Teams: UC Davis vs. Cal State Bakersfield
Records: Aggies, 7-19; Roadrunners, 22-8
Where: Dobbins Baseball Complex
When: Friday at 2:30 p.m.; Saturday at 1 p.m.; Sunday at 1 p.m.
Who to watch: Shortstop Scott Heylman was named the Big West Conference Player of the Week for the week ending April 10. The award was his first.
The senior from San Diego, Calif. recorded seven RBI on the week, with three doubles and a triple.
Against Long Beach State on Friday, Heylman’s two-RBI double in the third inning proved to be the game-winner as UC Davis snagged a 2-1 advantage in what would be an 8-1 victory.
In driving the Aggie offense throughout the weekend, Heylman raised his overall season batting average from .315 to a team-leading .349.
Did you know? In last year’s win over Cal State Bakersfield, UC Davis scored nine runs in the ninth inning to get the final 12-11 edge.
In that game, then-sophomore Eric Johnson recorded a team-leading four RBI.
Preview: Last weekend, the Aggies were ready.
Coach Rex Peters was impressed by his team’s ability to follow the game plan for its series win at Long Beach State. He hopes that momentum continues.
“We have some tough games coming up, but if we can just take that same attitude and approach into these games that we have this week, I think we can be competitive and get the job done,” Peters said.
After Tuesday’s 4-3 come-from-behind victory over Saint Mary’s, the Aggies will take on Cal State Bakersfield in a three-game series at home.
“[Cal State] Bakersfield is a good team and they’ve had a good season,” Peters said.
The Roadrunners boast a 22-8 record on the 2011 campaign, which includes road wins over No. 10 Arizona State and No. 3 South Carolina in March.
At the time of the latter victory, Cal State Bakersfield sat at the No. 30 spot in the nation. The Roadrunners are currently receiving votes, according to the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association.
While the Aggies will have their work cut out for them against another high-caliber squad, Peters said a couple of recent wins in Long Beach were enough to prove their potential as a program.
“I think we learned a lot about ourselves as a team [last] weekend,” Peters said. “We swung the bat and got some big hits when we needed to, and we got some pretty good starts out of our starting pitchers.”
– Grace Sprague
