Solid pitching and defense helped power the UC Davis baseball team to a doubleheader sweep of visiting New Mexico State on Saturday afternoon at Dobbins Stadium.

The host Aggies won the first game, 5-1, and posted a 4-0 shutout in the nightcap. UCD (10-9) rallied with four late runs in Friday’s series opener, but lost 6-4.

“I think it all started yesterday, making some adjustments late in that game, scoring some runs, getting into their bullpen,” said Aggie head coach Matt Vaughn. “It gave us a little momentum coming into (Saturday) and let them know that we weren’t going to roll over. I still think we can make some better offensive adjustments early, but our pitching and defense were outstanding.”

Senior Adam Young, who had three hits Friday, finished 4-for-6 with two runs scored and an RBI for UCD on Saturday, while John Williams added four hits and two RBIs in support of starters Spencer Koopmans (2-0) and Evan Wolf (2-1). The two pitchers combined with their bullpen to allow just one run on 12 hits in the two games.

In the nightcap it was Wolf and freshman relievers Orlando Razo and Zack Stone — who got his fifth save of the season — working together to blank New Mexico State.

Wolf, a senior right-hander, scattered just five hits and struck out five in six innings.

Young and Steven Patterson had two hits apiece in the victory.

UCD softball

After its 9-2 triumph over North Dakota in the first of two Saturday games at the Wolf Pack Classic in Reno, the Aggies ended up with a split as tournament host Nevada squeaked past UCD, 4-3.

Even though the first game went the distance, the Aggies (10-18) only needed two innings to take control.

After Lauryn Saunders singled in Amy Nunez in the first, the locals scored four times in the second frame to take a 5-0 lead on UND.

With two outs and Krista Bava standing on second thanks to a leadoff double, Christa Castello hit an RBI single to left. Those two players each went 3-for-4 and scored twice, with Bava adding two RBIs.

Brianna Warner followed with a hit, scoring Castello, then moved to second on an error. Next, Nunez blasted her eighth double of the year, bringing home Warner, and came around to score on another North Dakota miscue.

Armed with a generous cushion, UCD starting pitcher Dana Cruse did her part. The freshman right-hander allowed just one earned run on five hits to pick up her team-best fourth win.

In the Aggie half of the sixth, Kimbery Pena singled, Chandler Wagner hit her first triple of the year and Bava smacked her second homer of the season, a two-run shot.

Game 2 was a back-and-forth affair until the Wolf Pack scored the eventual winning run in the sixth. Warner had three hits in the loss.

UCD women’s lacrosse

Four different Aggies scored two goals on the day as UCD nearly came all the way back from an 11-0 deficit but still fell at USC, 15-10, in a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation match on Friday.

For the Aggies (5-1, 1-1) it was their first loss of the season.

UCD freshman Melissa Kellan had two goals and two assists, junior teammates Meghan Jordan and Elizabeth Landry each finished with 2-1-3 offensive charts, while sophomore Courtney Neff added two goals.

The Aggies managed just three attempts at the cage in the first half (to the Trojans’ 16) as their hosts scored 11 goals before UCD broke through with 2:53 to play before halftime.

Davis High graduate Kylie Drexel, a USC freshman, scored a second-half goal to put her team up 13-3 but a 7-1 run by the Aggies cut into the deficit.

UCD men’s tennis

The Aggies won four singles matches in straight sets after taking the doubles point to defeat visiting New Mexico State, 5-2, on Friday at the Marya Welch Tennis Center.

UCD (9-6) has now won nine of its last 11 matches after starting the spring season at 0-4.

The Aggies got off to the strong start as the team of Alec Adamson and Adam Levie took an 8-3 doubles decision at No. 1 and Brett Bacharach/Adam Luba battled for an 8-6 win at No. 3, clinching the doubles point.

UCD then rolled to wins in four singles matches as Adamson posted a, 6-3, 6-2, victory at No. 1 — his fourth consecutive win — and freshman James Wade won his sixth straight match, 6-2, 6-0.

Bacharach (6-3, 6-4) and freshman Bryce McKelvie (6-4, 6-4) got the other Aggie singles victories. McKelvie has now won eighth straight singles matches dating back to the fall.

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