BASEBALL ‘mdash; The No. 6 Tritons came out of Cal State Dominguez Hills on April 18 with their first-place lead in the conference standings cut in half after dropping a doubleheader to the fourth-place Toros.
‘It was a tough day because they seemed to have a lot of momentum and we struggled to get it back,’ senior third baseman Josh Tanner said. ‘We weren’t as successful with our offensive approach as we usually are and their pitchers took advantage.’
Following the series, UCSD traveled to Cal State San Bernardino hoping to get back on the winning track.
‘We need to get back to doing what we do best,’ senior first baseman Matt Cantele said before the series with the Coyotes. ‘We need to play great defense, pound the strike zone and have quality plate appearances. If we do that then the winning and everything else will fall in place.’
But UCSD fell 4-1 to the Coyotes, losing its third straight contest, with the offense falling flat in the opening match. Following the loss, the Tritons responded with a 13-1 bashing of Cal State San Bernardino, breaking out of their mini-slump in a big way and clinching a California Collegiate Athletic Association playoff spot at the same time.
The Tritons returned to Triton Baseball Stadium and extended their home winning streak to 14 games with two wins in a doubleheader on April 25.
In the first game of the home and home series on April 23 in San Bernardino, the Tritons put together seven hits but stranded seven runners in the loss. The Coyotes scored two runs in the second inning, which proved to be enough for them as the Tritons only managed to drive in one run on a sacrifice fly from junior shortstop Vance Albitz.
UCSD answered back in the second game, using a nine-run eighth inning to overcome the Coyotes. Already holding a 4-0 lead, the Tritons led off the eighth inning with a double from senior second baseman Garrett Imeson. Redshirt junior Brendon Gregorich and Tim Mort added back-to-back doubles to plate the first two runs of the rally. Ten batters and seven runs later, the Tritons took a 13-0 lead into the ninth.
Riding a huge wave of momentum, the Tritons came home to face the Coyotes in a doubleheader on Saturday. This time, the lineup didn’t wait as long to put up a crooked number, following up a solo homer from junior catcher Kellen Lee in the second inning with five scores in the third. Cantele’s double was the Tritons’ biggest hit of the inning, scoring two in the rally.
Lee added another solo shot and Cantele homered in the game en route to a 10-4 UCSD victory. Cantele’s home run was the 53rd of his career, tying the record for home runs as a Triton.
UCSD capped off the CSUSB series with a little more history in the final game. Senior starting pitcher Trevor Decker earned his 26th career victory, making him the Tritons’ all-time wins leader.
The victory did not come easily, however, as UCSD spent most of the game holding on to a slim 2-1 lead. After Decker pitched his last inning, the Tritons finally broke the game open in the bottom of the fifth with three runs.
The inning started with a blast off the bat of Nick Burke, which was tracked down and caught in right centerfield, robbing t
he senior outfielder of a double. Albitz came up to bat with one out and lined a ball to first base. But the Coyote first baseman couldn’t come up with the hard hit ball, earning Albitz a single to start the Triton rally. After a passed ball allowed Albitz to advance to second base, CSUSB intentionally walked Cantele, giving the Tritons two runners with two outs. Gregorich, UCSD’s next batter, worked the count to 3-1 before hitting a towering homer to left field, giving the Tritons a 5-1 lead.
The Coyotes answered back with two runs in the top of the second, but the Tritons weren’t done scoring yet. After Mort singled to start the inning, junior outfielder Robert Sedin’s helmet was grazed by a pitch, allowing him to take first base. Three batters later, Albitz drove in a run with a single to centerfield and Sedin scored on a wild pitch, giving the Tritons a 7-3 lead. The Coyotes rallied in the seventh, but only managed one run, giving Decker and the Tritons a big win.
The Tritons (30-11, 24-8 CCAA) have now clinched a playoff berth and sit atop the conference standings, two games ahead of second-place Sonoma State University. UCSD will face sixth-place Cal Poly Pomona in a home and home series April 30 through May 2 before the CCAA Tournament in Palm Springs.’
Readers can contact Janani Sridharan at [email protected].