LAMORINDA WEEKLY | Highlanders Take Three-of-Four from Gaels


Sophomore starter Mark Anderson led the Gaels to their only win of the weekend Photo Doug Kohen

On Friday, March 26th, Saint Mary's baseball opened a four-game series that lasted all weekend against the UC Riverside Highlanders. The Gaels came into the series with a 6-9-1 record while Riverside entered at 9-9. The Gaels are led by junior outfielder Justin Fazio and sophomore first baseman Troy Channing. The Highlanders were led by two senior first team all-Big West players, infielder Ryan Goetz and outfielder Michael Hur. Although the Gaels took the first game, the Highlanders took the series by winning the next three.

Game One started out slow until the fourth inning when Channing reached on a bunt for the Gaels, and was brought home by freshman infielder Patrick Wisdom's third homer of the season. Riverside answered with three runs in the sixth, followed by the Gaels' two runs on sophomore Chris Murphy's two-run RBI single to take the lead for good, 4-3. Riverside would score one more time but it wasn't enough as the Gaels' pitching staff propelled them to a 6-4 win to open the series.

On Saturday the teams faced off for a double header. The first game slowly dragged by with the only run coming from Riverside, an RBI single by sophomore infielder Trent Jemmett, and the Highlanders took game two of the series 1-0.

In the seventh inning, sirens could be heard as the Gaels' basketball team returned from its run to the Sweet Sixteen. Everyone got up and welcomed them home, including a few Highlander fans.

The second game of the double header was more exciting. In the top half of the second inning, Highlander senior infielder Bryan Horst tripled to bring junior first baseman Justin Shults home from third. What looked like a clean tag at the plate led to the initial call, but after a discussion between innings the umpires overturned the call, and Riverside jumped out in front 1-0. But the Gaels answered back in their half of the inning on two wild pitches that brought senior infielder Michael Cipolla home for the tie.

After the Gaels took a 5-4 lead into the top of the ninth inning, UC Riverside stunned the crowd, scoring four times, including a two-run home run by senior outfielder Joey Gonzales to put the Highlanders up for good, 8-5.

In the series finale on Sunday, the Highlanders kept up their strong play and closed out the series with an 8-4 win.

Soto commented, "They were a very good team, we were on the wrong end of it, a couple guys made some mental mistakes, but I think we're a pretty good team this year."

Riverside's first win in the doubleheader snapped a three-game losing streak, which now belongs to the Gaels. Freshman infielder Patrick Wisdom: "I thought we played tough baseball during the series and some things didn't go our way. We pitched great, hit well, and played good defense and in the end it wasn't enough. We are going to take this series and learn from it and move onto the next game."

After an impressive series, the Highlanders return home to open Big West play against visiting Cal Poly. Saint Mary's will try to snap its three-game skid at UC Davis and then travels to Southern Mississippi for a three game series.