Box Score Santa Clara, Calif. - Taking on a former conference rival, the Pacific baseball team relinquished four late runs to fall to UC Davis, 4-3, at the Jack Gifford Memorial Tournament on Friday, Mar. 7. The loss for the Tigers was their first of the weekend's tournament and dropped them to 8-8 overall while the Aggies made it a clean sweep on the day with a pair of one-run victories to improve to 6-7.
A pitchers' duel throughout, the night's contest came down to just a handful of plays including two decisive plays that proved to be the ultimate difference in the contest. A night after getting a masterful performance out of their starter, senior John Haberman, the Tigers again got a strong start out of junior Michael Hager (0-1). Dealing from the outset, Hager recorded six early punchouts while cruising through the first half of the contest. However, the Tiger junior would begin to slow as the game wore on, pitching into and out of a minor jam in the sixth before hitting the wall in the seventh.
Sporting a slim 1-0 lead through six innings, Hager would not make it out of the seventh as the Aggies were able to come up with a pair of one out singles to get the junior into trouble before ultimately breaking through with a two-out RBI single. The RBI single was the final batter faced for Hager in the game as he gave way to Pacific's pen, only to see his two runners left aboard upon his departure come in to score on a two-out, two-RBI, triple off the bat of Adam Young.
Suddenly trailing for the first time in the game, Pacific's offense tried to get back into the contest as the bottom of the order turned a pair of free passes into a single run. With two outs and two on, senior Curtis Gomes dropped single into center field to bring home freshman McKay Koissian from second after the youngster had been hit by a pitch in his first at bat of the game.
An inning later the Tigers were in position to tie the game at 3-3 only to have the first of two game-deciding plays alter the course of their comeback. With sophomore J.J. Wagner at third and two outs in the inning, senior Erik Lockwood stepped to the plate with a chance to tie the game. Getting a pitch to drive with an 0-1 count, Lockwood lined a shot the other way that began fading towards the right field line. Looking to be a sure hit, Lockwood could only stand in disbelief when John Williams came up with the line drive on an full extention dive that robbed the Tigers of the game-tying run.
A half an inning later, the second game-deciding play went against the Tigers when Pacific committed a critical ninth inning, two-out error in the field that gave the Aggies new life in what was a dead inning. The mistake proved costly as it immediately turned into a run for UC Davis that ultimately decided the game.
Down 4-2, the Tigers got one back in their final trip to the plate when junior Taylor Murphy started the inning off with a triple into the left-center gap. He would trot home on the same play when the Aggies threw the relay throw into the camera well in an attempt to get Murphy sliding into third. The run for Pacific brought them back within one, however, that would be as close as they would get as the next three Tigers went down in order to end the game.
The Aggies' Harry Stanwyck (1-2) earned the win with 6.2 innings of work in which he gave up five hits and two runs while striking out seven. In relief, Zach Stone (3) picked up his second-save of the day with 1.1 innings of work that included one hit and one unearned run. Hager, in his first loss of the season, gave Pacific yet another quality start with 6.2 innings of work that included eight hits and three runs against. Offensively, Wagner led the way with a 2-for-4 showing while sophomore Gio Brusa picked up one of the two RBIs on the day with an RBI double in the first inning that gave the Tigers' their opening run.
Pacific is back on Saturday, Mar. 8 for two final games at the tournament beginning with a tilt against Washington at 2:00 pm. The Tigers follow with an out-of-conference matchup against Santa Clara to end their day.
