Box Score Stockton, Calif. – The Pacific Tigers lost at home to the UC Davis Aggies 7-4 Saturday night despite taking an early lead as errors once again hurt Pacific. The Tigers committed six errors in the game and took the non-conference loss to drop to 17-23.
Jake Jenkins started for the Tigers, looking for his 11th appearance allowing two or fewer earned runs. In his last three starts entering today, Jenkins has a 2.11 ERA with 15 strikeouts. Jenkins kept that up with six good innings, allowing three runs, one earned, and striking out six. Even so, the senior got the no-decision as the game was tied when he was relieved by Fineas Del Bonta-Smith, who would take the loss after allowing two runs in the seventh.
Spencer Henderson was pitching for the Aggies after batting second in last night's game. Henderson went 7.2 innings and got his first win of the season while striking out seven. Justin Mullins earned his first save with 1.1 perfect innings of work, during which he struck out three of the four men he faced.
Jenkins struck out two of the first three men he faced for a perfect first inning. Jenkins would also strike out a man in the second inning before giving up a double with two outs. The senior kept the Aggies scoreless regardless.
Kevin Sandri followed up Jenkins' first inning mastery by reaching base for the 28th time in his 57 leadoff plate appearances by drawing a four-pitch walk. Blake Barry looked to have a single when he knocked the ball straight up the middle. UC Davis' second baseman made an incredible play to dive and grab the ball before backhanding it from on his stomach to get Sandri at second for the force.
The offense kept going regardless of the hiccup for the Tigers as Danny Mayer took the first pitch he saw to left for a single. Gio Brusa grounded out to third as his bat flew into foul territory one batter later, driving Barry in from third to give Pacific the early lead.
The Tigers extended their lead in the second when J.J. Wagner hit his sixth homer of the year. Wagner got around on a pitch and sent it over the leftfield wall to build on his career-high homer total this year. Four of Wagner's six homers have come at home.
Jenkins had to deal with another runner in scoring position in the third after an error and a single put men on first and second. Wagner nearly negated the single with a diving play but his reactionary play was just a bit too late as the ball squirted into left under his glove. Jenkins forced an easy grounder to kill the scoring chance.
The Aggies drew blood against Jenkins leading off the fourth. UC Davis' Cameron Olson sent a flyball to center that caught the heavy wind heading straight out to carry over the wall for a homer. It was the third homer allowed this year by Jenkins, who recovered by striking out the next two men he faced to get to five Ks in the game.
J.P. Yakel got his 17th caught stealing of the year to end the inning after a walk put a runner on. Yakel has allowed baserunners to be successful just 16x32 of the time. He has the third-most runners caught stealing in the WCC with 18 after catching another man in the eighth.
For the second game in a row, Lucas Halstead launched a homerun, giving Pacific a 3-1 lead. The ball needed no help from the strong wind as it carried over the leftfield wall with ease, with the outfielder simply watching it off the bat. Halstead's homer gave him seven RBI in the last six games and moved his production as a designated hitter to .354 with 13 runs, six doubles, three homers and 11 RBI. It also gave Pacific 32 homers this year, the most in a season since they hit 35 in 2010.
UC Davis strung together three baserunners in their first four at-bats in the fifth to score another run. Two errors came on rough hops that went against Pacific. Another error loaded the bases with one out for the Aggies.
The game was tied on a sacrifice fly to left, making it 3-3. Mayer unleashed a cannon of a throw on a deep flyball but it was off-line, giving Yakel no chance to get the tag down. Jenkins' sixth strikeout of the game ended the inning but the damage was done.
Mejia made a diving grab to back up Jenkins with some great defense in the sixth. The senior second baseman was able to flip the ball to Sandri covering second to get the lead runner out on the play. Sandri also made a great spinning grab on a grounder to get the second out of the inning. It was all Jenkins for out number three, as the senior spun and got his second pickoff of the night to get the man on second.
The offense got back on track for the Tigers when Mayer led off the sixth with his second hit of the night. Mayer's grounder toward centerfield was knocked down by the second baseman but the throw was wide of the bag as Mayer sprinted in safe. Mayer has a ten-game hitting streak and has reached base safely in 23 straight. The last game in which Mayer didn't reach base was the March 17 game against BYU that opened WCC play.
Nate Verlin also kept up his hot hitting with a single through the right side into the outfield. Mayer tried to take third on the play but was thrown out by an absolute beauty of a throw by Davis' rightfielder. Verlin was able to take second on the play still. Over the last nine games, all of which Verlin has a hit in, the sophomore has batted .486.
The first hitter for Davis reached base again in the seventh on a single up the middle. A fielding error in the outfield put the runner on second and a double by the Aggies scored him to give them their first lead of the game at 4-3.
Another run scored for the Aggies on a single through the right side to make it 5-3 and put men on first and second with still one out. Bryce Lombardi induced a 6-4-3 double play to end the inning.
Sandri and Mayer each reached base in the eighth looking to get Pacific the two runs they needed to tie it. Sandri drew a walk while Mayer had his third single of the day, this time through the right side of the infield.
Verlin earned his 19th home RBI with a single into centerfield that scored Sandri and made it a one-run game. Verlin's second hit of the day ended his night as Jimmy Boras came on as a pinch-runner to give Pacific a chance to score from first on a well-hit ball and take the lead. Unfortunately, the Tigers couldn't put the ball in play again and left the eighth down 5-4.
UC Davis added two more runs in the ninth with a triple to dead center. McKay Koissian tracked the ball well but just ran out of room as the ball hit high off the wall to clear the bases. Koissian caught the next flyball that was hit nearly as far but the damage was done as Pacific had to enter the bottom of the ninth down by three and were unable to generate any more offense.
The series between Pacific and UC Davis will finish up on Sunday at 1:00 pm in Davis. Pacific's next home game will be this upcoming Tuesday against the Nevada Wolf Pack, with the game scheduled to start at 6:30 pm. Tickets for all home games are available online.
Make sure to follow Pacific baseball on Twitter with the username @PacificBaseball and on Instagram at pacificbaseball.
