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 Justin Fitzgerald earned his 12th save of the season and broke Chris Stromberg's all-time record with the 16th save of his career. (Wayne Tilcock, Davis Enterprise) |
May 13, 2008
DAVIS, Calif. - Junior outfielder Ryan Scoma and freshman second baseman Grant Bauer each drove in a pair of runs, and junior closer Justin Fitzgerald earned his 12th save of the season to set a new all-time UC Davis record in the Aggies' 9-5 victory over No. 13 Cal Tuesday in front of the second-largest crowd of the season at Dobbins Stadium.
The Aggies avenge last week's loss to the Golden Bears to improve to 31-19 and 5-3 against Pacific-10 competition this season. Cal drops to 32-17-2. The announced attendance of 637 was the second-biggest crowd at Dobbins Stadium this season, just behind the Picnic Day crowd of 756. The win also gave UC Davis its eighth win over a ranked opponent this season.
"It's a big win for a couple of reasons," said Aggie coach Rex Peters. "One, it gives us confidence heading into this weekend's series with UC Irvine. And, two, it gives us a winning record against Pac-10 teams."
Fitzgerald got the final out of the eighth inning and worked a scoreless ninth, which included a strike out of the final batter of the game, to push his single-season record save total to 12 and take over the all-time lead from Chris Stromberg with 16 career saves. Stromberg's record had stood for 23 seasons.
Marco Grifantini finished the sixth inning and allowed only two hits to earn his first win of the season. Daniel Wolford got his first loss of the season for Cal by allowing two runs in the sixth inning.
Scoma and Bauer each finished with two hits and a game-high two RBI's as the Aggies cranked out a total of 15 hits. Eight UC Davis starters had at least one hit in the game and were led by Ryan Royster's game-high three hits and solo home run. Royster joined Jake Jefferies and Kevin James as Aggies with multiple hits and two runs scored in the game. Kyle Mihaylo and Matt Dempsey accounted for the other Aggie RBI's. Royster now has 56 runs scored on the season, which places him in a tie for seventh on the single season list.
The Golden Bears were led by Brett Jackson, who had two hits, two runs scored, two RBI's, a double and a home run. Josh Satin also homered in the game for Cal, which was his 17th dinger of the year.
The game went back and forth through the first six innings of play with the lead changing hands six different times.
UC Davis opened the scoring in the first inning behind Royster solo home run off the first pitch of the inning. The ball caught the wind and just sailed over the left-field wall to give Royster his team-leading ninth homer of the season. He is just two shy of joining that single season list.
Cal took the lead in the second inning with two runs off two hits. Satin opened the inning with a solo shot to right-center field. Jackson doubled the next at bat, advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt and came home on a sacrifice fly from Blake Smith. Smith also pitched the seventh inning and struck out a game-best three batters.
The Aggies then tied the game at 2-2 in the bottom half of the inning off a RBI single from Bauer.
Cal retook the lead again in the third inning off a manufactured run by Brian Guinn. Guinn singled, stole second, advanced to third on a throwing error and scored on a wild pitch.
UC Davis reclaimed the lead for the second time in the game in the bottom half of the third with two runs. Jefferies opened the inning with a double and was brought home the next at bat off a double from Mihaylo. Mihaylo then scored on a passed ball after advancing to third on a ground out.
The lead shifted back to the Golden Bears for the third and final time in the sixth inning as they added on two more runs. Following a walk to open the inning, Jackson hit a two-run shot to left field.
The Aggies reclaimed the lead for the third and final time in the bottom of the sixth with two runs. They would add to the lead with a single run in the seventh and two more runs in the eighth. The sixth inning started with a single from Evan Hudson and a double from James. Dempsey drove Hudson home on a ground out to second base and Bauer laid a bunt single down the first-base line to bring home James.
Jefferies scored the run in the seventh inning off a wild pitch after reaching base on an error. Scoma then singled home the final two runs of the game in the eighth with the bases loaded to score Ty Kelly and Royster.
UC Davis continues its run of four-straight games against ranked opponents this weekend when they host No. 11 UC Irvine in a Big West Conference series. The first game will begin at 2:30 p.m. Friday and can be heard live on ucdavisaggies.com and KDVS 90.3.
