The UCSD men’s baseball team continued its solid start to this young season in a busy weekend of baseball, playing three games in only two days.
Guardian
In Friday’s first game, UCSD played host to the Crusaders of Point Loma Nazarene University. The contest was suspended due to darkness after the ninth inning with the score tied at 5-5.
The Crusaders jumped out in front early in the game, scoring four runs in the first inning. Triton starting pitcher John Beaven walked three Point Loma batters, allowed three hits and threw one wild pitch in the first inning, contributing to the Crusaders’ early lead.
UCSD began its comeback in the third inning when the team tallied one run on an RBI groundout off the bat of left fielder John Bologna, which allowed second baseman Matt Merrifield to score.
In the fifth inning, the Triton bats came alive. Right fielder David Hawk led off the inning with a single, then stole second. After Bologna earned a walk, center fielder Matt Smith tied the game at 4-4 with his first homerun of the season — a line drive that sailed over the right-field wall.
The Crusaders took the lead again in the seventh. They scored one run off Triton reliever Tommy Sereno. However, Point Loma’s 5-4 advantage only lasted until Smith’s next at-bat in the bottom half of the inning. He tied the game again with a solo home run down the right-field line.
UCSD had at least one runner in each inning of the game, but the Tritons failed to take the lead. The game will be completed at a date yet to be determined.
On Saturday, UCSD played a doubleheader at home against another nonconference opponent: the Eagles of Concordia University.
In the first leg of the doubleheader, the Tritons took the lead early and held onto it throughout the game. UCSD won the first match 11-5.
The scoring began in the second inning when shortstop Keith Hernandez and Hawk both singled to lead off the inning. Merrifield was hit by a pitch, loading the bases for Smith. The center fielder hit his third home run in two games, this one being a grand slam that gave the Tritons a 4-0 lead.
After UCSD added two more runs in the third inning, the Eagles began to battle back. The Eagle shortstop started his team off with a solo home run. Then with two outs, designated hitter Eddie Nelson doubled to the gap in right field to score two runs for Concordia. Nelson tallied a run on a single by teammate Andrew Deleon.
With one run in the fifth inning and four more in the eighth, the Tritons put the game out of reach with the help of the bullpen. In almost six innings of work, UCSD’s starting pitcher allowed four runs, but relievers Logan Boutilier, Andrew Holloway and James Sanders did not give up a run in three-and-one-third innings.
The Eagles managed to split the doubleheader and win the second game, which was only scheduled to last seven innings. Concordia’s starting pitcher John Carreon left the game after facing just six batters in two innings, but the Eagles had strong relief work that only allowed one run on two hits.
All the scoring came in the third inning. A pitch from UCSD starter Andy Hanau hit the Eagles’ Justin Jennings, and then Concordia’s second baseman Chris Bowen walked. Both runners moved up one base on a wild pitch, and Jennings and Bowen came around to score on a two-out single off the bat of Triton catcher Hand Lobel.
In the bottom half of the same inning, Hernandez hit an infield single. He scored when the Eagles’ third baseman Ben Camacho made a throwing error while fielding a ground ball.
The Tritons had their chances in the second game against the Eagles, but UCSD lacked the one key hit. The team left the bases loaded once, and in the seventh inning, the Tritons had the tying run reach second with no one out but failed to bring him home.
UCSD is now 3-2 and will face Point Loma again on Tuesday before opening the 2002 California Collegiate Athletic Association at home against Cal State Los Angeles on Thursday.
Looking ahead to the upcoming week, Smith commented, “”We are playing good baseball right now, and we all aren’t even clicking on all cylinders. We are excited to be coming into conference play, and it will only be a matter of time until the team clicks together.””
