Davis, Calif. - Playing the first of three games against their former Big West rival, the Tigers could not hold on to an early lead as the Aggies squeezed their way past Pacific, 4-3, at UC Davis on Friday afternoon. Winners of four of their last five, the Aggies (23-16-1) took the lone contest of the series in Davis with the victory as Pacific (9-30) dropped its third-straight contest. 

Returning from injury after nearly a month on the sidelines, Jed Sprague made a quick impact on the contest as the freshman designated hitter yanked an RBI double down the third base line to notch the opening score of the game for the Tigers in the second. Sprague plated his fellow freshman Nate Verlin all the way from first after Verlin worked a one-out walk in his first trip to the plate. Unfortunately for the Tigers, Sprague would injure himself on the play, exiting the contest at the half inning taking a weapon out of Pacific's lineup for the remainder of the game.

After stranding the runner in the top half of the inning, the Tigers would watch their lead disappear in the bottom half of the inning when the Aggies notched two runs using three hits, sandwiching a triple in between a pair of singles. The RBI triple came from Cameron Olson as he drove home the run with the first of his two hits on the day. 

The back and forth continued in the third as Pacific answered with a two-spot of its own as the Tigers used just one hit and a pair of defensive errors to reclaim their advantage. After Tyler Sullivan led the inning off with his second single in as many at bats, the senior went first to third on a botched sacrifice. He, along with Jimmy Gosano, would score moments later when Tino Lipson, the Aggies' second baseman, committed his second error of the inning when he threw a double play ball into left field allowing both Tiger runners to score.  

For Pacific, the runs would be the last of the game for the Tigers as they had their chances to build upon the lead but came up empty over the next six innings by rolling into three double plays while allowing the Aggies to hang close. Unable to pull away, the Tigers saw the Aggies tie the game in the bottom of the sixth on a sacrifice fly after they led the inning off with a double into the gap. They would bring home the winning run two innings later on a suicide squeeze, converting a leadoff triple from Izaak Silva into the go-ahead run. 

On the mound, junior Jake Jenkins recorded a no decision despite tossing his second high-quality start in as many games. The junior went 7.0 IP for the Tigers while allowing nine hits and three earned runs, exiting with the game with the score knotted at 3-3. Despite Jenkins quality effort he was outdone by his counterpart as Spencer Koopmans (5-3) went 8.0 IP for the Aggies to earn the victory. Koopmans held the Tigers to just five hits, three coming in the first three innings of play, while allowing one earned and striking out seven.  

Out of the pen, Taylor Johnson (0-1) suffered his first loss of the year as he was charged with one run on just one hit as he threw the final inning for the Tigers in the eighth. The Aggies' Zach Stone (8) earned the save for UC Davis by closing out the ninth with one walk and one strikeout.

The two teams head to Stockton to finish the three-game series with the first of the weekend games taking place at 6:00 pm on Saturday night at Klein Family Field. In addition to the festivities on the field, the Tigers are hosting their first-ever Fireworks Night sponsored by Amy Scriven DDS with the postgame firework show immediately following the contest.