The 19th-ranked UCSD baseball team opened the California Collegiate Athletic Association season with a four-game series against Cal State Los Angeles from Feb. 12 to Feb. 14. The Golden Eagles took game one, 13-3, and game three, 15-11. The Tritons won games two and four by scores of 11-1 and 4-2, respectively.
Guardian file
UCSD head coach Dan O’Brien knew that the competition would be strong against Cal State Los Angeles this weekend.
“We didn’t play our best baseball this weekend and came away with a split against a pretty good team,” he said. “[But] we did have several guys step up when the team needed it, and that is the sign of a good team.”
Cal State Los Angeles scored early and often in game one. They put up one run in the first inning, two in the second and four in the third. The runs in the top of the second came off a two-run home run from Eagle first baseman Justin Brewer, who had two hits and four RBIs on the day.
Down 3-0 in the bottom of the second, the Tritons scored when sophomore leftfielder Damian Fante tripled to plate junior first baseman Brian Robinson.
UCSD put up two more runs in the bottom of the fifth inning, but it would not be enough to overtake the Golden Eagles, who scored 13 runs on the day.
Senior Triton pitcher Raf Bergstrom took the loss for UCSD and fell to 1-2 on the season.
The Tritons returned the favor the following day and downed Cal State Los Angeles by 10 runs with a final score of 11-1.
Sophomore pitcher Byron Grubman started on the mound for the Tritons and threw a three-hit complete game, retiring the final 19 Golden Eagle batters. Grubman earned his first win of the 2004 season, now in the box 1-0.
Offensively, the Tritons put up two runs in the bottom of the second inning. Senior rightfielder Brett Burton tripled in the inning and plated Fante for the second run of the inning.
After the Golden Eagles put up their only run of the second game in the top of the third inning, the Tritons countered with a run of their own. UCSD proceeded to put up three runs in the fifth inning, two runs in each the sixth and seventh and one run in the bottom of the eighth.
For the Tritons, junior leftfielder Ryan Langone went 2-for-4 with two doubles and two RBIs. Junior shortstop Keith Hernandez went 2-for-5 with a double.
With the series tied at one game apiece, the series moved to Los Angeles for a doubleheader at Reeder Field.
Game three was an offensive battle.
Through four innings, the Golden Eagles led the Tritons, 9-5. In the top of the fifth inning, UCSD senior right fielder David Hawk smacked a two-run home run to left field, his first home run of the year. The Golden Eagles countered with four runs in the bottom half of the inning.
Later in the seventh inning, the Tritons put up four runs off of singles from Fante, junior third baseman Ricky Pinocchio and senior pinch hitter Josh Saunders, as well as a double from Langone.
Langone, Hernandez, Fante, Pinocchio and Hawk each had two hits. But UCSD’s 11 runs on 14 hits were not enough to win.
The Golden Eagles put up 15 runs on 17 hits to win game three.
Even with the loss of game three, O’Brien felt that his team displayed a strong offensive attack.
“We continue to swing the bat well and will improve both on the bases and on defense,” he said.
UCSD sophomore starer Jose Navarro went just two and one-third innings, giving up six runs on five hits. Navarro took the loss for the Tritons and fell to 0-1. Sophomore Ryan Leake pitched four and one-third innings and gave up six runs on seven hits. Junior pitchers Justin Allred and Tyler Smith also appeared in the game.
The series finale proved to be a close game between the equally matched Tritons and Golden Eagles.
The runs came early for both teams. UCSD put up a run in the top of the first inning. Langone singled to shortstop, and junior second baseman Joel Clark reached on a fielder’s choice. With two outs, senior catcher Jeff Riddle tripled to center field and drove in Clark.
Cal State Los Angeles tied it up in the bottom half of the inning.
In the top of the second, the Tritons put up their second run, and again, the Golden Eagles tied it up in their half of the inning. But, that would be the last run that they would score in the game.
UCSD added two runs in the fourth inning, which would be all they needed to claim the victory.
Triton junior pitcher Logan Boutilier went a complete seven innings, giving up just two runs on six hits. Boutilier retired 14 of the last 17 Golden Eagle batters. With the win, Boutilier improves to 2-0.
O’Brien was pleased with the performances of his pitchers and of his defense as a whole during the weekend series.
“Grubman and Boutilier had great outings and were backed up with solid defense,” he said.
With the loss, Cal State Los Angeles falls to 5-3 overall and 2-2 in the CCAA. UCSD improves to 8-4 overall and 2-2 in the CCAA.
“Overall our consistency is improving, but is still a work in progress,” O’Brien said.
The Tritons will continue to work on playing consistent, solid baseball when they face Cal Baptist on Feb. 17 at 2 p.m. at Triton Baseball Stadium. UCSD will then travel to San Bernardino to face CCAA foe Cal State San Bernardino in games on Feb. 19 and Feb. 20. The two teams will close the series with a doubleheader on Feb. 21 at Triton Baseball Stadium.
