Going into the weekend, the Aggies knew that they had their work cut out for them.
They were right.
In a three game series against Cal State Fullerton, UC Davis failed to pick up a win and was outscored 46-13.
“It was one of those series where we just couldn’t put it together,” said coach Rex Peters [cq]. “When we hit well enough to win, we couldn’t pitch. When we pitched well enough to win, we couldn’t hit.”
Thursday – Cal State Fullerton 20, UC Davis 4
Sophomore southpaw Dayne Quist began the season by going 4-0 with three complete games.
Unfortunately for the Aggies, their No. 1 starter has hit a rough patch having lost two straight contests highlighted by a performance against the Titans in which he gave up 11 runs in five innings.
The most surprising stat line of the day was that Quist allowed six walks and recorded only one strikeout. Despite the uncharacteristic performance, the Aggies believe that Quist will be fine in the long run.
“Dayne is a lowball pitcher,” Peters said. “He wasn’t getting the low strikes that he normally gets and that frustrated him. When he gets those low strikes, he’s hard to hit.”
The UC Davis hitters fared relatively well at the plate, recording 12 hits highlighted by two-hit days from Daniel Cepin, Paul Politi and Joseph Medeiros.
In the end, Titan stars Christian Colon and Gary Brown were too hot to handle as the duo combined to go 8-for-11 at the dish with six RBI and six runs scored.
Friday – Cal State Fullerton 23, UC Davis 7
The second game of the series was nearly identical to the first.
Like Quist in game one, a normally trustworthy left handed starter by the name of Anthony Kupbens ran into an overpowering offense, allowing 16 earned runs in 4.2 innings.
“Both of our lefties throw softly,” Peters said. “[Cal State Fullerton] just sat on their off-speed stuff. They had a good approach at the plate and it worked for them.”
Like the first game, the Aggies scored enough runs to win as they again recorded 12 hits. New leadoff hitter Justin Schafer went 2-for-4 with two runs scored while second baseman Scott Heylman went 3-for-4 with a run and an RBI.
Saturday – Cal State Fullerton 3, UC Davis 2
The last game of the series was much different than the first two.
UC Davis received a second straight impressive performance on the mound from Scott Lyman as the righty flamethrower allowed just three runs in seven innings pitched.
“Scotty has velocity with movement that the others don’t,” Peters said. “He threw strikes pretty well and we played good defense. We just didn’t capitalize on our scoring opportunities.”
With Lyman out of the lineup, the Aggies produced only five hits. David Popkins did his best to carry the team going 2-for-4 with two RBI, but it wasn’t enough to take the final game of the series.
UC Davis was scheduled to travel to Nevada to take on the Wolfpack on Monday. Due to impending cold and snowy weather in the Reno, Nev. area, the game has been reschedule for April 20.
As a result, the Aggies next take the field at home against Big West Conference foe Long Beach State.
MARK LING can be reached at sports@theaggie.org.
