SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. ? The 7th-ranked UC San Diego baseball team fell short in its bid to complete a four-game sweep, losing to San Francisco State 11-8 on Sunday afternoon at Maloney Field. With the loss, the Tritons drop to 39-12, 23-9 California Collegiate Athletic Association while the Gators improve to 8-41-1, 2-30 CCAA. It was UCSD's first loss to the Gators in 13 games. The Tritons were paced by Matt Cantele who went 3-for-5 with his team-leading 10th homerun of the year. Garrett Imeson also went 3-for-5 with two RBI and stole three bases. SFSU was led by Evan Romanchuk with three hits and six RBI.
Cantele is now up to 47 career homeruns and remains in the hunt to break the school's all-time career mark of 53 held by Bob Natal.
Imeson's three stolen bases brings his season total to a career-best 18.
Vance Albitz also recorded two hits in the game for the Tritons.
The Gators scored first on a RBI double with one out by Matt Kavanaugh that scored Bobby Carini, who opened up the inning with a double to center field. Kavanaugh's double was his 21st of the season and 34th of his career. It tied Pete Dearborn's school record set in 1986 for most double in a single season. Kavanaugh is now four away
from tying the school?s all-time career record in doubles held by Bobby Matthews.
UC San Diego tied the game in its half of the second on a RBI single by James Ferguson that scored Garrett Imeson. SF State took the lead back with a five-run second inning capped by Romanchuk's grand slam home run to the opposite field. This was his fifth of the season.
UC San Diego came back though with a two-run home run by Matt Cantele in the third inning, one run in the fourth, and took a 7-6 lead with a three-run fifth inning keyed by Imeson's two-out two-run double left field. The Gators did not quit as they scored five runs in their half of the fifth inning with four of the five runs coming on two-run doubles by Connor Buestad and Evan Romanchuk to give the Gators a 11-7 lead.
The Tritons scored run in the eight on a RBI single by Cantele to make the final 11-8 SF State. Ernie Munoz came on in relief in the ninth and retired the Tritons in order to record his second save of the season.
Danny Graybill (1-1) picked up his first win as a Gator, pitching three innings of relief, giving up four hits and one run while striking out two and walking two. Trevor Decker (4-1) recorded the loss for UC San Diego.
UCSD is back in action on Friday, beginning its final CCAA series of the regular season. The Tritons host Cal State Monterey Bay at 3:00 p.m. at Triton Baseball Field.
