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(February
22, 2008) - Senior Ben Price doubled to left center in the
bottom of the ninth inning to plate junior Carl Uhl all the
way from first to give UC Riverside a 3-2 win in their season-opener
against the University of Washington (0-1) Friday afternoon
at the Riverside Sports Complex. Junior starting pitcher Stephen
Penney looked solid in his second career start for the Highlanders
(1-0), striking out eight in his 5.1 innings of work.
UCR junior reliever Rob Waite (1-0) picked up the win after
he escaped the ninth inning without allowing a Huskie run
to cross after two Highlander errors put Washington runners
on first and third with just one out. Waite battled through
the shaky ninth-inning Highlander defense and eventually struck
out Jake Rife and then got Andy Lentz to groundout to first
to end the Washington threat.
In their half of the ninth, freshman pinch-hitter Tony Nix
led off the inning with a ground out and sophomore Bryan Horst
later fouled out to the catcher. Uhl then showed great patience,
battling with two strikes throughout his at-bat, eventually
drawing a walk to set the table for Price. Price had already
singled sharply to center earlier in the game and jumped smoked
the 1-1 pitch for UW reliever Tyler Cheney into the left-center
alley allowing the speedy Uhl to come around for the game-winner.
Sophomore Joey Gonzales gave UCR an early 1-0 lead in the
first after he raced all the way from first on a botched pop-up
by the Washington defense. Gonzales never slowed as the cold,
windy, and wet conditions made no ball in the air an easy
play throughout the game. The Highlanders would add another
run in the third on junior Drew Garcia's one-out base-hit
to center to score Gonzales from second.
The Huskies tied it at 2-2 in the fifth on a two-run homer
from Joey Dunn off of Penney but Penney was able to escape
further damage, striking out the next two hitters and then
got Rife to ground out to end the inning.
The Highlander bullpen gave the offense a chance, as the three
UCR pitchers combined to strikeout 13 Washington hitters and
allowed only one hit in the final 3.2 innings. Price and fellow
senior Aaron Wible each finished with two hits and Gonzales
scored two runs for the Highlanders.
Cheney (0-1) took the loss for UW, allowing that final run
to come across after throwing 3.2 solid innings in relief
of starter Nick Haughian.
The two teams decided that they will play a doubleheader tomorrow
beginning at 1:00 p.m. to try to get in as many games as they
can before more rainy weather becomes a factor in the following
days.
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