LA JOLLA, Calif. - The 22nd-ranked UC San Diego baseball team saw a 3-0 lead evaporate and would win in the bottom of the eighth on a misplay on Josh Tanner's fielders choice. UCSD won the game 4-3, even though the Tritons went hitless from inning four through seven. Byron Grubman went seven-innings, allowed two runs and struck out six in a no-decision. Ryan Leake (2-1) pitched the final two innings to earn the win and allowing no earned runs. The Tritons improve to 21-15, 12-9 CCAA while the Broncos drop to 13-20, 11-9 CCAA. The teams will square off Friday afternoon at 3:00 p.m. at Triton Baseball Field. It will be the second game of the four-game series. The final two will be played as a doubleheader in Pomona on Saturday.
In the UCSD first, Garrett Imeson led off with a double and advanced to third on John Roth's single to put runners on the corners with no outs. With one out, Roth stole second base and Imeson came home to score on the overthrow to second base. Scott Clement then lined a single to leftfield, scoring Roth and putting UCSD ahead 2-0.
In the third, Jonathan Erickson led off with a double to left center. Erickson advanced to third with one out on Josh Tanners' groundout. Imeson then hit a sac fly to center, scoring Erickson for the 3-0 UCSD lead.
With two outs in the CPP fifth, Chris Janowicz walked and Kevin Falls singled to put runners on the corners. The next CPP batter grounded out to first unassisted to get the Tritons out of the jam.
In the UCSD fifth, Roth was hit-by-pitch and advanced to second on a wild pitch. David Morehead hit a deep fly to center and allowed Roth to advance to third
with one out. With two outs, Matt Cantele walked to put runners on the
corners. Fante hit a deep ball to right, but a nice catch by the right fielder ended the Triton threat and the score remained 3-0 UCSD.
With one out in the CPP seventh, Kirk Gross singled and John Daniels hit an RBI double to put CPP on the board. Chris Janowicz then singled to right field to score Daniels and brind CPP within 3-2. UCSD got out of the inning on a double play and led 3-2 in the seventh.
In the bottom half of the seventh, Roth was hit-by-pitch for the second straight at-bat, leading off the inning. Roth advanced to second on a wild-pitch. UCSD was unable to get the runner in and left the runner in scoring position as the Tritons led 3-2 through seven.
CPP's Carter led off the eighth with a single and advanced to second on a groundout. The next CPP batter was walked to put two on with two outs. The runners advanced to second and third on a passed ball. A single through the right side scored the tying run but the potential go ahead run was thrown out at the plate by Tim Mort and the game remained tied in the eighth at 3-3.
Tim Mort had a one-out single in the eighth, the Tritons first hit since the third inning. Devin Incerti pinch ran and stole second. Erickson was then intentionally walked to set up the force. With Incerti on second and Erickson on first, Tanner hit into a fielders choice as he beat the throw to first. The throw got away from the pitcher covering first and Incerti raced around to score the go-ahead unearned run to lead 4-3.
Ryan Leake retired the side in the ninth to earn the win.
