CHICO, Calif. ? The UC San Diego baseball team lost to No. 12 Chico State 4-3 on Saturday afternoon in Chico. UCSD's Matt Cantele blasted his 19th homerun of the year in the first-inning, breaking the UCSD single-season homerun mark. David Morehead had two hits and two RBI for the Tritons. UCSD put two runners on in the ninth inning, but was unable to produce the game-tying run. The loss drops UCSD to 30-16, 19-8 CCAA, while the Wildcats gain ground and improve to 37-9, 18-9 CCAA. The second game of the doubleheader was postponed due to rain. The teams will take the field on Sunday, with first-pitch set for 11:00 a.m.
Spottiswood improved to 8-3 with the win. He allowed just three runs on seven hits in eight innings. He also struck out eight batters, giving him 100 career strikeouts. Martinez collected his 12th save in 13 chances.
Nick Rodieck (3-1) took the loss for UC San Diego, which fell to 30-16 overall and 19-8 in the CCAA. He allowed four runs on 12 hits in six innings. Michael Thomson and Derek Barham combined on two innings of scoreless relief to keep the Tritons within striking distance.
The game came down to missed opportunities for the offenses of the 12th-ranked Wildcats and 29th-ranked Tritons. Chico State stranded 13 runners on base, while UC San Diego stranded 11. In fact, Imeson and Chico State's Greg Finazzo stranded eight apiece.
But Edgar Sedano, Daniel Code, Aaron Demuth, and Shane Farmer all finished with two hits and an RBI for the Wildcats, giving them just enough offense to secure the win. Code extended his hitting streak to 15 games and Scott extended his to 10.
David Morehead went 2-for-5 with a pair of RBI to lead UC San Diego. Matt Cantele added a solo home run ? his 19th of the season. His home run in the first staked the Tritons to a 1-0 lead. But the Wildcats answered with a run in the bottom-half of the inning on Code's double and Demuth's single with two out.
The Wildcats built the lead to 4-1 with a run in the third on Code's RBI-single and two more in the fourth on an RBI-single by Farmer and Sedano's sacrifice fly.
UC San Diego trimmed the lead with Morehead's RBI-single in the fifth and his RBI-double in the seventh. But after Matt Lawson drew a two-out walk in the ninth and Morehead reached on a rare throwing error by Wildcats second baseman Robby Scott, Martinez struck out Imeson to end the game.
