The No. 23 nationally ranked UCSD Tritons ended exhibition play on a high note last Tuesday, Jan. 29, as they outplayed Vanguard University from start to finish. UCSD jumped out to an early lead, and never relinquished control as UCSD beat Vanguard at Triton Ballpark.

“I thought early on in the game, offensively, I really liked our approach,” second-year head coach Eric Newman said. “[It was] really impressive to see the way we were going about our business.”

In the second inning, senior Richard Seigel put the Tritons on the board with a two-run home run off Vanguard’s Kamakani Usui, driving in junior catcher Nick La Face. Left-fielder James Mossholder added to the Triton’s three-run inning, doubling and scoring off a sacrifice fly from junior transfer Dillon Moyer.

UCSD broke open the game in the fifth inning, scoring four runs behind a double from freshman two-way player Troy Cruz and a pair of errors from Vanguard pitcher Nik Klungreseter and second-baseman Paul Keating.

Vanguard added two runs, coming in the fifth and sixth innings, but UCSD came up with three in the seventh behind Mossholder, who drove in an additional two runs with a single down the line. Vanguard added one run in the ninth on an error by senior second-baseman Sam Michaels, but UCSD held on to win.

The Tritons start their season on Friday, Feb. 1, when they host No. 20 Colorado Mesa University at Triton Ballpark.

“I was happy with the win, but we need to have two good days of practice heading toward Colorado Mesa coming in here,” Newman said. “We have some areas that we need to cover and shore up. We’re excited to play. We’ll be ready to go.”