BASE | Lomeli Shines Despite Game One Loss to UCR

Friday, February 28

Moraga, Calif.

2:00 pm

Saint Mary's College of California

2-6

UC Riverside

4-5

UC Riverside

Saint Mary's College

Photo by: Saint Mary's Athletics / Tod Fierner

BASE | Lomeli Shines Despite Game One Loss to UCR

2/28/2020 5:49:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

MORAGA, Calif. – The Gaels had a strong start on Friday in the series opener against UC Riverside, but were ultimately unable to turn their early-inning success into a W as they dropped Game One 3-2 against the Highlanders.

PRETTY PITCHING
Junior Carlos Lomeli got his third start of the season on Friday against the Highlanders which ended up being his longest outing of the year. Lomeli went 7.0 innings and while he tied his season-high eight hits allowed, he only gave up one run in the game. He pitched six scoreless innings total in the contest. The starter only gave up one extra base hit in his appearance (a double in the fifth inning), otherwise he kept batters to just one base. Junior reliever Michael Hobbs came in for late inning support and despite an unfortunate, two-run home run in the top of the eighth inning, pitched well in the final frames. Hobbs faced eight batters, allowed only two hits while striking out two batters and recording his second loss of the season.

EARLY SUCCESS
The Gaels struck first on Friday as sophomore Kyle Velazquez was walked with two outs to keep the inning alive in the bottom of the second. Senior Jacob Talamante then singled to the left side to put runners at first and second before freshman Christopher Campos drove a single deep into left field and brought Velazquez home. In the bottom of the third, junior Gio Diaz led off with a single to center field before stealing second during sophomore Austin Elder's at bat. Elder the lined a single of his own to center field and drove in teammate Diaz. Saint Mary's collected seven total hits on the afternoon, but were unable to record any extra base hits and only recorded two runs in the game. SMC has recorded just three runs in their last four contests.

FLASHING THE LEATHER
Saint Mary's had a number of impressive defensive plays against the Highlanders in Game One of the series to help keep UCR to a relatively low score. Senior Ryan Novis made three stellar catches in Friday's matchup, two of which drove him to the centerfield wall, one of which he made a diving leap for in shallow centerfield. In both cases where Novis ended up at the wall, UC Riverside had runners on the bases and the centerfielder's skill certainly kept those runners from advancing or scoring. Campos also had a flashy play at third base on Friday as he got a line-drive grounder up the left side that he was able to snag and whip over to first base for the out.

UP NEXT
The Gaels return to Louis Guisto Field tomorrow for Game Two of the weekend series against UC Riverside. Ty Madrigal gets the start against Zach Jacobs and the first pitch will take place at 1:00 p.m.

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