April 13, 2008

Box Score

San Luis Obispo, Calif. - For the second consecutive day, the Pacific baseball team were upended by a late comeback from the Cal Poly Mustangs, falling 8-5 on Sunday, Apr. 13.

The loss dropped the Tigers to 8-24 on the season and 2-7 in the Big West Conference. Cal Poly finished the series at 13-18 overall and 3-6 in conference play.

Pacific jumped out to a 2-0 lead in their first at-bat when senior Adam Ching (Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.) reached on a fielder's choice, moved to second on a ground out, then scored on an RBI single from junior Mike McKeever (San Diego, Calif.). McKeever moved into scoring position with his third stolen base of the year. Following a walk to freshman Brian Martin (Livermore, Calif.), McKeever scored as freshman Nick Longmire (San Diego, Calif.) reached on an error.

The Tigers stretched the lead to 3-0 in the top of the second behind a leadoff single by freshman J.B. Brown, a one out single by Ching and an RBI single from sophomore Mike Walker (Marysville, Calif.).

Cal Poly got on the board in the bottom of the fourth on a sacrifice fly, but Pacific got the run back in the top of the fifth with three singles. Longmire led off the inning by pounding a single up the middle. One out later, senior Brett Manning (Boulder, Colo.) stroked a single to center to put runners at the corners. With two down, Oliveira drove a single up the middle to make it 4-1.

Cal Poly put together a two-out rally in the fifth for two runs. Wes Dorrell doubled home the first run and Kyle Smith doubled down the left-field line for the other tally, trimming Pacific's lead to 4-3.

Still 4-3 entering the top of the seventh, Pacific senior Noah St. Urbain (Stockton, Calif.) delivered a pinch-hit double down the left field line. Two outs later, Oliveira smacked his second RBI single of the afternoon into left left.

Leading 5-3 in the seventh, the Tigers saw Cal Poly rally for two runs on an RBI double by Wes Dorrell and a run-scoring single by sophomore left fielder Adam Melker.

The Mustangs snapped the 5-5 deadlock in the eighth. Senior second baseman Pat Pezet singled to right and scored from first base with the go-ahead run as junior center fielder Logan Schafer singled to deep center field. Junior third baseman Brent Morel singled to right-center and junior outfielder Ryan Lee's bunt single loaded the bases with nobody out. Back-to-back sacrifice flies by Dorrell and sophomore shortstop Kyle Smith gave Cal Poly two insurance runs and an 8-5 lead.

Those three late runs proved to be the difference as Cal Poly took the series from the Tigers.

Mustang southpaw Jared Eskew provided 5.2 innings of effective relief to earn the win (2-1). Eskew, who relieved sophomore right-hander Steven Fischback in the fourth inning, allowed two runs and seven hits for the win, walking one and striking out two.

Pacific junior Cole Akins (Seattle, Wash.) suffered the loss (1-5) allowing three runs on three hits and two walks in one inning of relief.

Oliveira led the Tigers with a season-high four hits and two RBI.

Pacific returns to action on Tuesday, Apr. 15 as the Tigers host No. 5 California at 6 p.m. in Klein Family Field.