Valdez, Wood star on mound as Aggie baseball takes season-opening series from Gonzaga
UC Davis drops first game, but rebounds with two impressive wins
Noel Valdez and Tyler Wood turned in strong performances on the mound as UC Davis overcame an Opening Day loss to Gonzaga to win the final two games of the three-game series in non-conference baseball action over the weekend.
On Friday Gonzaga stole the show in the first home night baseball game in UC Davis history with a 6-1 win on Phil Swimley Field at Dobbins Stadium.
After UCD Athletic Director Rocko DeLuca threw out the first pitch - a slider that grazed the outside of the plate for a strike - Gonzaga took advantage of three Aggie errors to win the opener.
Aggie starter Bryan Green took the loss, although the three Gonzaga runs he gave up were unearned.
That all turned around quickly on Saturday afternoon when Noel Valdez took the mound and held Gonzaga scoreless through six sparkling innings, giving up just four hits while striking out three and walking none in the 3-1 Aggie win.
Carter Delaney threw two hitless innings to close out the win.
The Aggies managed six hits themselves, all singles, with Joey Wright, Korey Williams and Alex Gouveia each driving in a run.
Aggie bats came alive in the rubber match Sunday afternoon as UCD pounded out 10 hits, three of them from Nick Leehey, who had a pair of doubles and a single.
Williams had a single that scored Braydon Wooldridge and Ryan Lee in the third inning, while Lee's single in the fourth scored Mark Wolbert and Leehey.
Another Williams single brought home Tyler Howard with the final run in the seventh.
Wood pitched into the sixth inning, holding the Bulldogs to three hits.
In the final two games, Aggie pitchers combined to strike out 11 batters with no walks.
UCD stays home for a 6 p.m. game with Pacific on Tuesday, then hosts Santa Clara in a three-game weekend set at 6 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday.
Reach Bob Dunning at bobdunning@thewaryone.com