seven innings. Freeman made his longest appearance of the season allow two earned runs on seven hits with six walks and three strikeouts. He worked around a bases-loaded jam in the eighth and two on in the ninth to preserve the win for UC Davis.
After falling behind 0-3 in the top of the first, the Aggies wasted no time answering in the bottom half of the inning.
Mico drew a leadoff walk and scored on Wolbert's opposite field home run to left.
Nick Leehey scored on a throwing error to tie the game and Brandel singled in
Jonah Henrickson to put the Aggies up 4-3.
Raul Sandoval drove in
James Williams III to make it 5-3 by the end of the inning.
UC Davis answered again in the bottom of the third after the Roadrunners got one run back in the top half of the inning. Henrickson hit a lead off single to start the inning and Iverson dumped a 3-2 pitch into left to make it a 6-4 game. The Aggies added an insurance run in the seventh on Leehey's double that drove in Wolbert.
The series continues Saturday at 1 p.m.
