In a year marked by UCSD program firsts, the baseball team has added another impressive feat for an up-and-coming athletic department: the team’s first appearance in the NCAA Division II West Regional Tournament.
While inexperience has hurt the Tritons, they have found success with a deep lineup and impressive pitching, leading UCSD to its best season ever. UCSD plays No. 2 seed Mesa State College today in the first round of the double-elimination tournament.
On May 13, UCSD received word that it had earned the No. 5 seed in the double-elimination regional tournament that starts at Cal State Los Angeles’ Reeder Field.
‘I’m excited and very proud of everyone who contributed to this ballclub getting to regionals,’ head coach Dan O’Brien said. ‘This season has been about the players, the coaches and the athletic department.’
The 22nd-ranked Tritons will take on No. 2 seed 16th-ranked Mesa State College from Grand Junction, Colo., which belongs to the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference.
‘I know [Mesa State] is a solid ballclub that had a ton of success not just this season but in the past,’ O’Brien said. ‘They are going to be good on the mound. They’ll have guys that can get on base in the top of their order and some power hitters in the meat of their lineup, so I definitely expect a great matchup.’
If the Tritons can make it through the West Regional, which would likely mean beating Chico State, the national runner-up last year, and Sonoma State, the team to which the Tritons lost in the California Collegiate Athletic Association Championship game on May 12, then they will advance to NCAA D-II College World Series to play in another double-elimination format to compete for the national title.
The regional berth may have come as a surprise to some members on the team since they lost out on the automatic CCAA bid by falling to the Sonoma State Seawolves 15-5. UCSD would have needed to win two games on the final day of the tournament to steal the title away from Sonoma State, much like UCSD did to Chico State two years ago. Despite the loss, the Tritons still earned a spot in regionals, as did fellow CCAA competitors Chico State, Sonoma State and Cal State Los Angeles.
If the Tritons make it past the Mesa State Mavericks, they will likely go on to face a league foe, which will be interesting given that all the CCAA teams have extensive experience playing each other.
The Tritons opened the CCAA tournament, also hosted by Cal State Los Angeles, against the eventual champions, second-ranked Sonoma State, and suffered a heartbreaking 6-7 loss that put them in a win-or-go-home situation for the rest of the tournament.
‘The bottom line is we scored six runs and knocked out one of the best pitchers we’ve seen in the sixth inning, and if you do that, you need to win the ballgame,’ O’Brien said. ‘We clearly didn’t do our job and finish what we started and that’s what you have to do.’
Not only did the Tritons have the pressure of going home hanging over their heads after the first game, but they also had to cope with the painful feeling of letting a win slip away after witnessing the Seawolves’ walk-off win on a two-RBI double after UCSD entered the ninth inning clinging to a 6-5 lead.
‘After a season in the CCAA, you learn how to be resilient or you’re not going to do well,’ O’Brien said. ‘It was a tough loss to Sonoma State but our guys know how to bounce back the next day. It’s a credit to our club to have them perform after such a devastating loss.’
UCSD got off to a good start in game one, taking a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning thanks to junior first baseman Chris Franco’s three-run jack. Freshman starting pitcher Daniel Simmons got the Tritons off to a good start, throwing five innings of one-run ball, including striking out 11 Seawolves, before getting into some trouble in the sixth inning. Simmons had just received extra run support as UCSD increased its lead to 6-1 in the top half of the inning, but he was pulled with one out in the sixth after giving up a two-run home run and a walk.
‘Simmons was dominant,’ O’Brien said. ‘I’m just very proud of Danny because he’s gotten better every outing. He’s completely matured into an ace and you can tell that he embraces that role. I think he’s only going to get better. It’s scary how good he’s going to be.’
Simmons gave way to junior Nick Rodiek, who promptly threw a wild pitch to advance his inherited base runner and then gave up an RBI double to bring Sonoma State within two, 6-4. The Seawolves added one more run in the inning on another double, but both teams started to struggle and the score remained static until the dramatic ninth inning.
Sophomore closer Derek Barham came in to earn the save for UCSD but started on the wrong foot as he walked the leadoff batter, every pitcher’s cardinal sin. A wild pitch and a groundout later and the tying run was on third base with just one out. An infield single and a hit batsman later and Sonoma State had the bases loaded with one out and Chase McGuire, who entered the at-bat with two hits already, at the dish. The dangerous senior infielder ended the game with his third hit, a double to left field that drove in both the tying and go-ahead runs.
Despite Barham’s blown save, O’Brien was adamant that Barham, as the team’s closer, is a crucial component to the Tritons’ success.
‘If you are the closer, it is because you have the makeup to get out of bad situations,’ he said. ‘He didn’t have a great outing, but starters and middle relievers aren’t perfect either.’
