BASEBALL ‘mdash; UCSD experienced two vastly different series over the last couple of weeks, leading to near-opposite results.
After blowing out Cal State Los Angeles in three out of four games Feb. 26 through Feb. 28 ‘mdash; outscoring the Golden Eagles 34-8 in the wins ‘mdash; the No. 23 Tritons fell to the Seawolves in three consecutive one-run ball games on the road March 7 and 8 before pulling out a squeaker in the series finale to avoid the sweep.
‘Having one-run games doesn’t really happen all the time,’ senior starting pitcher Trevor Decker said. ‘It was a shock the way things worked out. We had a few bad breaks and didn’t execute.’
The Tritons will again face a tough opponent, hosting No. 1 Cal State Stanislaus this weekend.
‘We’re not going to spend a whole lot of time worrying about Cal State Stanislaus,’ head coach Dan O’Brien said. ‘We need to get better at playing the game, get back to fundamentals.’
Not only did the Tritons fall in three straight close matches, they lost all of them in heartbreaking fashion. With two out and nobody on and the game tied at one in the bottom of the ninth in the opening game of the series, sophomore starting pitcher Tim Shibuya walked a Seawolf batter. Redshirt junior Sean Greer then came in to relieve the starter and hit the first batsman he saw, putting runners on first and second and setting the stage for Sonoma’s walk-off single.
‘It was a strange series,’ O’Brien said. ‘There was definitely a lot of good pitching and it was going to come down to who played better defense and had timely hitting. We just gave them too many runs. Our defense did not play well behind good pitching.’
With UCSD down 3-2 in the second game, senior second baseman Garrett Imeson singled to start off the ninth inning. UCSD put runners on first and third with one out, but Imeson was thrown out at the plate as he attempted to score on a ground ball.
The Tritons had a chance to tie the game once again in the ninth inning of the the third match when senior Josh Tanner singled with two outs, but they were unable to drive him in, leading to a series loss for UCSD.
‘At that point, you just try to stay positive and focus on process of game and not results,’ O’Brien said.
With one game left in the four-game set, the Tritons handed the ball to Decker to help salvage a victory.
‘My mentality going into the game was to keep the team within striking distance and let the offense come around and pick us up,’ Decker said.
Decker kept it close and, with the game tied at two, junior outfielder Robert Sedin drove in the winning run in extra innings. Sophomore Guido Knudson earned the win in relief.
Readers can contact Janani Sridharan at [email protected].