Box Score

PORTLAND, Ore. --- The UC Riverside Highlanders broke open a scoreless game with three runs in the top of the seventh inning en route to a 5-1 win over the Portland Pilots in the non-conference series finale played on a pleasant Sunday afternoon at Joe Etzel Field. The win allows Riverside (10-9) to avoid the sweep, but the Pilots (6-13) still took two of three games against the Highlanders to claim the series.
 
Portland freshman Billy Sahlinger was solid during his second collegiate start, surrendering just one hit in 5.2 innings of work. He also fanned five.
 
Sahlinger’s efforts helped allow the game to remain scoreless all the way until the seventh inning when the Highlanders took advantage of the Portland bullpen. In the top of the seventh, Riverside had a runner on third base with two outs when Devyn Bolasky came through with an RBI single up the middle to bring home the game’s first run.
 
A Portland error then followed a base hit to extend the inning, and UCR’s Phil Holinsworth capitalized with a single to left field that scored two. The Pilots alertly threw Holinsworth out at second base after he tried to stretch the hit into a double, but the damage had been done as the inning ended with the Highlanders leading 3-0.
 
Riverside would add a pair of insurance runs in the top of the ninth inning before the Pilots scored their lone run on a sacrifice fly by Kramer Scott in the bottom half of the final frame.
 
Highlander reliever Trevor Frank (3-0) was nearly unhittable out of the bullpen, as he held the Pilots to just one hit in 4.0 innings of work. The righty also K’d six and walked just one. He replaced starter Ben Doucette, who tossed 5.0 scoreless innings.
 
J.R. Bunda (0-1) is charged with the loss in his first action of the season. Just one of the three runs he allowed in the seventh inning was earned. Three more relievers followed Bunda on the hill with the two runs in the ninth going to Jackson Lockwood.
 
Bunda, a senior from Wahiawa, Hawai’i, has amazingly worked his way back to the mound after collapsing during an off-season work-out due to a heart condition.
 
The Pilots stranded 10 runners on the day, including when they left the bases loaded in the bottom of the second inning. Riverside left 12 runners on the base paths and out-hit Portland 9-6.
 
Both teams committed a pair of errors.
 
The Pilots next travel to Seattle, Wash., for a non-conference game against the Washington Huskies on Tuesday. The game, which is a make-up from a previously rained out game, will begin at 5 p.m. at Husky Ballpark.