Despite the tough loss and the threat of elimination, the Tritons showed their determination to make a run at the title, pulling off back-to-back wins on May 11. UCSD topped the host Golden Eagles of Cal State Los Angeles 7-2 in the morning game and then returned to the field in the afternoon for an 8-6 win over Chico State.
Strong pitching performances from sophomore starter Trevor Decker and senior Todd Gimenez led to a 7-2 win and the opportunity to play for a spot in the CCAA title game. Decker threw seven innings, allowing only one run, before giving way to Gimenez, who picked up the save with two innings of work and only one run allowed.
Senior outfielder Matt Lawson was the sparkplug at the top of the UCSD lineup, going 2-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI.
‘It’s fitting that he is our leadoff hitter because there is no question that he is the team leader,’ O’Brien said.
The afternoon game against Chico State was no breeze for the Tritons, but the result was the same as UCSD managed an 8-6 win to live to play another day.
In the first six innings, the Tritons and the Wildcats combined for four lead changes. UCSD got the scoring started with a lone run in the top of the third but Chico State responded with two runs in the bottom half of the inning. The Tritons bounced right back with two runs of their own in the top of the fourth and held onto the lead until the Wildcats chased freshman starting pitcher Kirby St. John out of the game with a three-run fifth inning.
St. John’s line was not pretty, as he left the game with one out in the fifth after a wild start in which he allowed five runs on four hits and five walks.
‘Every one of our pitchers knows the importance of pounding the strike zone,’ O’Brien said. ‘I think it’s a credit to our young pitchers that they are doing what they are and they are learning as they go.’
The UCSD offense saved St. John from the loss by scoring another three runs in the sixth inning and reclaiming the lead at 6-5. The lead was short-lived, however, as the Wildcats clawed back to tie the game on a home run to lead off the seventh inning. Rodiek surrendered the game-tying long ball but settled in and ended up with the win after he closed out the game with three and two-thirds innings pitched with the home run as the only hit.
Rodiek wouldn’t have ended up with the win if not for the persistent UCSD offense refusing to allow Chico State to come back. Despite sacrificing the lead three times, the Tritons scored a run apiece in the eight and ninth innings to eliminate the Wildcats and move on to the final day of competition in the title game matchup with Sonoma State.
The win improved UCSD’s record to 37-22, tying the school record for most wins in a season. With just one win in the NCAA West Regional, the 2007 Tritons could boast the most wins in a season and the first win in the NCAA tournament.
To win on the bigger stage, however, UCSD will have to do better than it did against Sonoma State in the title game.
Based on the first inning, it looked as if UCSD was well on its way to a title. Junior starting pitcher Max Kwan-Rosenbush breezed through the top of the Seawolf lineup, striking out the leadoff hitter and allowing only a walk. Then in UCSD’s turn in the first, they pounced on Seawolf senior starting pitcher Matt Bush for three runs and an early lead.
Even with the run support and a strong defense behind him, Kwan-Rosenbush fell apart in the second inning, loading the bases on a walk and two hit batsmen. The right-hander then walked in the Seawolves’ first run, leading O’Brien to yank his starter after only one inning in favor of junior Tim Strombel. While Strombel pitched well in his relief appearance, he inherited the ball with the bases loaded and didn’t get out of the inning until Sonoma State scored another two runs to tie the game at three.
Sonoma State took a 4-3 lead in the top of the third inning, but UCSD came back an inning later with a run of its own to tie the game in the bottom of the fourth. The game looked like it was going to come down to the wire, but the Seawolves went on a scoring rampage, tallying 11 runs over the last three innings, including a six-run seventh.
UCSD tallied the same amount of hits, 10, as Sonoma State, but also had two errors and a less experienced pitcher starting the game.
‘Going into this year we knew we were going to have a young pitching staff without a lot of experience,’ O’Brien said. ‘But we don’t lack ability, we just lack experience.’
Although Kwan-Rosenbush was not experienced when he was handed the ball to start the CCAA title game, the Tritons’ journey through this conference tournament should help him and the rest of the youngsters in the NCAA tournament.
‘Playing in the CCAA this year and competing in the tournament prepares you,’ O’Brien said. ‘The last three weeks were like postseason games and the CCAA tournament helped us as well, so you’re not going to find a club more prepared for regionals than we are.’
The Tritons can avoid the ‘win or go home’ pressure they felt in the CCAA tournament, but it will take consistency to escape the regional round.
‘There is no doubt in my mind that we have the ability to get to the College World Series,’ O’Brien said. ‘And now that we’ve gotten to regionals, I think our guys can taste it. I would be very surprised if we did not do well, because the players were just happy to get to regionals. We have enough seniors on the team that have worked hard pursuing their goal of getting to the world series, now we feel like we can do it.’
