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.

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

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.

UCD just upset the 19th ranked Bruins 6-3 !

Just out of curiousity I took a look at Sac State's schedule. They are 17-16. Had they not scheduled an extra game against Menlo College that they won 10-5 they would be .500 right now. They seem to be a team that hits a lot of homeruns but since their best starter has been out of action their pitching hasn't been significantly better than the Aggies'. Of course I say this before UCD takes on UCLA (a team Sac State has also played), so that statement may prove false as the weekend progresses.

What I don't quite understand is why Menlo was able to outhit the hornets. They were 5-27 after that contest.

The Aggies beat the hornets in 11 innings 4-3. That one feels good. They scored the winning run without the benefit of a hit.

Lots of clutch performances:

Alex Gouveia hit the game-winning sac fly.
Nate Freeman threw three scoreless innings.
Nathan Peng was unhittable for 2 innings. When he loaded the bases in the 11th Kaden Riccomini stranded all of them.

With the team down 3-1 in the eighth Mark Wolbert hit a homerun. In the same inning James Williams III doubled and came around on a sac fly. Riley Acosta doesn't play much, but he scored the winning run today.

From what I can see the last time UCD beat Sac State was on 4/4/2017 (7-6). I'm pretty sure I went to that game.

This was a well-placed win as it avoids a potential seven-game losing streak. The Aggies were swept by UCSD over the weekend. Their next opponent is UCLA and they are currently ranked #22.

UCSD is up next. Looks like they've taken a big step forward this yeat:17-9 and they swept both Bakersfield and Long Beach State.

Former Aggie Jalen Smith is hitting .310 with 17 RBI so far according to the UCSD baseball website, but I say-who cares ? He's a fifth year senior so there'd be something seriously wrong if he weren't hitting .310
Also, Smith was one of the deserters who fled during the hazing investigation so he's not a player I like very much.

Yeah, that is a lot but on the other hand they don't have as many sports (most significantly no football). Their baseball program is a bigger deal. Two recent pitchers have made All-Star game appearances (Corbin Burnes and Tony Gonsolin) and 1 has won a Cy Young award (Burnes). Ken Waldichuk, a rookie with the A's, is also supposed to be a big deal.

And in another clip I did see the new pressbox.

In the clip I saw it looked almost nothing like the images. I read somewhere they had to scale back the project due to funding. It was supposed to have a capacity of 1,500 but now will be a little over 600.

If the Aggies beat the Gaels 6-4 and there were no spectators there to watch it did it actually happen ?

Yes.

Helfrick and Gallagher homered. Gouveia had two doubles. Zach Romero gave them three scoreless and efficient innings in his controlled start.

A statistical oddity: the Aggies used 8 pitchers and none of them recorded a strikeout.

Saw a clip of freshman catcher Ryan Lee throwing out a would-be basestealer on the Twitter site and got a glimpse of the new stadium at Guisto Field. Doesn't quite look like it will be finished until the very end of the season at the earliest. I saw a new metal grandstand with bleacher seating but it looked unfinished and I didn't see the press box they were talking about adding.

Yeah, I was kind of asleep at the wheel there.

The interesting thing is UCD has gone from a team with very little hitting to one with hitting but not so strong starting pitching, which I think you can attribute to the increased competitiveness of the Big West. But right now it's the long relievers (Nate Freeman, Ian Torpey, etc) who are keeping them in the game long enough to come back.

Next is St Mary's I believe. Will be interesting to see how they'll play in front of no crowd...the Gaels are not selling tickets right now due to stadium construction.

Poor Jessica Fletcher couldn't even go on vacation without running into murders

Bowen Hammer: with that name he sounds like a better fit for track and field, or maybe archery.

Metro State sounds like a fictional college in a superhero movie. I hope it's better than Hudson University, the fake university in Law and Order SVU-somebody's getting assaulted there every week. I can't believe those fake families continue to send their fake kids there.

The only way the Aggies lose Hardy to Chico State is if they let him go. This is unless Hardy has always wanted to live in Chico due to its proximity to Orland, CA.

This is for people looking to spice up their wardrobe. I hope Eli gets a PHD.

Making it more impressive was that they gave LMU a beatdown while starting 4 freshmen and essentially going with a bullpen game.

They had Wooldridge at first and Leehey at third, which is something we may see more often, maybe not all the time. Until the league has the book on him they're looking to get his bat in the lineup as much as possible; however, limiting to the outfield creates somewhat somewhat of a logjam. Stone plays left field everyday and Wolbert plays everyday, so if Wooldridge plays right it means Wolbert has to play center. This seriously limits the playing time for Kang and Helfrick who are likely big parts of the future.

I'm honestly not sure what to think of Wolbert in center field. The last game I attended he made a great diving play but also turned a single into a triple. Jury's still out.

Wooldridge is an interesting player. Since two-way players for UCD generally do not wind up excelling at hitting and pitching (Scott Lyman and David Popkins being the only exceptions I can think of) he'll probably settle into one or the other by the end of next year.
Nathan Peng is kind of the cautionary tale . I think he would've been great at pitching or hitting but they never really played him enough in either role to excel.

The Aggies defeated Loyola Marymount 10-3 today. Seven wins-1 more than last year. More to follow.

Umpire rant deleted

Aggies lose 6-4. This one was actually pretty exciting. Green was dealing for the first 5 innings but it seemed like after he fell down trying to field an infield hit in the 6th it was kind of a gut punch and it went quickly downhill from there. I think they pulled him too early though, as he was the Aggies' best hope of getting out of the inning with minimal damage. Hogan is very talented but he's also a fairly inexperienced pitcher (don't think he's pitched in any of his prior college seasons) going up against a strong Fullerton team. Better I think to let Hogan start the 7th if possible.

They definitely have more power than last year. Jack Gallagher has five homeruns already, which would have tied him for the team lead last year. They're getting power from many different sources too. Alex Gouveia has hit two and he had none in two years at Modesto JC.

I didn't see much small ball or aggressive baserunning when I went, but that's a very small sample.

One thing they are much better at is fielding, You can probably chalk that up to having a head coach with a proven track record of playing and coaching infield. The infield coach they had before-Lloyd Acosta-had a very limited resume. He had never played above JC (and legend has it tried out for UCD in the D-II years and didn't make the team). I know playing experience doesn't necessarily equal coaching aptitude, but it helps. The hazing report if I remember it correctly said the players kind of gave him an average to below average rating.

Pitching is stronger too, but the improvement is mainly in individual relief performances, so it hasn't translated into many wins so far. For example, today freshmen Max Hippensteel and Zach Romero threw scoreless innings today, but the team surrendered 11 runs over the other seven innings.

And so far this team has just been flat on Fridays, have not won a series opener.

Another thing I like is that he plays everyone. The only player who hasn't appeared in a game yet is pitcher Shotaro Hamada. In Hamada's case I think they might be redshirting him. Assuming this is the right guy Maxpreps.com says he has a career high school varsity career record of (4-12) with a 6.86 ERA. I'm going to guess this guy has a billion dollar arm but needs some work on his control, which would be supported by his K:BB ratio. Or maybe they're just waiting for a low-pressure scenario to give him his first appearance.

I don't think this has impact on the mascot. If Gunrock also lends its name to a beer served at games, maybe.