UCI Downed 12-2 to Drop Series at UC Riverside
May 21, 2017 | Baseball
RIVERSIDE, Calif. --- UC Irvine fell on a hot Sunday afternoon at Riverside Sports Complex to UC Riverside, 12-2, to drop ther series to the hosts.
UCR (21-29, 7-14) struck early scoring four times in the first inning off starter Cole Spear and never looking back. The Highlanders added two in the third, another in the fourth, and a second four-spot in the sixth to slowly pull away from UC Irvine (20-32, 7-14) and score a 12-2 victory.
Hazahel Quijada came out firing allowing just two runs, one earned, and issuing one walk over six quality innings. Spear's day ended after a single inning giving him a fifth loss on the season. All four Anteater pitchers allowed a run, and no 'Eater pitcher was able to record a strikeout which was only the second time that has happened in program history joining the 1986 club that did it on March 1.
Anteater hitters were paced by Keston Hiura going 2-for-3 to raise his average to .411. He stole his fourth base on the weekend to propel him into the team lead with eight this season, and drew his 50th walk of the season as he joins Fred Combs (50) and Brady Anderson (52) as the only three to do so in a single season in program history.
The Anteaters' runs came in the third and fourth, both on two-out singles from Alex Guenette and Cole Kreuter. Parker Coss joined Hiura as the only Anteaters with multiple hits.
UCR got three-hit days from Mark Contreras, Yeager Taylor, and Cody Sporrer and Contreras also scored three times while Sporrer drove four runners in.
UCI starts a losing streak following its three-game winning trend, and it drops the series to fall into a three-way tie for seventh place with UC Santa Barbara and UC Riverside. The final stretch begins next week with four home games beginning Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m. against UCLA and a final weekend series stretching from Thursday to Saturday against UC Davis.
