Following a narrow 10-9 win on April 2 and a 6-3 loss on April 3, UC San Diego baseball (14-14, 10-2 Big West) shut out Hawai’i (16-13, 6-9 Big West) 8-0 to take the three-game series on Saturday afternoon at Triton Ballpark. With back-to-back home runs from junior center fielder Michael Crossland and senior left fielder Alex Leopard, UCSD’s dominant third inning put the Rainbow Warriors down for the rest of the game.
Redshirt sophomore pitcher Trevor Rector began the first inning strong by forcing flyouts and striking out Hawai’i’s hitters. Redshirt freshman pitcher Austin Bowker took the mound in the top of the second inning, maintaining the Tritons’ defensive edge through 5 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing only three hits, and striking out four Rainbow Warriors.
In the third, Hawai’i threatened to overcome UCSD’s lead. A free walk and a hit left a Rainbow Warrior on third base, but Bowker held steady, stranding the runners and keeping Hawai’i scoreless.
“I think our guys have continued to improve as the year’s gone on,” head coach Eric Newman said in a postgame interview with The UCSD Guardian. “Our pitching coach and our guys have really done a nice job in conference of making necessary adjustments, finding what’s gonna work, sticking to their plan, and really owning that. … Today was a really complete performance.”
The Triton offense found its rhythm in the bottom of the third. After one initial out, Crossland put UCSD up 1-0 with a deep left-field hit, scoring the Tritons’ first home run of the day. UCSD’s momentum continued as junior first baseman Gabe Camacho hit a ball to right field. Hawai’i misread the hit, allowing Camacho to steal third. Senior third baseman J.C. Allen followed with a sharp hit down the left-field line for a double. Building off the third-inning momentum, Leopard scored the Tritons’ second home run of the game, leaving UCSD with a dominant 4-0 lead.
“It’s a great feeling,” Leopard said. “I think all of us come together, and we just want to see the best for each other and get the next guy up.”
The Tritons didn’t stop there. In the fifth, junior shortstop Anthony Potestio, who went 3 for 5, hit a single before Camacho’s deep right-field home run — the third of the game — brought him home. Despite the loss on Friday, across the three-day series, Camacho tallied a triple, a home run, and two RBIs, keeping up a strong performance.
The Tritons boasted a strong defense throughout the series, allowing just one run across the final three innings of each game. Freshman pitcher Quincey Brown went to the mound in the ninth inning, closing the 8-0 win.
“Yesterday, we didn’t play our best, so what I asked them to do was bounce back and commit to the best version of us both on the mound, at the plate, playing defense,” Newman said. “And they really did that today.”
The Tritons ended the afternoon with 10 hits, eight runs, and zero errors. Saturday’s dominant shutout — one of many strong performances this season — kept UCSD in the top spot in the Big West standings. The Tritons will travel to take on UC Santa Barbara in a three-game series from April 10 to April 12.
