Baseball Celebrates Senior Day in Regular Season Finale Against CBU

Score: CBU 9, UC Davis 8
Location: Davis, Calif. (Dobbins Stadium)
Records: UC Davis 26-28, CBU 43-13

THE SHORT STORY: UC Davis fell 9-8 to CBU on Senior Day Friday afternoon at Phil Swimley Field at Dobbins Stadium, with the Aggies’ rally from a six-run deficit falling a run short in the regular-season finale. Elijah McNeal’s grand slam to left center in the bottom of the seventh capped a four-run inning that pulled UC Davis within one at 8-7, and Ethan Felix delivered an RBI single in the ninth before the Aggies stranded the bases loaded on a flyout to right field to end the game. Noel Valdez tossed 4.0 scoreless innings on three hits in possibly his final start as an Aggie before CBU erupted for eight runs in the top of the fifth. Alfredo Capacete (2-0) earned the win and Andrew Rudd recorded his third save.

LEADING OFF

• Felix finished 3-for-5 with a two-run home run, three RBIs and a run scored, his seventh long ball of the season
• McNeal went 1-for-5 with a grand slam to left center for his fifth home run of the year and four RBIs
• Braydon Wooldridge worked 2.0 scoreless innings on two hits with one strikeout in relief while going 2-for-5 with two runs scored as the designated hitter
• Valdez delivered 4.0 scoreless innings on three hits with two walks and three strikeouts on 60 pitches
• Korey Williams turned in a 2-for-3 day at the plate with a walk and a hit by pitch
• Ryan Lee finished 1-for-3 with a hit by pitch and two runs scored
• Rowen Barnes worked a clean 1-2-3 ninth on 11 pitches
• Kai Mault drew three walks and scored twice

SENIOR DAY
UC Davis honored its senior class prior to first pitch, recognizing Joey Wright, Ryan Lee, Korey Williams, Noel Valdez, Ethan Kang, Rowen Barnes, Ethan Felix, Matteo Blandino, Braydon Wooldridge, Jack Meek and Max Hippensteel, along with senior student managers Jacob Boi and Shotaro Hamada.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• UC Davis grabbed an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth as Felix homered to left field for a two-run shot off Nico Urquidi, plating Mault.
• CBU sent 13 batters to the plate in an eight-run top of the fifth, opened by Cole Howarth’s pinch-hit two-run home run to left field that tied the game 2-2. Bryce McFeely’s RBI double, Cole Hansen’s two-run single, Ben Castelli’s RBI double, Riley Hunsaker’s RBI single and a Howarth RBI single later in the frame pushed the lead to 8-2.
• UC Davis trimmed the deficit to 8-3 in the bottom of the fifth on Tyler Howard’s sacrifice fly to right that scored Lee.
• The Aggies put together a four-run seventh capped by McNeal’s grand slam to left center off Alfredo Capacete, scoring Mault, Wooldridge and Lee to pull within 8-7.
• CBU answered in the top of the eighth on Connor Ross’s solo home run to left center for a 9-7 lead.
• UC Davis got one back in the bottom of the ninth as Wooldridge reached on an error, advanced on a Mault walk and scored on Felix’s RBI single up the middle, but the Aggies stranded the bases loaded on a flyout to right field to end the game at 9-8.

UP NEXT
UC Davis concludes the regular season at 26-28 overall and 14-16 in Big West Conference play. The Aggies now await the resolution of the final weekend of Big West games to determine the conference’s five-team tournament field.
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