29-24, 9-11
UC Riverside
24-27, 10-10
Cal Poly Falls 11-5, Loses Big West Series Against UC Riverside
5/21/2016 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
RIVERSIDE, Calif. – UC Riverside shattered a scoreless pitching duel by scoring seven runs in the fourth inning and breezed to an 11-5 victory over Cal Poly in a Big West Conference baseball game Saturday night at the Riverside Sports Complex.
The Highlanders sent 12 batters to the plate in the fourth and they produced eight hits and a hit batter for their seven runs, also taking advantage of one Mustang error.
With the victory, UC Riverside clinches the Big West series – the Highlanders won Friday 6-4 – and improved to 24-27 for the season and 10-10 in conference games, alone in sixth place. Cal Poly falls into seventh place at 9-11 and is 29-24 overall.
Coach Larry Lee's Mustangs were 25-13 for the season and tied for first place with Cal State Fullerton after sweeping UC Santa Barbara at Baggett Stadium on April 22-24, but Cal Poly has lost eight consecutive Big West games on the road since the sweep.
After surrendering seven runs in the fourth, Cal Poly scored twice in the fifth inning as Brett Binning doubled, Alex McKenna singled and both came home on back-to-back sacrifice flies by Kyle Marinconz and Brett Barbier.
The Mustangs added three more in the sixth frame as Nick Meyer was hit by a pitch, Josh George singled and Michael Sanderson knocked them both home with a double to right-center field. Barbier was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded for the third run, cutting UC Riverside's lead to 7-5.
For Barbier, it was the 16th time he had been hit by a pitch this season, one shy of the school record set by Jon Macalutas in 1995.
UC Riverside pushed the advantage back up to 11-5 with single runs in the sixth and seventh frames and two more in the eighth.
The Highlanders produced a 16-8 advantage in hits, led by Mark Contreras with three singles and a triple and Vince Fernandez with a double and two singles for two RBI. Drake Zarate added a pair of RBI doubles, Aaron Cisneros contributed two singles and a pair of RBI and Yeager Taylor had two hits and an RBI.
Cal Poly was paced offensively by Sanderson (pictured above) with two singles and a double, knocking in two runs. It was Sanderson's third three-hit game of the season. Josh George added two singles and Binning had a double.
Though he drove in two runs with a sacrifice fly and bases-loaded hit by pitch and drew a walk, Barbier's 11-game hitting streak came to an end. He has reached base safely in 52 of Cal Poly's 53 games this season.
Sophomore right-hander Erich Uelmen (5-2) suffered his second straight loss after a 5-0 start, allowing all seven runs and eight hits in the fourth inning after retiring the first 10 Highlander batters of the game.
Junior right-hander Richard Delgado (1-7) earned his first win of the year, allowing five runs (four earned) and seven hits over five-plus innings with one walk and two strikeouts.
Cal Poly entered the series having won 13 of its last 15 games against UC Riverside, sweeping the Highlanders in 2012, 2013 and last year at Baggett Stadium.
Final game of the series will be played Sunday at 1 o'clock with sophomore right-hander Jarred Zill (4-3, 2.65 ERA) of Cal Poly to face UC Riverside junior right-hander Angel Landazuri (4-5, 5.63 ERA).
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Delgado, Richard (1-7)
L: Uelmen, Erich (5-2)
Batting:
2B: Sanderson, Michael 1 ; Binning, Brett 1
RBI: Marinconz, Kyle 1 ; Barbier, Brett 2 ; Sanderson, Michael 2
SF: Marinconz, Kyle 1 ; Barbier, Brett 1
Base Running:
RUNS: McKenna, Alex 1 ; Meyer, Nick 1 ; George, Josh 1 ; Binning, Brett 2
SB: McKenna, Alex 1
HBP: Barbier, Brett 1 ; Meyer, Nick 1
Batting:
2B: Fernandez, Vince 1 ; Zarate, Drake 2
3B: Contreras, Mark 1
RBI: Contreras, Mark 1 ; Fernandez, Vince 2 ; Cisneros, Aaron 2 ; Taylor, Yeager 1 ; Zarate, Drake 2 ; Farris, Michael 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Colvin, Austin 1 ; Contreras, Mark 2 ; Fernandez, Vince 2 ; Cisneros, Aaron 1 ; Schultz, Colby 1 ; Mercado II, Steven 1 ; Worden, Casey 1 ; Zarate, Drake 1 ; Farris, Michael 1
SB: Mercado II, Steven 1
HBP: Worden, Casey 1
