Davis, Calif. — Playing 18 innings of baseball during a brisk Saturday, the UC Davis Aggies were able to split on the day with the Utah Valley Wolverines. Winning the first game 4-2, Utah Valley would bounce back and shock the Aggies, 7-1.
In the 11 A.M. game, UC Davis rallied behind a strong starting performance from Bryan Green. Offensively, UC Davis used a Nick Leehey home-run to fuel their first victory of 2023.
Green went six innings, allowing just two hits. He also recorded six strikeouts and was consistently starting off batters today with first-pitch strikes. This was the third time in Green's career that he allowed no runs in an appearance.
Asserting his presence this year with a towering home-run over the left field fence, Nick Leehey would finish the day 2-4 with two runs, and two RBI's, making him responsible for every run scored during the first game. Going 2-4 right beside him was his sophomore duo, Mark Wolbert who had a double in the first game. But maybe the most impactful player offensively for UC Davis during the first nine innings of the day was Alex Gouveia who went 3-4 with a double and a stolen base.
Hoping to ride the momentum into the second leg of the double-header UC Davis was stymied by the Utah Valley attack. Youth also maybe played an impact as plenty of new faces got their first taste of college baseball in the second game. And it never is a good thing to be without one of your team leaders as UC Davis had to play most of the day without Nick Iverson who left the first game early after landing awkwardly on a diving attempt in the outfield.
On the bump for UC Davis during the second game, we saw all new faces as freshman Avery Thau started the game and was followed up by Ian Torpey, Carter Delaney, and Max Hippensteel. The four arms for the Aggies recorded eight strikeouts with Thau having three, and Delaney having five, but unfortunately, Utah Valley was able to rattle off seven runs.
UC Davis had nine hits in the first game, and were able to go on and record seven in the 2:30 game, yet they just never got it going during the second set of nine innings.
Some bright spots for the UC Davis offense despite the team's result were Gouveia again, recording a 2-3 day giving him two multi-hit games on the day, and Ethan Kang who picked up his first collegiate hit en route to a 2-3 day with a stolen base.
The Aggies will have a chance to even the series tomorrow at 1 P.M. with Rowen Barnes set to start tomorrow.
