Junior outfielder Evan Domanic, who is hitting .778 in three games against the Wolves, follows through on a two-run homer that led UCSD to a 4-3 win on Feb. 1. (Photo Illustration by Erik Jepsen/Guardian)

BASEBALL — After a 1-2 start in three games versus Western
Oregon, the UCSD baseball team had the finale of its four-game
season-opening series postponed after rain pelted Triton Baseball Field on Feb.
3, forcing the Tritons to wait until today to try and finish with a split.

The Tritons, ranked 15th in Division II and picked by league
coaches to finish first in the California Collegiate Athletic Association and
win the postseason conference tournament, did exactly what they wanted to do in
the season opener on Feb. 1. Thanks to a dominant performance by sophomore
starting pitcher Matt Rossman and two two-run home runs, UCSD came away with a
4-3 victory.

Rossman, making the first start of his collegiate career,
mowed down the Wolves, striking out nine over seven innings of one-hit, one-run
ball.

“[Rossman’s] definitely going to be a big impact pitcher for
us this season,” senior closer Nick Rodiek said. “He’s a true competitor out
there and we’re lucky to have him. He goes out there, he throws strikes, he gets
ahead in the count and that’s really what you need to be successful.”

Despite Rossman’s near-perfect performance, the Wolves kept
themselves in the game with a single run each in the seventh, eighth and ninth
innings. Rodiek earned the save by recording the last four outs of the game,
though he left the Wolves an opening, allowing two hits and one run in his
outing.

“Before the season my coaches told me I would be in the
closer role,” Rodiek said. “Last season I was middle relief so it was
definitely a different mindset for me. When they told me, I knew I had to be on
my game from the get-go. There’s no room for error so I told myself to be
aggressive and it was really important to be successful my first time out
there.”

UCSD only got six hits in the game, but they capitalized,
hitting two home runs with one man on base. After trading scoreless innings to
start the contest, UCSD scored first in the bottom of the fourth, when junior
first-baseman Matt Cantele led off the inning with a single. Cantele came around
to score when junior outfielder Evan Domanic cleared the right-field fence.

In what would become crucial insurance runs, UCSD came back
in the bottom of the fifth and added another two runs. A two-out error put
sophomore shortstop Vance Albitz on the basepath and kept the inning alive.
Albitz then stole second, which became mute when junior second-baseman Garrett
Imeson homered to left-centerfield.

“That just tells you how important every single run is
because you never know when that run will matter,” Rodiek said. “So having that
two-run bomb kept our team in it and ended up being the difference.”

While the opening game was encouraging for the Tritons, they
came back on Feb. 2 and faced a rude awakening from the Wolves, first falling
11-10 in extra innings after rallying to tie the game in the ninth and then
taking a 3-1 loss in the second game of the doubleheader.

In the first game, the Tritons found themselves facing a 2-1
deficit after the first three innings of play. Both offenses exploded in the fourth
innings, as the Wolves put up a five-spot in the top of the inning and the
Tritons answered with four runs of their own in the bottom half.

While UCSD was able to answer the original rally, Western
Oregon kept tacking on runs, adding two more in the fifth inning
and one more in the eighth. The Tritons kept within reach with a two-run
seventh inning, but found themselves down 10-7 in the bottom of the ninth
inning.

Albitz led off the do-or-die inning with a single and
advanced to third on a Cantele double to right field. He then scored the first
of three runs that started a Triton rally that tied the game and forced extra
innings. Unfortunately, the Tritons used all their energy tying the game and
quickly found themselves trailing again after the Wolves hit a one-out double
and scored on a two-out single. The Tritons then went down 1-2-3 in the bottom of the tenth to take their
first loss of the young season.

After the disappointment of falling in extra frames, the
Tritons had to prepare for a second game, which they lost 3-1. UCSD came out
swinging, as Albitz led off the game with a triple and scored on a sacrifice
fly by Imeson. But that was the only run the team could muster and freshman
starting pitcher Guido Knudson, who was pitching flawlessly through four
innings, ran into trouble in the fifth when he allowed back-to-back singles
with two outs. Despite the threat, Knudson looked like he was going to escape
the inning unscathed, but a catcher’s interference call kept the inning alive
and allowed the Wolves to score three unearned runs and take the 3-1 lead they
would never surrender.

“Our whole team knows there is a lot of room for
improvement,” Rodiek said about the Tritons’ chances in the postponed game. “We
must be focused and we have to pounce on them from the first inning and never
look back.”

UCSD will look to salvage a split in the series in the
postponed fourth game on Feb. 4 at 2 p.m.