This is pretty stunning. Or maybe it shouldn't be?

We've been hearing all along from various pundits (like me) and rags that the best pitching staff in the Big West was here in Riverside. Guess what? We saw that tonight.

Rzepczynski was nails-tough, tossing a complete-game three-hitter to subdue a struggling Titan batting team.

Going to try to talk to UCR coach Doug Smith now. I'll write a bit more about this one in Extra Innings tonight.

Posted by Eric Sorenson at 11:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Still 3-0 here in the bottom of the 8th.

Marc Rzepcszynski has been on lock-down mode, man. This guy's been big time tonight.

Through eight Titan innings, MR has allowed just four baserunners, none of which have reached second base. And get this, only ONCE has a Titan batted ball traveled on the fly to the outfield. Khris Davis hit a flyout to center field in the 6th.

Other than that it's been all groundouts and strikeouts. Well Fullerton does have two hits.

Three more outs left for the Highlanders and this one's history.

Posted by Eric Sorenson at 11:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

the Highlanders broke through here in the 6th inning.

The speed-merchant, Carl Uhl started off the inning wth a double to the wall. He moved to third on a ground out. Then Jaime Pedroza was intentionally walked to put men on 1st and 3rd. Uhl scored on a wild pitch, while Pedroza hustled all the way over the 3rd base on the play.

Fullerton's Kaplan then gave up another run on a deep SAC fly to center by Mark Samuelson.

Then, just when you thought things had calmed down and Kaplan had composed himself, Aaron Wible hit a towering shot just inside the left field fair pole.

It's now 3-zip with Fullerton batting here in the 7th. And Fullerton is not a big comeback team.

Posted by Eric Sorenson at 10:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

(Here's to secretly hoping Kenny Cook finds out something juicy about the near-fisticuffs between UNC and State... like the coaches going after the same girl being the reason for the tension or something.)

We're through four innings here in Riverside as each pitcher is cruising. Riverside had guys on 1st and 2nd with one out, but a double-play snuffed that threat. Still 0-0.

And there are ashes falling on my computer from the nearby wild-fire. (Probably started by some idiot SoCal driver that flicked a cig out of his car... while on a damned cell phone too.)

Riverside has two hits. Fullerton has one. I'll let you know when someone breaks through.

Posted by Eric Sorenson at 10:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Just got here to warm, smokey Riverside Sports Complex.

Usually I know when I shouldn't be on the freeways here in Fakeland. For some reason, today, I forgot that Saturday afternoons are usually pretty brutal. That's what I went through today. So my 75-mile drive from Venice turned into a two and a half hour horizontal elevator ride - and I was the operater. That sucked.

So I got here just after the Titan half of the first inning. The first two innings were harmless, neither team sending more than four batters to the plate in any inning. Going into the 3rd inning, it's 0-0. Jeff Kaplan (7-2, 3.20) is going up against Marc Rzepczynski (5-1, 3.28).

Oh, and it's smokey out here because of some wild fire in Mira Loma. I'm stupid enough to wear a long sleeve shirt and jeans, thinking it would be typically cool when the sun goes down. But it's too damn warm for my Scandanavian blood.

Posted by Eric Sorenson at 09:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)