BASEBALL ‘mdash; The No. 6 Tritons nearly came back from a six-run deficit to sweep the Wildcats last weekend, but had to settle for one loss in the four-game set, ending their winning streak at 12 games but successfully taking their third straight series. UCSD will stay on the road against Grand Canyon University this weekend, attempting to take another four-game set.
After winning all eight games at home, the first-place Tritons traveled to Chico State April 3 to April 5. The first two games were all offense ‘mdash; UCSD won by scores of 19-8 and 10-8 ‘mdash; before the Tritons took the back end of Saturday’s doubleheader 5-3.
‘You can’t take anything away from Chico’s pitchers ‘mdash; their pitching really wasn’t bad,’ junior catcher Kellen Lee said. ‘We just had an offensive explosion and took advantage of any bad pitches they made.’
Sunday’s series finale saw the Tritons in a large hole early on. Holding on to a 2-1 lead, the Wildcats broke the game open in the bottom of the fifth with two outs. Against junior starting pitcher Kirby St. John, the Wildcats put runners on first and third with one out in the inning. Senior rightie Ryland MacFadyen came in as relief for St. John and promptly struck out the first Chico State batter he faced for the second out. Almost out of the inning, the Triton reliever walked the next batter, loading the bases.
Chico State then singled in two runs and the Wildcats put a runner on third after a Triton throwing error. A wild pitch by MacFadyen added an unearned run for the Wildcats, giving them a 5-1 lead entering the sixth.
Junior outfielder Robert Sedin drove in a run for the Tritons in the top of the sixth, but the Wildcats scored three more runs off two UCSD relievers in the bottom half of the inning to extend their lead to 8-2. Even when they were down by six runs, the Tritons never felt like they were out of the game.
‘Our offense has been doing a great job and they never give up,’ MacFadyen said. ‘They always punch back and never stop competing.’
‘ UCSD fought back in the top of the seventh, taking advantage of two Chico State errors to load the bases with one out. A single from senior first baseman Matt Cantele and a sac fly from redshirt junior Brandon Gregorich scored two runs for UCSD before senior outfielder Nick Burke’s two-run double capped the four-run inning.
UCSD was unable to make up the two-run deficit, however, succumbing to Chico State 8-6. Still, the Tritons came out of Chico State retaining their No. 6 ranking and pulling off another series win.
‘Obviously it was too little too late,’ Lee said of the attempted comeback in the final game. ‘But we fought and scratched back to make it 8-6. If we came out strong like we did in the other games, I think we would have won.’
With a 22-8 record (19-5 California Collegiate Athletic Association), the Tritons are in first place, three games ahead of Sonoma State University. UCSD continues its road trip against regional opponent Grand Canyon, with the first pitch tonight at 7 p.m.
Readers can contact Janani Sridharan at [email protected].