In the game of baseball, there is nothing more heartbreaking than a walk-off home run. Even the best of pitchers give them up and the best of teams lose on them, and on Feb. 14, freshman pitcher Trevor Decker gave one up and the Tritons lost on one to Cal State Dominguez Hills.
The UCSD baseball team got no Valentine’s Day love on the road from the vengeful Toros, who negated a ninth-inning tie by the Tritons with a two-out, bottom-of-the-ninth walk-off home run to win the early season, nonconference game 8-7.
The Tritons (3-2), coming off two-straight wins over the Toros (2-5) and Cal State San Bernardino, took an early lead with a four-run first inning off sophomore catcher Scott Clement’s three-run home run. Clement, who by the game’s end had two hits, a run and four RBIs, drove in senior rightfielder David Gomez, who singled to left field, and senior designated hitter Matt Lawson, who singled up the middle. The early offensive explosion continued after the round-tripper, with senior centerfielder Damian Fante driving a deep ball down the left-field line for back-to-back Triton homers and a 4-0 lead.
Both Cal State Dominguez Hills and UCSD went scoreless in the bottom of the first inning and the top of the second inning, respectively. Finally, the Toros got on the scoreboard with a run in their half of the second inning, scoring one run on an RBI groundout by sophomore catcher Martin Conde. The third inning saw two hits each by both teams, but neither team could translate the hits into runs and the Tritons retained their 4-1 lead going into the fourth inning.
After the Toros’ junior pitcher Gus Hernandez mowed down three- straight Tritons in the top of the fourth, Cal State Dominguez Hills started eating away at UCSD’s lead again on senior third baseman Kyle Stanley’s solo home run to right-center field that put the Toros within two.
Hernandez worked his second-straight one-two-three inning in the top of the fifth, giving the Toros another chance to slim the Tritons’ lead. They did just that in the bottom half of the inning, with senior centerfielder Isidro Perez starting a two-out rally with a triple down the right-field line. The Tritons almost got out of the inning unscathed, but freshman second baseman Garret Imeson’s error allowed Perez to score and the inning to continue. The next batter, sophomore designated hitter Matthew Hopps, singled to left field, forcing UCSD head coach Dan O’Brien to pull fatigued senior starting pitcher T.C. Geach. O’Brien called on trusty senior Todd Gimenez, the opening-day starter, who promptly retired the next Toro batter to end the inning with UCSD’s lead intact at 4-3.
The Tritons added what looked to be an insurance run in the sixth inning when Lawson scored on junior first baseman David Morehead’s RBI double to left.
Morehead said that with his RBI hit, he felt that UCSD was in control of the game.
“I felt the game was ours from then on,” Morehead said.
However, the Toros bounced back with a three-run sixth inning to take their first lead of the game, 6-5.
The Tritons went down quietly in their half of the seventh inning before allowing another Cal State Dominguez Hills run in the bottom half. The Toros’ senior infielder Kyle Stanley drew a walk and then advanced to third base on an errant throw following a bunt single by junior rightfielder Mateo Marquez. That set up Conde for a sacrifice bunt back to the pitcher, scoring Stanley and putting the Toros up 7-5.
After forfeiting a large lead, the Tritons tried to recapture an advantage with a rally in the eight inning, starting with Lawson’s one-out double to right field. After Morehead failed to bring him home with a fly out, Clement singled down the right-field line to pick up his fourth RBI of the game and put the Tritons within one going into the top of the ninth.
Before the Tritons could think about a comeback, they had to hold Cal State Dominguez Hills at bay in the bottom of the eighth inning. Junior right-hander Michael Kearney came in to relieve senior right-hander Ryan Leake and set the Toros down in order with three-straight fly outs.
The momentum from the strong relief work put in by Kearney somehow carried over to the ninth inning, as the Tritons put together a one-out, bases-loaded situation for Gomez after two walks and an infield single. Gomez could only muster a ground ball to second, but it was enough to give junior John Roth the time to cross the plate and tie the game at seven apiece. Roth was only in the game because of a smart move by O’Brien, who used the junior as a pinch runner for freshman Matt Cantele.
Suddenly knotted up after back-and-forth lead changes, the game looked headed for extra innings after O’Brien put the game in the hands of Decker, who promptly retired the first two Toro batters. However, the young reliever surrendered a home run to deep center field to the Toros’ next batter, Stanley, and ended the rollercoaster ride with a final score of 8-7.
The home run came on a 2-1 changeup, a pitch that Decker calls his best.
“When I threw it, I thought it was a good pitch — down and away where I like it,” Decker said. “Changeups are my best pitch to left-handed batters because they sail away from them. But [Stanley] made the adjustment and put a good hit on the ball.”
Morehead, who by the ninth inning was moved from first base to the catcher position, agreed that Decker’s pitch selection was perfect and admitted that he called for the pitch.
“I definitely wanted the changeup in that situation,” Morehead said. “The pitch before, [Stanley] fouled it off because he was too early. So, we wanted to throw another pitch to mess up his timing. Decker threw an awesome pitch and the guy just got a great barrel hit.”
Now with two losses on the young season, the Tritons must play better ball in their upcoming games to mirror the success they had last year when they won the California Collegiate Athletic Association title. The Tritons, despite being defending champions, are not favored to win it all this year, with a younger team and tougher competition.
Headlining the tougher competition in the league is Chico State and Sonoma State, picked to finish first and second, respectively, in a preseason coaches’ poll. The Tritons were placed in third, which irks Morehead.
“We deserve to be number one because I know we’re a lot better than both [Chico and Sonoma],” Morehead said. “There’s a lot of things that go into the preseason polls that skews it against teams like ours.”
Despite his feelings, Morehead does not plan on spending too much time worrying about polls.
“We let our game speak for itself,” he said.
The Tritons next chance to let their game speak volumes comes when they travel to Pomona for a doubleheader against Cal Poly Pomona on Feb. 18.
