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Score: UC Davis 8, Fresno State 4
Location: Fresno, Calif. (Pete Beiden Field at Bob Bennett Stadium)
Records: UC Davis 18-20 (8-13 Big West), Fresno State 11-25-1 (1-10-1 Mountain West)
THE SHORT STORY: UC Davis baseball flipped a scoreless pitchers’ duel on its head with a six-run sixth inning and never looked back, beating Fresno State 8-4 on Monday afternoon at Pete Beiden Field. Jaxon Murphy’s two-out grand slam highlighted the big frame, Kai Mault added a solo homer in the seventh and Taylor Werth earned his first win of the season in relief of starter Braydon Wooldridge, who went 4.2 scoreless innings.
JAXON MURPHY WITH THE GRAND SLAM š„
The Fresno native leaves the yard and adds onto the Aggie lead in the 6th!#GoAgs pic.twitter.com/AfLsTTNKYa
ā UC Davis Baseball (@ucdavisbaseball) April 20, 2026
LEADING OFF
Murphy finished 2-for-5 with a grand slam and four RBI, his second home run of the year
Mault went 3-for-5 with a solo home run, his second of the season
Wooldridge tossed 4.2 scoreless innings with four hits, two walks and no strikeouts on 64 pitches
Werth (1-1) earned the win after getting the final out of the fifth, stranding three inherited runners
Howard went 1-for-5 with a triple and scored in the ninth on an error giving UC Davis a much needed insurance run late
Joey Wright also added a pair of hits, going 2-for-3 on the day
HOW IT HAPPENED
Wooldridge and Fresno State’s Tyler Patrick dueled through the first four innings with neither team cracking the scoreboard.
The Bulldogs threatened in the fifth, loading the basesĀ before Werth entered and struck out Brady Hewitt looking to end the threat.
UC Davis broke the deadlock with a six-run sixth, starting with back-to-back singles from Mault and McNeal, a Story hit by pitch to load the bases, a Johnson RBI single, a Burnham sacrifice fly, a Wright hit by pitch and Murphy’s two-out grand slam to deep right field.
Fresno State answered with two unearned runs in the bottom half on a throwing error that allowed Sotomayor and Collins to score.
Mault extended the lead to 7-2 in the seventh with a solo homer to left.
The Bulldogs trimmed the margin to 7-4 in the bottom of the seventh on Griffen Sotomayor’s two-run homer to right, his fifth of the season, scoring Hewitt.
Howard added an insurance run in the ninth after tripling to left center and scoring on a throwing error.
Mason Lerma closed out the ninth with two strikeouts and a flyout to secure the win.
UP NEXT
UC Davis returns home to host Sacramento State on Tuesday, April 21 for the Causeway rivalry matchup at Dobbins Stadium.