BASEBALL — In its first weekend with the No. 1 ranking, the UCSD baseball team had a minor stumble, but still took three of four games from visiting Cal State East Bay. The Tritons won 1-0 and 10-4 on Saturday, and lost 8-4 in the first game on Sunday before rebounding with a 7-2 win in the second game.
“I think we are doing a great job at handling adversity,” head coach Dan O’Brien said. “We really aren’t playing well right now. In the first game today [Sunday] we played probably the worst game in a number of years. We’re a little inconsistent, we’re going to work on that. But in the meantime our effort was consistent and that helped us pull off a series win.”
In the first game, senior ace Tim Shibuya (3-0) was as magnificent as always, throwing seven innings of one-hit ball to pick up his third victory of the season. Elias Tuma threw two hitless innings to earn the save. A Danny Susdorf double in the third inning that scored Aaron Bauman was all the offense the Triton pitchers would need for the 1-0 victory.
The second game featured considerably more offense, as the Tritons got 10 runs on 11 hits, and were led by four RBI from right fielder Kyle Saul. First baseman Nick Hom added 3 RBI — including a solo home run in the third. Senior Guido Knudson (2-0) pitched eight strong innings to get the win.
Defensive issues contributed to the Triton loss in the third game. Up 3-1 early, the Tritons gave up four runs in the fourth. The Pioneers tagged starter Daniel Simmons (2-1) for four hits in the inning, and an error and a poorly played double steal allowed East Bay to take the lead.
Simmons left the game and took the loss as the Tritons were unable to catch up to the Pioneers.
UCSD bounced back in the final game of the series as the Tritons knocked around East Bay starter Zach Aguirre for 10 hits and six runs. Aguirre lasted just three 2/3 innings, and the Triton outfield combined for seven hits and four RBI. Junior Greg Selarz (2-1) allowed seven hits and two runs over five 2/3 innings to get the victory in the seven-inning game.
UCSD is now 10-2 overall and 3-1 in CCAA play after the series.
“Up and down the line up, we’re all confident,” Bauman said. “Anyone can get a hit anytime. We’re as confident as we were last year.
The Triton will take their first road trip next weekend, as they travel to face Cal State Monterey Bay for a four-game series. The first game will be Friday at 2 p.m. in Seaside, Calif.
Readers can contact Liam Rose at [email protected]
