Teams: UC Davis vs. UC Riverside
Records: Aggies, 7-36 (1-14); Highlanders 28-14 (7-8)
Where: Dobbins Stadium
When: Friday at 2:30 p.m.; Saturday at 1 p.m.; Sunday at 1 p.m.
Who to watch: Reliever Andy Suiter has been mowing down hitters as of late.
In his last two appearances, the sophomore has pitched a combined four scoreless innings. He’s struck out a total of six California and Long Beach State hitters over that stretch.
Did you know? UC Davis is currently on an eight-game slide. It’s been swept in each of its past two weekend sets.
The Aggies lost a pair of close games to Long Beach State to close out play last weekend. They then lost to Cal by a 6-5 score on Tuesday.
Preview: Don’t let the eight-game losing streak fool you. The Aggies are playing some pretty good ball as of late.
UC Davis has lost its last three games by a total of five runs. On Tuesday, it almost mounted a two-out rally to tie the score in the ninth inning against the Golden Bears.
The Aggies need to put together full games of both hitting and pitching if they hope to pick up some wins against a quality UC Riverside club.
The Highlanders have won eight of their past nine. They’re most recently off a 22-5 win over UNLV on Tuesday.
“Last year Riverside was a young team that got better as the year went on,” coach Rex Peters said. “They return this year as a more experienced squad. They’ve played well and have traditionally pitched well and played good defense. When you pitch and play defense, you always give yourself a chance to win games.“
If UC Davis can get the ball into Suiter’s hands after six or seven innings with a lead, it stands a good chance of riding the righty’s arm to victory.
– John S. Heller
