RIVERSIDE – UCSB loaded the bases with one out in the ninth inning, but were unable to score more than once and fell 5-3 to UC Riverside on Friday night.
The Highlanders won their sixth straight game and moved to the .500 mark in conference at 5-5 while the Gauchos fell to 4-6.
Matt Andriese (3-3) brought a scoreless streak of 23.2 innings into the game, and he faced the minimum nine batters through the first three innings of play.
The Highlanders staked him to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the third as Dan Pellegrino opened the inning with a double down the left field line. After an Eddie Young sac bunt moved Pellegrino to third, Trevor Hairgrove extended his hitting streak to 13 games with an RBI single to left.
Derek Eligio opened the top of the fourth with a shot back up the box that caromed off of Andriese’s foot high into the air. Sean Williams moved him to second with a sac bunt, and Trevor Whyte’s ground out put Eligio 90 feet away from home. Mark Haddow’s line drive single up the middle tied the score at one. It was the first run that Andriese had allowed in 27.1 innings.
David Andriese put UC Riverside back on top in the bottom of the fourth, though, as he turned on a 2-1 offering and ripped it over the Baker’s sign in right field.
The Highlanders tacked on another run in the bottom of the sixth. Justin Shults opened the frame with a double to left, and after a Tony Nix sacrifice moved him to third, Andriese came through with a sac fly to right.
UCSB cut into that cushion in the top of the seventh when Joe Winterburn doubled home Joe Wallace, slicing the Highlanders lead in half, but Tony Nix’s sac fly in the bottom of the inning put UCR back up by two, and Andriese’s single to left gave him three RBIs on the night and made it a 5-2 ball game.
The Gauchos picked up a run in the top of the ninth off of Mitch Patito, but Kevin Dickey recorded the final out with the bases loaded for his second save of the season.
Sean Williams led the Gauchos with three hits and an RBI.
The two teams face off against one another Saturday evening at 6 p.m. at the Riverside Sports Complex.
UCSB 3 UC Riverside 5(
UCSB…000 100 101 — 3 8 0
UC Riverside…001 101 20x — 5 10 0
Meaux, Whalen (7), Uhrig (7), Fick (9) and Winterburn; Andriese, Wolford (8), Patito 9), Dickey (9). W-Andriese(3-3), L-Meaux (3-5)
2B – Winterburn (2); Hairgrove, T (10); Shults, J. 2 (8); Pellegrino, (5). HR – Andriese, D .(4). H
