BASEBALL ‘mdash; The UCSD baseball team is ranked sixth in all of Division-II, riding a nine-game winning streak and witnessing its pitcher throw a no-hitter against the top-ranked team. With the Tritons clicking on all cylinders as of late, it’s hard to believe that less than three weeks ago, UCSD was at its lowest point of the season.
‘ The Tritons left Sonoma State on March 8 demoralized after losing three consecutive one-run ball games to the Seawolves. But without the striking wakeup call from Sonoma State, the Tritons may never have pulled off a streak quite so impressive.
‘We went into Sonoma almost tentative and apprehensive about our opponent, and it showed in our play,’ junior catcher Kellen Lee said. ‘We gave up three games that I felt like we should have taken. After that we all got together and realized we needed to start playing better.’
Coming home to face then No. 1 Cal State Stanislaus March 13 to March 15, the Tritons immediately stepped up their game, pulling out an extra-inning victory in the opening match before sweeping the four-game series.
‘Any momentum they had, anytime they scored any runs, we punched back and scored as many or more,’ Lee said. ‘Momentum was a key factor in the series.’
The Tritons followed with another four-game sweep at home, this time at the expense of San Francisco State March 27 to March 29. UCSD scored early and often in the series, putting up 10 or more runs in three of the contests.
‘All week, our coaches preached that we had to jump on San Francisco State early,’ Lee said. ‘We weren’t going to give them any chances or opportunities.’
Against CSUS, UCSD gained early momentum off the bat of redshirt junior Brandon Gregorich in the bottom of the 11th inning of the first game. With two outs, the third baseman hit a bloop single that scored junior shortstop Vance Albitz, giving UCSD a 3-2 win.
‘It was really important getting that first win,’ senior pitcher Trevor Decker said. ‘It’s always nice to jump on top in a series because the other team tends to back off and play on their heels.’
Gregorich set the stage for quite possibly the Tritons’ best day of baseball all season. UCSD started off the morning with a solid 8-3 victory, anchored by eight strong innings from redshirt junior pitcher Matt Rossman. Then, Decker took to the mound for the backend of the double header and took complete control of the series.
‘He was just so composed, I knew from the third inning on,’ said Lee, who caught the first no-hitter of his career. ‘He was throwing them exactly where we were calling them. A lot of pitchers rely on their second pitch ‘mdash; their offspeed pitch. Decker had his fastball working, pitching into and outside of hitters.’
According to Decker, it was the pitcher’s third no-hitter: the first was a perfect game in Little League and the second was another perfect game in high school.
‘It’s one of those things where it’s hard to describe how if happened,’ Decker said. ‘There were one or two really nice plays on defense ‘hellip; All of the pieces of the puzzle just fell into place.’
After playing eight straight home games ‘mdash; and posting a perfect record for the homestand ‘mdash; UCSD will hit the road to play Chico State University this weekend.
‘Going up to Chico, it’s always fun,’ Decker said. ‘You expect big crowds and bashing from the fans. We know they’re always one of the top teams in our conference; they hit well and have pretty good pitching, too. We have to just keep doing what we’re doing, keep executing pitches and have the same approach at the plate.’ ‘ ‘ ‘ Readers can contact Janani Sridharan at [email protected].