A truly remarkable victory, especially when you consider the Aggie starting pitcher didn't make it out of the fourth. Daniel Carrion and Kaden Hogan limited UCLA to two runs over 5 2/3 innings. Hogan threw 62 pitches and collected more outs than the starter. Give him a few days off to rest after that one !

Also noable:
Damian Stone hit his second homerun.
James Williams IiI went 3 for 4 with a triple and two runs batted in. He's a catcher but is apparently a decent runner (2 for 3 in stolen bases this year.)
Freshmam Leighton Helfrick had two hits and two RBI

For some historical context the last time the Aggies beat UCLA was on 2/22/2009. It took them 11 innings, but it was remarkable in its own right. UCD received three scoreless innings from Adam Bennett, a water polo player who joined the team for his last year of eligibility, not unlike former basketball player Phil Rasmussen.

The losing pitcher was Trevor Bauer, who is now pitching in Japan because no MLB team wants him after he allegedly beat up women with whom he hooked up. He also cyber-stalked an Astros fan he thought was being disrespectful. Big creep. Japan can keep him.

The Aggies are making great progress! Exciting times for the Ags!

Is our former head coach and I cannot remember his name there.

Rex Peters ? Not anymore, he retired a year or two ago.

Sweet!

Someone should tell the story about Rex Peters. How he came and coached the best few seasons the Aggies BB team ever experienced. His wife as I recall was the sister of then giants star something Snow and he actually wore Aggies shirts in the Giants dugout. All on TV! Man, this was fun, but over 20 years ago and probably before D1 times for the Aggies. The now unimportant question: why did he leave a head coaching position for an assistant position at UCLA? Might be an interesting question for our more senior members to address. In their leisure of course. I always thought he was a great guy.

Transparent California:
2015 - 194K in pay, plus bennies.

when people say ‘we should just move to the Pac12’ , these are the things outside football that they don’t realize. Beside the HUGE amount it would take to make football a Pac12 level sport, budgets for EVERY sport would skyrocket.

The way the Pac-12 is looking right now, we may be talking about Cal moving to the Big West.

The Aggies dropped a home game to St Mary's 14-2 after their two recent wins over Sac State and #19 UCLA. The Ags have played 11 of their last 13 games on the road and are now back home for 4 games including a 3 game series vs Riverside and and a single game with Pacific.

I try not to read too much into the UCLA win or the Saint Mary's loss.

They had been playing UCLA tough the first two games so the win was not that big of a surprise. The Saint Mary's game was a different animal. Saint Mary's has been playing well lately too. It was pretty clear from the lineup and the pitchers used the game was mainly about getting some different players opportunities in non-conference games, not unlike Phil Swimley used to do. They are facing UCR this weekend, a decent opportunity to win another series, so it made sense not to wear out the regulars.

What didn't make sense to me yesterday was starting Kaden Hogan at first base. He threw a lot of pitches on Sunday and some rest was in order. I know first base has been a revolving door this year but they had other options. I wonder what happened to Theo Forshey ? He had been starting every game for awhile but hasn't played recently. Tuesday would have been a good time to start him.

I do like that the coach finds opportunities for all of the pitchers, and still gives them work if they have a rough outing. Trevor Allen has had a couple of good appearances in a row now. He may be in line for some longer appearances soon.

Meanwhile, Sac beat No. 9 Stanford yesterday, 15-13, in Stanford.

They just barely held on. Sac State had a 15-2 lead and didn't score for the last 5 innings. It probably says more about the Cardinal that they almost came back from that deficit.

As you have mentioned, Tuesday games are a whole different thing. Kind of like minor league ball. Winning a game is secondary to player development and whatever else coaches are doing to get the team or players ready for games that really count...conference games in college, "the Show" in professional ball.

After UCR the Aggies face UOP (the only non-conference team they defeated last year). I saw on their schedule they lost a game 31-6 this year. It seems like there are more ridiculously high-scoring games (20+ runs for the victors) than there used to be. I wonder what's behind that ?

I guess there's no "mercy rule" in D1 baseball...

There is in the WAC but it doesn't apply to non-conference play, which is why the Aggies were able to score 20 against Utah Valley.

I think a mercy rule should apply universally in college baseball under certain circumstances:

1. If it is the last game of a series. The 31-6 game was on a Sunday.

2. If it is a mid-week game.

3. If it is either game of a doubleheader, regardless of whether or not the host facilty has lights.

4 If either team is winning by 10 runs or more after 8 innings. The WAC does 7 but I say give people their money's worth and avoid the garbage inning where either team pitches the guy who would scarcely pitch in any meaninful scenario and gives up six runs.

The unifying idea here is that student-athletes need to get home, study, and get to sleep. They're not professionals who have nothing else to do.

Yeah Rex Peters' spouse is J.T. Snow's sister. I believe he left UCD to be closer to his family as Peters is from Southern CA. Unfortunately after a playoff appearance in 2008 the program went backwards. The 2009 team had promise as they beat UCLA in the first week but they had a lot of trouble gelling as a team. There was a little resurgence in 2010 but in 2011 they introduced the new bats that sapped the Aggie offense and they went backwards again. I think if the team had played better that would have motivated him to stay longer. I heard that part of the reason they hired Vaughn to replace him was that he informed the university he was about to split.

