LOS ANGELES, Calif. ? The 24th-ranked UC San Diego baseball team lost a heartbreaker to No. 2 Sonoma State to open the CCAA Tournament on Thursday afternoon at Reeder Field in Los Angeles. UCSD was up 6-5 in the ninth, but SSU's Chase McGuire doubled in the tying and go-ahead runs, giving SSU a 7-6 win. The Tritons scored three runs in the first on a Chris Franco three-run homerun. UCSD added three more runs in the sixth, taking a 6-1 lead. SSU's bullpen shut down the Tritons the rest of the way. UCSD's starter Daniel Simmons struck out a career-high 11 batters in just 5.1 innings of action. UCSD will now play the loser of the Chico State and Cal State L.A. game. UCSD's game on Friday will be at 11:00 a.m.
In the UCSD first, the Tritons put two on with one out on back-to-back singles by Imeson and Cantele. After a fielders choice put runners on the corners with two outs, Chris Franco came through with an opposite field homerun to rightfield, a three-run shot putting a three-run inning on the board for the Tritons.
SSU put two runners on with one out in the bottom half of the first, but Daniel Simmons got the final two outs on a strikeout and pop out to end the frame.
SSU scored an unearned run in the bottom half of the third on a sac fly by Tyler Wightman. UCSD led 3-1 after three innings.
In the SSU fifth, Adler singled with one out, ending a streak of five straight Seawolf strikeouts by Simmons. Simmons did end up striking out the side for the second consecutive inning, bringing his total to 11 through five innings with the Tritons ahead 3-1.
In the top of the sixth, David Morehead led off and was hit, while Franco singled to put two on with no outs. With one out, the runners moved up to second and third on a wild pitch. Bryan Silverman doubled off the right field wall, driving in Morehead and keeping runners on second and third with UCSD up 4-1. With two outs, the Tritons scored a run on a wild pitch, giving UCSD a 5-1 lead. Vance Albitz came through with a big, two-out single up the middle, driving in the runner from third and UCSD led 6-1.
SSU's McDaniel hit a two-run homerun with no-outs in the sixth, cutting the deficit down to 6-3 UCSD. Simmons would exit after 5.1 innings, allowing four runs, three earned and striking out a career-high 11. Simmons struckout two in the first, two in the second, one in the third, three in the fourth and three in the fifth. With Nick Rodieck pitching, Ian Bridges doubled to deep center for an RBI, making the score 6-4 UCSD. With two outs, SSU's Adler doubled to left for an RBI and the score was 6-5 UCSD through six frames.
With one out in the UCSD seventh, Cantele singled up the middle and Morehead doubled to put runners on second and third. The next Triton batter struck out for the second out and John Roth was hit to load the bases. SSU changed pitchers with a 1-2 count and SSU's Babin recorded the strikeout on his first pitch, keeping the score at 6-5 UCSD.
With the Tritons leading 6-5 in the bottom of the ninth, SSU's leadoff batter walked and reached second on a wild pitch. B.J. Collom grounded out to second, getting the runner to third with one gone. Wightman hit an infield hit to third, as the runner on third held. Setting up runners on the corners with one out. The next SSU batter was hit to load the bases with still one out. Chase McGuire doubled, driving in both the tying and winning runs for SSU at 7-6.
