BASEBALL — After starting their conference schedule with
seven straight wins, the No. 14 Tritons split a series against Cal State Los
Angeles and are now tied for second place in California Collegiate Athletic
Association standings.
With series sweeps against Cal State San Bernardino and Cal
Poly Pomona, UCSD entered the four-game series against the Golden Eagles with a
confident pitching staff and an offense that was clicking. But the Tritons
dropped the series opener on March 6 in
5-2, in their first CCAA loss, and picked up another loss in the second game of
a doubleheader at Triton Baseball Field on March 8. UCSD did salvage a split
with a 6-2 win on the road on March 7 and came out ahead in a close contest to
open the doubleheader in
“I think we still feel like we should have won the series
but they just flat out beat us in two out of the four games,” head coach Dan
O’Brien said.
The Tritons’ hot bats fell victim to great pitching when
UCSD matched up with the Golden Eagles, who won the NCAA Division II West
Regionals in 2007. Cal State Los Angeles’ Isaac Morales allowed only one earned
run in 8.2 innings to pick up the win, despite giving up eleven hits and
walking three.
“We swung the bat well against him but we didn’t bunch any
hits together,” O’Brien said. “But most importantly they didn’t give us
anything … they made plays behind good pitchers and that’s why we didn’t put
up big runs.”
UCSD came alive in the second game of the series, pounding
the Golden Eagle pitching with 14 hits that amounted to six runs. The Tritons
broke a 1-1 tie in the fifth inning thanks to a solo homerun off the bat of
junior outfielder Nick Burke. Another long ball, junior first-baseman Matt
Cantele’s fourth of the season, put the game out of reach in the seventh
inning, as UCSD went ahead 5-1 after the two-run shot.
“We just want to have the kind of lineup that a pitcher
can’t feel comfortable at any time; he knows that he’s facing nine guys that
can drive the ball out of ballpark,” O’Brien said. “Some days we’re better at
that than others but we have a lineup with a lot of presence and if the guys
stick to their plan at the plate, we can be a pretty potent offense.”
The Tritons also got a strong start from freshman Guido
Knudson, who went seven strong innings to pick up his third win this year, and
reliable relief work from freshman Tim Shibuya and senior Keith Noe, who
combined for two scoreless innings to seal the win.
After splitting the two games in Los Angeles, the Tritons
returned home for a doubleheader on March 8 and won the first game 2-1 but fell
short, 6-2, in the series finale.
The Tritons got all the offense they would need from
freshman outfielder Evan Kehoe’s two-run homerun in the first contest’s second
inning. However, the two runs barely held up, as UCSD needed three double-plays
to make up for the Golden Eagles’ eight walks and eight hits. Sophomore
starting pitcher Kirby St. John went five innings to pick up his third win
before giving way to Shibuya, who held Cal State Los Angeles scoreless from the
sixth through the eighth innings. Noe came on in the ninth and picked up his
third save of the year.
“We feel like if we have a lead late in the ballgame, it’s
going to be awfully hard to beat us [because of our bullpen],” O’Brien said.
“Our starting pitching has been just OK but our bullpen has been outstanding.
[In that game] we had quality pitching and good defense and then, of course, we
have an outstanding closer who came in and finished the deal.”
In the series finale, the Golden Eagles scored a run each in
the first two innings then two runs each in the next two to jump out to a 6-0
lead. UCSD threatened briefly in the sixth, as Cantele led off the inning with
a double and came around to score on senior designated hitter Chris Franco’s
single. Although the Tritons continued to rally with another double, they could
only muster a sacrifice fly to score a second run, which was the last they
would get. Cal State Los Angeles’ John Mitchell went the distance in the game,
allowing just the two runs on nine hits and no walks in the seven-inning
complete game.
With the loss in the series finale, UCSD falls to 19-5
overall and 9-2 in the CCAA. A four-game series against Cal State Dominguez
Hills is up next for the Tritons, who will play two road games on March 13 and
14 before hosting the Toros in a doubleheader on March 15.
“We want to win every series and we want to set our
expectations high to sweep every series,” O’Brien said. “But if you don’t come
to play every single day in our conference, any team can beat you. And I think
we found that out against Cal State Los Angeles. If our guys get themselves
ready to play and stick to their plan, then we should have a very successful
weekend [CSUDH].”
