For the second straight game, a big seventh inning turned a close game into a comfortable victory, but this time it was UC Davis who put the crooked number up in the seventh frame, as the Aggies defeated the Seattle University Redhawks, 13-1, Saturday afternoon in a non-conference collegiate baseball game at Bannerwood Park.
UC Davis (9-6-1) opened the scoring in the top of the first inning as Tino Lipson hit a one-out solo home run far over the right field wall. In the bottom of the first, Sheldon Stober (Kent, Wash.) led off with a single, stole second base and advanced to third on an overthrow by Aggie catcher Izaak Silva, and scored on a single up the middle by Brock Carpenter (Milton, Wash.).
The Aggies took the lead for good in the second inning when Spencer Henderson reached base on a Redhawk error, and Silva followed with a single to right field. With runners on second and third, Alex Aguiar sent a single into left field, driving in Henderson, and Silva would score when Redhawk catcher Jack Reisinger (San Juan Capistrano, Calif.) threw down to second base to catch Aguiar trying to steal.
UC Davis starter Orlando Razo made sure the lead held up, not allowing another Redhawk hit until the seventh inning. He retired 10 straight Seattle U batters until walking Reisinger to lead off the fifth inning, but the Redhawks were unable to take advantage thanks to a popout on a sacrifice bunt attempt and a double play grounder to end the inning.
Skyler Genger (Kent, Wash.) settled down as his outing went along, and then he worked out of a jam in the sixth inning, retiring the next three batters after Nick Lynch led off with a double and Austin March followed with an infield single. Genger gave up a leadoff double to John Williams in the seventh inning, and Lipson would later drive in Williams with a single, ending Genger’s day.
Tarik Skubal (Kingman, Ariz.) struggled in his relief outing, walking Lynch before allowing RBI singles to March and Henderson. Silva drew a bases-loaded walk to force in another run, and Aguiar followed with a single that scored March. Skubal picked up the second out of the inning by inducing a groundout by Williams that still scored Henderson, but Brad Pluschkell punctuated the eight-run seventh inning with a double down the left field line that scored two more runs.
The Aggies scored their final runs of the game in the eighth inning on a two-run single to right-center field by pinch hitter Mason Novak. In total, UC Davis earned 18 hits in the game, including a 4-for-5 performance by March and a 3-for-5 effort with two runs scored and two RBI for Lipson.
The combination of Razo and Justin Mullins held Seattle U to four hits, two of them by Colin Peterson (Bellingham, Wash.). In the ninth inning, Kyle Doyle (Covington, Wash.) worked around a walk, a hit batter, and a single to strike out the side, including on the final out with the bases loaded to prevent any more Aggie runs from scoring.
Seattle University (5-10) and UC Davis will play the rubber game of the weekend series Sunday, March 8, starting at 12 noon at Bannerwood Park. Live stats and live audio/video of the game will be available on GoSeattleU.com.