The Aggies beat UCR 13-11. Very sloppy game. Lots of walks made this closer than it should have been.

On the plus side Alex Gouveia had three hits and a homerun. Jack Gallagher hit two more homers. He's leading the team by a wide margin despite the fact he's only batting .188. Six more RBI too.

Something I've noticed-I think our starting pitchers (Green + Delaney most likely, but I don't know about Huezo) are being limited to about 65-70 pitches. I don't know if that's to preserve their health or if analytics show they're just not as effective. UCD does have an analytics nerd among their coaches .
so this would not surprise me.

This marks the 13th win for the Aggies. That number is significant because it means they have increased their win total over 116% from last year. Coincidentally the last Aggie team to beat UCLA (2009) won exactly 13 games. I would argue though that the 2009 team had more pitching and less hitting.

What's unique about the new bats?

I don't know but they really seemed to deaden contact a lot the first year. They brought in the new bats because some HS kid wound up in the hospital for taking a hard line drive. He recovered I heard. I just call that baseball. Still the offense is pretty crazy now that players have adapted.

Are these wooden or aluminum bars? These new bats were for all college programs?

The BBCOR bats are used in all high school and college programs now. They are aluminum but are designed to be as much like wood as possible to reduce the exit speed of the baseball when it is struck. They introduced these in the 2011 season and the Aggies struggled with them as a team that season. You could say they struggled with them in 2012 too but I don't know how much of that was adjusting to the bats and how much was losing key hitters (especially Scott Lyman) from 2011.

Of course now players have adjusted to the BBCOR bats so it's become a non-factor. Professional players have no problems with wooden bats because of their skill levels.

Why not just stay with traditional wood bats?

Cost. MLBB bats cost $100-200.

The Aggies took two of three from Riverside, winning 11-6 today. They should have had a sweep but in the middle game the blind old fool of an umpire blew a call at the plate that squashed an early UCD rally. Riverside used 5 pitchers just to get through the 4th inning.

With their 14th win the Aggies (14-21) tied their win total from 2021, the last one under Vaughn. Mathematically the 2023 version will already finish with a better winning percentage than the 2021 version because that team went 14-43 and there are only 19 games remaining this year.

Five more wins would tie 2019's record, but that team only played 50 games. Three more would tie 2016, but that team played fewer games.

UOP is up next. They are 12-25 but they just won a series from Pepperdine. What has happened to the Waves ? That is a school that doesn't need light to recruit for baseball if there ever were one.

The Aggies just defeated UOP 8-1. Avery balanced team effort. Eight players had hits, and the one who didn't still drove in a run. Six of the eight had two hits.
Four of the 5 pitchers did not allow a run.

I was surprised to see Alejandro Huezo pitch, as he is a starter, but sometimes starting pitchers will make an appearance in relief in lieu of their scheduled bullpen days. His two scoreless innings included three strikeouts. Nate Freeman got the win in relief. Good for him; wins have eluded him mostly this year. Freshman Zach Romero turned in 3 scoreless innings for another succesful Tuesday opener gig.

I like how Nicholson continues to get work for everyone on the staff. He doesn't have any way of knowing what his staff will look like next year but he'll have plenty of pitchers with significant game experience.

This is important because he has a few key pitchers who may be graduating this year. Nathan Peng is a senior and Kaden Hogan (the pitching hero of the UCLA win) is in his fifth year of college. Danny Carrion and Kaden Riccomin, and Nate Freemani are listed as juniors, but they are in their fourth sessons with the team..

Other players in their fourth or fifth college years are catcher/DH James Williams III (fifth), utility player Nick Iverson, first baseman Theo Forshey, second baseman Alex Gouveia,and catcher Jack Gallagher.
However, Forshey, Gouveia, and Gallagher are JC transfers so they are probably on the five-year plan. It would be highly unusual for a JC player to transfer to a 4 year college and graduate in 1 year. Junior colleges typically don't offer the upper division courses you need to finish your degree.

In light of the recent stabbings in Davis I am probably calling it a sesson as to attending these games. While the games are perfectly safe the prospect of leaving in the late afternoon on the weekend while the campus is not so busy does not seem so safe at present.

Wow ! Bryan Green and Danny Carrion combined to shut out Cal Poly 1-0.

What is also interesting is that Bryan Green (now 5-1) got his first decision since 3/17. That's six strsight starts without a win or a loss.

Aggies win 8-0 to take the series from Cal Poly ! Two shutouts this weekend.

Kaden Hogan pitched 5 efficient innings in his first start while Alejandro Huezo, Nathan Peng, and Danny Carrion slammed the door. They only allowed three hits

Leighton Helfrick and Jack Gallagher had the biggest hits. Helfrick had a bases-loaded double in the first and Gallagher went 3 for 4 with a double, his 11th homerun, and 4 RBI.

The Aggies have a 17-26 record with just 11 games left in the season. There are single games against Sac State and USF, as well as weekend series against Hawaii, UCI, and Long Beach State-the middle teams in the Big West this year. Although they have 11 more wins than last year it is still mathematically possible to lose more games. Twenty wins or more seems very possible at this point, and that's more than they got in an average season under the previous regime.

Great season! Should boost recruiting and morale.