6 tuesday, april 24, 2012
The california Aggie
Aggies come up short
Aggies gallop past Cal Poly UC Davis tied for first in conference after two weekend wins
UC Davis takes one of three in Riverside
Brian Nguyen / Aggie
Junior Rachel Miller drove in three runs on Saturday, as the Aggies beat the Mustangs.
softball By DOUG BONHAM Aggie Sports Writer
After losing possession of first place following last week’s series against Long Beach State, UC Davis, which holds a 18-25 (8-4) record, is now back in command and in the Big West Conference championship hunt. With two impressive shutout victories against the now-12-28 (4-8) Cal Poly Mustangs, the Aggies find themselves in a four-way tie for first place in the conference with nine Big West games left in the season. Starting freshman pitcher Justine Vela continued her extraordinary
first-year campaign, totaling 19 strikeouts and allowing zero runs in her two weekend victories. Vela kept Cal Poly’s batters off balance all series long, surrendering only five hits in her 14 innings of work. In the Aggies’ loss, junior Jessica Thweatt also pitched well as she struck out seven and gave up only two earned runs in over four innings pitched. Unfortunately, the Mustangs would score three unearned runs in their 7-2 win, as four defensive errors crippled UC Davis. Saturday — UC Davis 4, Cal Poly 0 UC Davis got off to a fast start in its road series when a sacrifice fly from senior Rachel Miller and an RBI double from senior Kylie Fan gave the Aggies an ear-
ly 2-0 lead in the first inning. In the bottom half of the first, Vela continued the momentum as she struck out the side. Cal Poly found little success against Vela, who tallied 10 strikeouts during the game. UC Davis added two more runs in the fifth inning when Miller doubled to knock in freshman Cassandra Ginnis and junior Megan Guzman. Although a Mustang single in the bottom of the fifth broke up Vela’s no-hit bid, Cal Poly never put together a substantial rally as it fell 4-0. Saturday — Cal Poly 7, UC Davis 2 In the second game, it was the
See SOFTBALL, page 5
Lacrosse PREVIEW Teams: UC Davis vs. St. Mary’s Records: Aggies 5-10 (2-5); Gaels 3-11 (1-6) Where: Aggie Stadium When: Tuesday at 2 p.m. Who to watch: The first time the Aggies played St. Mary’s this year, junior Elizabeth Datino scored six goals and had three assists. Datino has been leading the Aggies as of late, tallying 15 points over the last three games. Datino’s strongest performance came against Stanford where she tallied nine points with five assists and four goals of her own. The Centennial, Colo. native also had three goals and an assist against Denver and seeks to continue her hot streak into the final game of the year. Did you know? UC Davis is playing St. Mary’s for the second time this season after a 16-13 victory earlier in the year.
The Aggies have dominated St. chance to show that we are the team Mary’s recently, winning their past that can play the same as we did eight matchups, but the contests against Stanford.” After the Stanford game, the Aggies’ aren’t as one-sided as they appear. Five of the victories were by less than woes continued as they dropped a disappointing game to three points. Fresno State. UC Davis will Preview: The UC Davis now try to snap its losing Lacrosse team has been streak against the Gaels, who struggling down the recently lost to Stanford as stretch, but hopes to well. end its season on a high Although it is a game benote with a victory over tween two MPSF schools, the Mountain Pacific Sports matchup will have no bearFederation opponent St. ing on the conference standMary’s. ings, as only the first match Currently on a six-game Elizabeth Datino up between the Aggies and skid, the Aggies are still junior Gaels counts as an MPSF suffering from the close match. The game will be loss against Stanford that eliminated them from the MPSF played an hour earlier than scheduled and will take place at 2 p.m. at tournament. “The Stanford game really took Aggie Stadium. a lot out of us,” said Coach Elaine –– Jason Min Jones. “We are looking for another
Shazib Haq / Aggie
Senior Dayne Quist recorded 11 strikeouts in Friday’s win over Big West Conference opponent UC Riverside.
baseball
By RUSSELL EISENMAN Aggie Sports Writer
UC Davis won the first game of the weekend series against Big West Conference opponent UC Riverside with another strong pitching performance from senior starter Dayne Quist, improving his record to a perfect 6-0 on the year. Senior David Popkins hit his team-leading fourth home run of the season in Saturday’s game, but the Aggies gave up six unearned runs and their rally fell short. The Highlanders shut down the Aggie bats in the Sunday matchup for the series win. UC Davis drops to 14-20 overall and 3-6 in the Big West. Friday — UC Davis 7, UC Riverside 2 Senior Dayne Quist continued his season dominance with an eight-innings, 11-strikeouts performance in the series opener. Quist allowed two runs, only one of which was earned, en route to his sec-
ond double-digit strikeout game of the season. He struck out five straight in the first and second innings alone. Seniors Eric Johnson and Scott Kalush led the Aggies offensively, each going 3-for-3 at the plate. UC Davis jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning after Popkins doubled and moved to third on senior Paul Politi’s infield single. Sophomore Nick Lynch singled to score Popkins, and Johnson doubled to bring home both Politi and Lynch. The Aggies struck again in the third with a two-out rally. Johnson walked, senior Brett Morgan singled to right field and Kalush walked to load the bases. Freshman Evan Heptig drew a bases-loaded walk and redshirt freshman Tino Lipson singled off the first baseman’s glove, scoring Kalush and Morgan to give UC Davis a 6-0 lead. The Aggies added one more in the fifth after Kalush tripled and Heptig grounded out to short for his second RBI of the game.
See BASEBALL, page 5
How do you think the administration should respond to the Reynoso Report? Hannah Holland-Moritz
“Not much should be done except open up more channels of communication between the administration and students.”
sophomore biochemistry and molecular biology major
sophomore managerial economics major
“I’m confident in Katehi’s ability to lead and I’m confident that she would do what she needs to do.”
“We need a third party to audit the protocols and policies of the administration and to look over what they do now. It’s harder to make changes from the inside, so we need help from outside.”
Anthony Tavan
Kevin Pelstring
“I think there is a line of necessary force and there needs to be a better way to manage the situation. Communication here would be a huge asset.” Justin Irwin senior neurobiology, physiology and behavior major
“I think they should set guidelines to identify specific places where students can organize. There should be more communication to be clear where they can or cannot gather.” Max Miao
sophomore economics and chemical and material sciences major
“I think they should encourage the students to let the school know what they really want. It’s because there is no specific channel to voice our opinion.” Engus Chiu junior psychology major
“They need to train the police on when to use force and how to use it properly. As long as they’re trained, then police action can be much more peaceful.” Larissa Epstein senior animal biology major
junior cell biology major
“The police should analyze the situation better and not just jump to conclusions before acting.” Jon Ly freshman biochemistry and moleculr biology major
“Don’t allow the police to carry pepper spray. Don’t even have the possibility of causing lethal or harmful force.” Jennifer Sedell community and regional development graduate student
“I think it’s good that they took a step back to assess the situation. By rushing, the administration took unnecessary action. In the future they have to be much more patient.” Lance Towner senior civil engineering major
“The report hadn’t said anything new that people already didn’t know, but there needs to be reorganization on who takes order from who.” Hamza Ahsan sophomore chemical engineering major
Text by JUSTIN ABRAHAN Photos by Evan Davis