Score: UC Davis 10, UC San Diego 9
Winning Pitcher: Noel Valdez (6-3)
Save: Rowen Barnes (2)
Losing Pitcher: Sam Hasegawa (3-5)
Location: La Jolla, Calif.
Records: UC Davis 24-26 (11-15), UC San Diego 24-23 (13-13)
The short story: UC Davis rallied from a 9-5 deficit in the ninth inning, capped by
Jason Hanson's go-ahead three-run homer, to stun UC San Diego 10-9 on Saturday at Triton Ballpark. The Aggies scored five runs in the final frame—their biggest inning of the game—to complete the comeback. Reliever
Noel Valdez (6-3) earned the win with five gritty innings, and
Rowen Barnes shut the door with a scoreless ninth for the save, securing UC Davis' series victory.
FIRST PITCH
- Hanson's game-tying three-run blast to left field in the ninth highlighted a 2-for-3, 3-RBI day
- Valdez held it down out of the bullpen for UC Davis, as the right-hander allowed just three earned runs over five relief innings (5 H, 3 K) to keep UC Davis within reach
- Rowen Barnes after escaping a jam the night before, fired a scoreless ninth (2 K) to halt UCSD's chances and earn his second straight save
- Five Aggies logged multi-hit games, led by Mark Wolbert (3-for-5, RBI) and Ryan Lee's 3-for-5 game with three runs
- UC Davis out-hit UCSD at 16-11 clip
- The Aggies continued to execute when they needed to, batting .462 (6-for-13) with runners in scoring position
- Emiliano Gonzalez went 3-for-4 with a double and 2 RBIs, while J.C. Allen homered
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Nick Leehey's two-out RBI double scored Braydon Wooldridge for an early 1-0 lead
- The Tritons surged ahead 5-1 in the second, keyed by J.C. Allen's solo homer and Gabriel Camacho's two-run double
- Wolbert's RBI single in the third made it 5-2, and UC Davis added two in the sixth on Evan Gentil's RBI single and Matteo Blandino's fielder's choice
- The deficit became just one run with Blandino's eighth-inning RBI single cutting the deficit to 6-5, but UCSD answered with three runs in the bottom half, including Emiliano Gonzalez's RBI double
- Down 9-5, UC Davis didn't back down the from the challenge getting one run on Ryan Lee's RBI single and three more on Hanson's homer to flip the game
- Korey Williams' sacrifice fly proved to be the game winning run for the Aggies as Barnes stranded the tying run in the bottom half to secure the series
UP NEXT: UC Davis will have a chance to sweep the series on Sunday, with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m. at Triton Ballpark.
