Score: UC Davis 8, UC Santa Barbara 2
Location: Davis, Calif. (La Rue Field)
Winning Pitcher: Sarah Reineman (3-4)
Losing Pitcher: Ainsley Waddell (5-10)
Save: Kenedi Brown (5)
Records: UC Davis (18-26, 9-12 Big West) | UC Santa Barbara (16-26, 10-11 Big West)
The short story: Sarah Starks' two-homer day lifted UC Davis to victory over UC Santa Barbara in the series finale on Saturday afternoon at La Rue Field.
LEADING OFF
- Starks enjoyed her best performance of the season and one of the best of her career, going 2-for-3 with two home runs, three RBI, and a walk to lead the Aggies offensively.
- Sarah Reineman got the nod and earned her third win of the year after throwing four innings and allowing just one earned run. The right hander struck out three Gauchos without issuing a walk.
- Leah Polson reached base four times on the afternoon, going 1-for-1 with three walks and a run scored.
- UC Davis grabbed a 2-0 lead in the bottom half of the first and didn't surrender that lead for the remainder of the game.
- Kenedi Brown also made an impact in the circle for the Aggies, throwing three innings, giving up one run on three hits, with one walk and three strikeouts to notch her fifth save of the season.
- The Aggies went 4-for-10 (.400) with runners in scoring position.
- The UCSB pitching staffed issued nine walks in the game.
- UCSB was led offensively by senior Alana Snow, who went 3-for-3 with an RBI.
THE RUNDOWN
- Sarah Starks started the game off with a bang, launching a two-run bomb to give her team an early lead.
- UC Santa Barbara cut the lead in half with Alexa Sams' RBI single in the top of the third.
- In the bottom of the fourth, Starks smacked her second homer of the day, a solo shot to restore the Aggies' two-run advantage.
- The rally continued when McMahan came up with a two-RBI base hit to extend the lead to 6-1.
- Kenedi Brown came on to relieve Reineman in the fifth.
- After tossing a scoreless fifth, the Gauchos pushed a run across in the sixth to make it a 6-2 ballgame.
- Bella Holtz delivered an RBI single in her pinch-hit opportunity and Tatum Wentworth followed with an RBI knock of her own to spark the Aggies' two-run sixth.
- The score remained 8-2 for the rest of the game, as UC Davis coasted to the win.
BY THE NUMBERS
- Brown is just one third of an inning from tying the program's innings pitched record (Division I era).
ON DECK
The Ags head to San Luis Obispo on May 3 to take on Cal Poly. First pitch of the doubleheader is scheduled for 1 p.m.
