LA JOLLA, Calif. ? The 14th-ranked UC San Diego baseball team completed a four-game series sweep when it defeated Cal State San Bernardino 3-2 in California Collegiate Athletic Association action on Tuesday afternoon. After the Tritons defeated CSUSB in three straight games in February, the final game was postponed due to weather. The Tritons fell behind 2-0, but scored three runs in the third inning and held the Coyotes in check the rest of the way. Tim Shibuya (4-0) earned the win, pitching five scoreless frames while scattering two hits. UCSD improves to 24-7, 12-4 CCAA while CSUSB drops to 13-16, 4-12 CCAA.
The Tritons got out of jams in both the third and fourth innings. Starting pitcher Guido Knudson went three innings, allowing five hits and two runs. Knudson limited the damage in his last two innings of work. After Shibuya got through five scoreless innings, Keith Noe came on and pitched a perfect ninth for his fifth save of the season.
Matt Cantele recorded the only multi-hit game of the afternoon, while Cantele, Chris Franco and Vance Albitz recorded RBI.
The win was UCSD head coach Dan O'Brien's 298th of his career.
In the CSUSB second, Jason Klug led off with a double and Jesus Beltran hit an RBI single. With one out and runners on second and third, Knudson got a groundout and a strikeout to end the frame without further damage and CSUSB led 1-0.
With one out in the CSUSB third, Brent Plank hit a solo homerun to left for the 2-0 lead.
In the UCSD third, Nick Burke led off with a single to left and advanced to second on an error. After a sac bunt moved Burke to third, Vance Albitz reached on a bunt single RBI pulling the Tritons within 2-1. With two on and still one out, Cantele delivered a single up the middle for an RBI, tying the game at 2-2. Franco followed with a sac fly to center, giving the Tritons a 3-2 lead.
CSUSB put runners on second and third with no outs in the fourth. After a fielders choice cut down the lead runner at the plate for the first out, another fielders choice recorded the second out with runners on the corners. Shibuya got a ground out to second base on a nice play by Imeson to end the inning with no runs scored.
Shibuya continued to sail through the Coyotes lineup and Noe earned the save in the ninth.
UCSD is back in action on Friday when it travels to face Grand Canyon. First pitch is set for 7:00 p.m. on the GCU campus.
