May 2, 2009

Box Score

Riverside, Calif. - The Pacific baseball team rallied in the ninth inning again, but came up short in a 7-4 loss at UC Riverside on Saturday, May 2 at the Riverside Sports Complex.

The Tigers fell to 18-23 overall, 8-9 in Big West Conference games, while the Highlanders improved to 26-14 overall, 6-8 in the Big West.

Sophomore Nick Longmire (San Diego, Calif.) opened up the game with a double to center field. A fly out to right by senior Joey Centanni (San Diego, Calif.) and a sacrifice fly by sophomore J.B. Brown (Alvin, Texas) gave the Tigers an early 1-0 lead. Carl Uhl led off the bottom of the first for the Highlanders with a single, then came around to score on an RBI ground out by Michael Hur to even it up at 1-1. UCR scored another single run on an RBI ground out by Trevor Hairgrove to take a 2-1 lead after two innings.

Freshman Josh Simms (La Mesa, Calif.) lined a base hit to right field to lead off the third inning, advancing to third after a pair of ground outs. Centanni then picked up a two-out base hit to knock in Simms as the Tigers tied it up at 2-2.

Tiger starting pitcher Jamie Niley (Elk Grove, Calif.) retired nine straight from the second to the fourth innings, then ran into trouble in the fifth frame. A leadoff double by Bryan Horst turned in to a run after a pair of wild pitches from Niley to give the Highlanders a 3-2 lead. After a pair of walks, Hur delivered a two-run double to give UCR a 5-2 advantage. A bases loaded walk to Brian McConkey made it 6-2, and ended the night for Niley. Junior Hunter Carnevale (Roseville, Calif.) came in to strike out Bryan Horst with the bases loaded to end the inning.

Carl Uhl added a solo home run in the bottom of the sixth to make it a 7-2 UCR lead.

After rallying for seven runs in the ninth inning on Friday to win 9-5, the Tigers again mounted a rally in the ninth on Saturday with a five run deficit. Junior Mike Walker (Marysville, Calif.) led off the inning with a single up the middle, followed by a one-out double from junior Ben Gorang (Turlock, Calif.). The Tigers ended up with two runs in the inning, on an RBI ground out by Longmire and a wild pitch by UCR's Matt Andriese. The Tigers would score just two runs in the inning and feel by the final of 7-4.

Andriese pitched eight innings, coming in after an opening inning pitched by Matt Montgomery. Andriese (5-2) allowed nine hits, three earned runs and struck out five. Niley (2-2) took the loss for the Tigers, allowing six earned runs on five hits and three walks in 4 2/3 innings of work.

Longmire, Walker, Simms and sophomore Brian Martin (Livermore, Calif.) each had two hits for the Tigers. Uhl had three hits to pace the Highlanders.

The Tigers finish off the series at UC Riverside with a 1:00 p.m. game on Sunday, May 3.