The UC Davis baseball team came out flat against No. 1 ranked Stanford on the road Tuesday evening.
The Aggies were only able to scratch across one run against five pitchers, and fell 5-1 to the Cardinal for their second straight loss.
UC Davis falls to 5-3 overall on the season.
Brian Burke made his first UC Davis start, striking out three in 2 2/3 innings of work.
Stanford struck first with a solo shot in the bottom of the first inning, but UC Davis quickly responded in the top of the second when Paul Politi hit a double and then scored on freshman John Williams’ single to left field. Brett Morgan flied out to end that inning with the bases loaded, wasting an Aggie threat.
Stanford regained the lead in the third and never gave it up after that. After the fifth inning, UC Davis pitchers Chris Levy and Spencer Koopmans held the Cardinal to just two hits the rest of the game. Ryan Allgrove was 2-for-4 to lead the Aggies offensively.
Coach Matt Vaughn was pleased with how his squad did against the top-rated team in college baseball.
“Being able to see and play a team of that caliber on their home field in that environment is great experience,” Vaughn said. “The next time we play a team like that we’re a little better prepared.”
UC Davis will play against Creighton this weekend at Dobbins Stadium. The Bluejays were a playoff team last year and return most of its roster, meaning this will be another challenging series for the Aggies in the first ever meeting between the two schools.
“We had a great weekend at Bakersfield, but could’ve played with a little more energy against the Cardinal,” Vaughn said. Although the Bluejays are not ranked, Vaughn believes it critical to keep an aggressive approach against a high-caliber squad.
“We have to approach the game the same way no matter who we play,” Vaughn added. “Our goal is to play good baseball. We’re trying to play the game not the opponent.”
Dayne Quist will be on the mound to start the series for UC Davis, first pitch on Friday at 2:30 p.m.
RUSSELL EISENMAN can be reached at sports@theaggie.org.
