The Point Loma Nazarene baseball team did not take kindly to its defeat at the hands of the Tritons earlier in the season, avenging their 9-6 loss in UCSD’s season-opener with a 14-4 win on March 1.
Senior southpaw Jose Navarro allowed three earned runs in one inning of relief on a day when neither the Tritons’ starting pitching nor bullpen could quiet Point Loma Nazarene University’s hot bats. The Seawolves’ offense led them to a 14-4 victory over UCSD on March 1.
Originally scheduled for Feb. 28 but postponed due to rain, the game started with the Tritons scoring the first run in the second inning after senior centerfielder Damian Fante took one for the team, then stole second after his free pass. Fante would come around to score on sophomore third baseman Chris Hom’s double down the right field line.
After doing a stellar job in the top of the first, senior starting pitcher T.C. Geach (2-1) returned to the hill to protect the Tritons’ slim lead but could not retire a batter before giving up three runs on two-straight singles and a home run to open the inning. Facing a 3-1 deficit after the three-run blast, Geach retired the next Seawolf batter but found himself in another jam with men on second and third and one out. Geach managed to escape the inning two batters later but gave up one more run on a groundout to put the Tritons down by three runs.
The Seawolves expanded their lead one inning later after a quiet UCSD half of the third. After giving up four runs in two innings, the beleaguered Geach was in need of assistance and junior reliever Michael Kearney was the Triton for the job. Kearney cruised through the first two batters but gave up a home run to sophomore third baseman Jesse Gill to put the Tritons deeper in the hole.
Another uneventful inning for UCSD gave the Seawolves a chance to expand their lead in Kearney’s second inning of work. Kearney began the bottom of the fourth by striking out junior outfielder Travis Wiley and forcing a lineout from the next batter. However, Point Loma mounted another two-out rally and scored two more runs on two RBI singles.
The cycle of the Seawolves’ stellar pitching and powerful Seawolf offense continued in the fifth inning as Jared Eskew (4-1) maintained his dominance over an anemic Triton offense. Already with a commanding 7-1 lead, the Seawolves did not hold back and scored three more runs in the bottom of the fifth inning off of senior pitcher Jose Navarro, the starter in the Tritons season-opening victory over the same Seawolves.
It took a nine-run deficit to get the attention of the Triton offense, which finally came alive with two runs in the top of the sixth inning. The sudden outburst could have come because of junior reliever Shane Kochon’s replacement of Eskew, who only allowed two UCSD hits and struck out eight batters in his five innings of work. Whatever the reason, the Tritons put together the two-run rally on back-to-back homers by junior shortstop Jonathan Erickson and junior first baseman David Morehead.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, freshman southpaw Jon Durket came into the game in relief and it looked as if the Seawolves would blow the game wide open after two walks to start the inning. However, Durket forced a 5-4-3 double play and a lineout to get out of the inning unscathed.
The Tritons tacked on another run to their total in the top of the seventh inning after sophomore Chris Carl smacked a leadoff single to right-center and came around to score on senior outfielder David Gomez’s two-out triple to left center. Suddenly only facing a 6-run deficit with two innings left to play, the Tritons retained hope for a comeback, only to have the Seawolves crush their dreams with a 4-run bottom half.
Point Loma held the Tritons scoreless in the eight and ninth innings to earn their 16th win of the year and hand UCSD an embarrassing loss.
“Every team has its off days and this was just one of them,” Morehead said. “Its just our job to minimize the bad days and bounce back from them with wins.”
The off day was due in large part to a Triton pitching staff that allowed the Seawolves 13 hits in 35 at bats in the game for a .371 team batting average. PLNU also got a lot of help at the bottom of the order from Gill, who was 4-for-5 with two RBIs and three runs. The Tritons, now 8-6 overall, only batted .212 as a team and left five men on base in the 10-run loss.
The loss to Point Loma came during a one-game vacation from California Collegiate Athletic Association play, in which the Tritons are 2-2. UCSD will return to league competition with a three-day, four-game home stand against Sonoma State on March 3 through 5.
Morehead said that the Tritons have lofty goals for the big homestand.
“Our goal is always to win four games every weekend,” he said. “But we’re just going to take it one game at a time, pitch by pitch and focus on playing the game. The win column will take care of itself.”
