LOS ANGELES, Calif. ? The 6th-ranked UC San Diego baseball team saw its eight-game winning streak come to an end on Thursday in a 5-2 loss to Cal State L.A. The Tritons outhit the Golden Eagles 11-8 but suffered their first conference loss of the season. UCSD drops to 17-4, 7-1 California Collegiate Athletic Association, while Cal State L.A. improves to 9-11, 4-4 CCAA. Vance Albitz had three hits for the Tritons, while Chris Franco had two hits and two runs. Garrett Imeson had the Tritons' lone RBI with a run-scoring double in the eighth.
Isaac Morales and John Mitchell combined to limit UC San Diego's prolific offense to only two runs and Tyler Warmerdam belted a two-run home run to lead the Golden Eagles to a 5-2 win Thursday at Reeder Field. Morales allowed only one earned run over 8 2/3 innings, while Mitchell needed just two pitches to induce a game-ending groundball.
Morales (4-1) and Mitchell (three saves) were two of the main pitchers on Cal State L.A.'s 2007 NCAA Division II West Region championship team. Warmerdam, meanwhile, is one of the many newcomers on the Cal State L.A. squad and he raised his average to .400 with two hits on Thursday.
Warmerdam got the Golden Eagles off to a good start. Darrick Hale opened the first inning with a walk and took second on a passed ball before Warmerdam smacked his sixth home run of the year, a shot over the left-field fence.
The Golden Eagles added a run in the third inning when Chris Lloyd singled to center, stole second, took third after a sacrifice by Joe Park and scored on a groundout by Warmerdam.
UC San Diego made it 3-1 in the top of the sixth. Franco singled to center and moved to second on a nice sacrifice bunt by Imeson. Evan Domanic followed with a single to left, moving Franco to third and Franco scored when the ball was misplayed in left field by Warmerdam. Morales got out of the inning when he got a fly ball off the bat of Evan Kehoe for the second out and then picked Domanic off first for the final out.
The Tritons closed to within two runs in the eighth. Franco singled with one out and took second on a wild pickoff attempt by Morales. He then scored on a double to left by Imeson. Morales ended the inning when he got Domanic to hit a soft looping fly to Park, who caught it and caught Imeson off of second base for an inning-ending double play.
Cal State L.A. again responded by getting the run back in the bottom of the inning. Warmerdam singled, stole second with two outs and scored on a single by Contreras.
Morales got the first two outs in the ninth, but left after a walk to Albitz put two runners on base. Mitchell came on and got Tim Mort on a bouncer to short that Hale fielded and fired to first to end the game.
Cal State L.A. and UC San Diego will play the second game of a four-game series on Friday at Reeder Field beginning at 2 p.m.
