With four wins over Cal State Monterey Bay from May 5 through 7, the UCSD baseball team closed out the regular season with eight-straight wins, clinching one of four spots to play in the California Collegiate Athletic Association tournament. The Tritons will face Cal State Los Angeles in the first game of the playoffs on May 11, the winner advancing to the championship game with an automatic bid to the Division-II NCAA Tournament on the line.
Cal State Monterey Bay’s Nick Dianda stands incredulously after watching a third strike from Triton senior pitcher Ryan Leake in UCSD’s final game of a series against the Otters.
Before the series, the Tritons were not in a great position to earn a berth in the CCAA tournament, as they were in seventh place with only two four-game series left to make a comeback. But the Tritons swept the two series against San Francisco State and the Monterey Bay Otters, lifting them into second place in the league and giving them the chance to take on the top team in the league this season. The Tritons have held their own against the Golden Eagles, bouncing back from an early season loss in a nonconference game to take three out of four games in a series March 9 through 12, when Cal State Los Angeles was the No. 7 team in D-II baseball.
Though they proved they could hang with the Golden Eagles earlier in the year, the Tritons’ eight-straight wins to end the year came off much lesser competition. UCSD got its first four-straight wins against San Francisco State, which finished ninth in the CCAA, and the next four in the weekend series against Cal State Monterey Bay, the last-placed team in the league.
Although the competition was not the best, the Tritons still had the pressure of clinching a playoff spot and needed clutch play from the experienced seniors and the energetic freshmen to pull off the sweep.
In the first game on May 5, it was UCSD’s freshman first baseman phenom Matt Cantele, who propelled the Tritons to victory, as his second home run of the day, a two-out walk-off shot, gave the Tritons a 5-4 win in the ninth inning.
According to head coach Dan O’Brien, Cantele’s development this year has been fun to watch.
“I think he’s a good example of a lot of guys on our team,” O’Brien said. “He’s just continued to get better as the year has goes on. We start early in the fall and we work very hard. And its a long process and what you ultimately want is for everyone to be playing their best baseball in early May, which is exactly what Cantele and the rest of the team have.”
Cantele was the spark behind the Triton offense all day, going 3-for-5 with two runs and four RBIs. His RBI double in the first inning gave the Tritons a 1-0 lead and his two-run home run in the fifth broke a 2-2 tie. However, the Tritons’ 4-2 lead would not last, as Monterey Bay got within one run in the sixth and tied the game at the top of the ninth on Nick Zaballos’ solo homer.
A loss to the Otters would have put a damper on the rest of the series, putting UCSD’s playoff hopes in even more jeopardy. However, Cantele’s heroics in the bottom of the ninth gave the Tritons the much-needed win. His home run was the 55th UCSD dinger of the year, breaking the record of 54 set in 1987.
Cantele said his home run hitting approach, or lack thereof, was due to his spot in the batting order. He recently moved up to bat second, in front of sophomore designated hitter Scott Clement and junior catcher David Morehead.
“Where I’m hitting in the lineup, I’m just trying to get on base and … put the ball in play,” Cantele said. “I’ve got two guys behind me that can supply the power if I don’t, so I don’t feel the pressure to hit the ball out.”
Though he might not have felt the pressure in the first game of a doubleheader on May 6, Cantele decided to put one over the fence anyway, as his solo shot in the bottom of the first inning put the Tritons up 1-0 and they never looked back. The dinger was Cantele’s 13th of the year.
UCSD went on to win the game 9-2 and continued the offensive barrage in the second game of the doubleheader with a 10-1 win. Like Cantele in the first game, Clement hit a solo jack in the first inning to give the Tritons an early lead that they never gave up.
The second win of the day clinched the playoff berth for the Tritons, making their May 7 matchup in the season and series finale unimportant. The Tritons honored their seniors in the last game, bringing in some players who have seen limited playing time. Even with less experience out on the field, UCSD held off a late threat from the Otters and went on to win 9-6.
Though the finale was designed to honor seniors, it was the influx of freshman talent that propelled the Tritons into CCAA title contention. However, junior pitcher Michael Kearney dispelled the idea of “young players.”
“We don’t really have any young guys on our team,” Kearney said. “We expect everybody to be veterans. All the young guys have done a good job to step up. They’re playing well and we’re hot right now.”
While they are riding a win streak right now, the Tritons will have to play even better against the top teams in the tournament. Kearney, however, is not worried about the upcoming challenge.
“We’ve already played all the teams that we’re going to play in this tournament,” he said. “I think we have a pretty good idea of what they do and what they don’t do. We’re going to keep our game plan and just do what we do. We’re just going to go out, play good baseball and play our hardest and win.”
Like Kearney, O’Brien does not put too much thought on the Tritons’ upcoming opponents, instead believing that his team controls its own destiny.
“I think we feel good about any matchup, not only in the conference tournament but even at the next level,” he said. “Our guys are playing with a lot of confidence and our opponent remains nameless and faceless. We just continue to try and play the best baseball we can. We don’t really focus on who we’re playing as much as how well we’re doing our job.”
O’Brien also said he was debating who to start in the opening game of the CCAA tournament against Cal State Los Angeles. Although he admitted that the final decision was not yet made, O’Brien said he was leaning toward senior southpaw Jose Navarro because of his experience starting UCSD’s last three CCAA tournament opening round games.
