The Triton baseball team lost to Division I University of San Diego 9-3 on March 5 in non-conference action.

Despite UCSD’s strong play so far this year, the Tritons could not stack up to the Toreros. USD jumped out to an early 6-0 lead until UCSD first baseman Jeff Riddle smacked his fifth home run of the year in the sixth inning and put the Tritons on the board. UCSD scored two more runs in the eighth, but USD put up three runs in the bottom half of the inning to secure its victory.

The Tritons went through six pitchers in the game, and starter Trent Crotts picked up the loss for UCSD.

Back in California Collegiate Athletic Association action, the Tritons traveled to Arizona to face foe Grand Canyon on March 7 and March 8.

In game one on March 7, UCSD dropped a heartbreaker, 6-5, to the Antelopes. UCSD jumped out to an early lead, scoring two runs in the top of the first inning, but Grand Canyon answered with five runs in the third and fourth innings combined.

The Tritons tied the game when they scored two runs in the eighth inning, but the Antelopes responded once again and tacked on one run to win the first game.

Crotts picked up the loss for UCSD. He is now 0-2 on the season.

The Tritons and Antelopes battled in a doubleheader, where they split the two games on March 8. Grand Canyon won the first, 4-3, and UCSD took the win in the second game at 7-1.

The Tritons scored single runs in each of the first, third and eighth innings, but that was not enough, since the Antelopes tied the game at two apiece after four and then sealed their second victory with two more runs in the seventh.

UCSD freshman pitcher Jose Navarro suffered the loss for the Tritons and fell to 1-3 in 2003.

In the second game of the doubleheader, UCSD came out on top of Grand Canyon. The Tritons scored a run in the first inning, three runs in the second and another single run in the third to jump out to a 5-0 lead over the Antelopes. UCSD never looked back, going on to win by a six-run margin.

Triton freshman pitcher Byron Grubman earned the win for UCSD and improved to 4-0 on the season. Senior second baseman Nigel Miller smacked his second home run of the year to help lift his team to victory against the Antelopes.

UCSD is now 12-11 overall and 9-6 in the CCAA.

The Tritons finished the four-game Grand Canyon series on March 9, but results were not available at press time.

UCSD will take on Concordia in a non-conference game on March 11, and it will then begin a CCAA series with CSU Dominguez Hills on March 13.