Teams: UC Davis at Nevada
Records: Aggies, 20-25; Wolfpack, 30-19-1
Where: Peccole Park – Reno, Nev.
When: Today at 6 p.m.
Who to watch: The Aggies have a secret weapon.
His name? Seth Batty.
The freshman out of Fresno, Calif. is one of the most dynamic players on the UC Davis squad yet he’s only started 27 of the team’s 45 games. His .352 on base percentage ranks fifth among starters while his 10 stolen bases rank first by a wide margin. Aside from above average plate discipline and speed, Batty knows how to manufacture runs as his five sacrifice flies and his six sacrifice hits each rank first on the team.
Today, Batty will look to repeat a solid performance against the Wolfpack. When the two teams met earlier in the season, he went 1-for-3 with an RBI.
Did you know? Wolfpack starting catcher Michael Turay went to Davis Senior High School where he was teammate of Aggie reliever Scott Heinig.
Preview: UC Davis can’t seem to put it all together.
Though their bats have been good enough to win for most of the season, the Aggie pitching and defense has been too erratic to win consistently. It seems that when the starters are on their game, the bullpen falters and when the starters struggle, the bullpen is at its best.
This fact is highlighted by a weekend series against Cal Poly in which the three UC Davis starters combined to go 22.2 innings while allowing only five earned runs. In comparison, the bullpen went 7.1 innings and allowed seven earned runs.
“Those last six outs of the game are the hardest to get,” said coach Rex Peters. “Nobody on our staff wants to go get them.”
While the pitching searches for consistency, the UC Davis sluggers are doing enough to win.
The Aggies have a respectable .363 on base percentage as a team this season and they average to score 5.6 runs per game. The only problem that the positions players may have is defense as they average more than one error per contest.
UC Davis has been focusing on throwing strikes, playing defense and getting timely hits all season. They will need at least two of these three qualities if they hope to beat a tough Nevada squad.
Mark Ling
