Aggies find success in their last series of the season
By DANIELLE WIRNOWSKI— sports@theaggie.org
On May 15, the UC Davis baseball team hosted California State University, Northridge (CSUN) for the last three-game series of the season. The UC Davis Aggies walked away from the series with a win, capturing the last two games of the series as victories.
CSUN began the series ahead, obtaining a 3-2 win over the Aggies in the first game of the series. Despite the fact that the Aggies had the advantage early in the game, Korey Williams, a third-year undeclared major, hit a home run in the second inning, allowing Nick Leehey, a fourth-year communication major, to score. However, CSUN was able to rally in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings, securing a run in each inning.
The Aggies followed this by securing a 5-3 win in the following game. The Aggies were trailing behind at the beginning of the third inning, until they scored two runs in the third and proceeded to score three runs in the sixth inning, securing the win. Four of these runs were as a result of a Leehey and Tyler Howard, a second-year managerial economics major, driving in two runs batted in.
The Aggies came through with a 10-6 win on Senior Day, ending the series and the regular season on a high. Prior to the game starting, the team and fans honored the nine graduating fourth-years in an emotional ceremony, in which each graduating student was gifted specialized UC Davis Aggies baseball bats.
The Aggies, initially starting the Senior Day game trailing behind CSUN with the score of 0-1, quickly followed up with six runs at the bottom of the third inning.
This inning started off strong with Ethan Felix, a fourth-year managerial economics major, hitting a single, safely reaching first base. Felix then reached third base due to Braydon Wooldridge, a third-year human development major, hitting a double. Wooldridge was also able to reach second base off this hit.
This play was followed up by Howard successfully batting, giving the Aggies the ability to have the bases loaded. Jaxon Murphy, a second-year political science major, then hit a single through the left field, getting Felix and Wooldridge to home base for two runs.
With Howard and Murphy on base, Leehey hit a single, returning the Aggies to the status of bases loaded.
Jason Hanson, a fourth-year history major, followed his previous teammates’ actions, hitting another single and allowing Leehey to advance to second, as well as Howard and Murphy to hit home runs. This brought the score to 4-1.
The last two runs scored in this inning were run-ins by Leehey, with credit to Alex Gouveia, a sixth-year human development major, hitting a fly ball, and Hanson, due to Felix hitting a single for the second time that inning.
The Aggies shut down any attempt CSUN had to score until the top of the fifth inning, where CSUN earned two runs during the inning. However, UC Davis was still in the lead and needed to be prevented from scoring further runs.
CSUN retaliated with this energy up until the latter half of the seventh inning, in which the Aggies were only able to secure two runs via Hanson and Mark Wolbert, a fourth-year managerial economics major, bringing the score to 8-3.
CSUN challenged this enthusiasm with their own at the top of the eighth inning. CSUN, despite the defensive play that the Aggies employed, was able to score two home runs, bringing the score to 8-5 in favor of the Aggies. The Aggies fought back right away, scoring two more home runs at the bottom of the eighth. Hanson and Riley Acosta, a fourth-year computer science major, were at bat, successfully allowing their two teammates to run to home base.
While this would be the last the Aggies scored during this game, they led 10-5, which ended up ensuring they would be taking home a victory.
The Aggies rounded out the game by placing Carter Delaney, a Master of Management graduate student, as pitcher in the ninth inning, shutting down CSUN from scoring more than one run.
Finishing up the game, the Aggies ended with a strong victory of 10-6, a perfect ending of the season for the nine fourth-years in the lineup. The team wrapped up their overall statistics for the season with 27 wins and 28 losses. The Aggies will return for their next season in February 2026.
Written by: (Danielle Wirnowski) — sports@theaggie.org
