PHOENIX, Ariz. ? The 6th-ranked UC San Diego baseball team swept a doubleheader against Grand Canyon on Friday afternoon in Phoenix. The Tritons got a combined 37 hits in just 14 total innings, winning the first game 20-5 and the second game 9-4. UCSD's starting lineup went 19-for-28 in the first game, an incredible .674 average. Vance Albitz went a combined 8-for-9 in the doubleheader, raising his season average to .400. Matt Rossman was the winning pitcher in game one, while Trevor Decker earned the win in game two. The win was Decker's 25th of his career, tying the all-time wins mark at UCSD.
With the wins, the Tritons improve to 25-8, while Grand Canyon drops to 13-25.
In the first game, a 20-5 win over the Antelopes, the Tritons scored a season high 20 runs in just seven innings. The 20 runs came exactly one week after the Tritons set a then season high of 19 runs at Chico State on April 3.
UCSD's starting lineup went 19-for-28, a .674 average. After scoring two runs in the first, UCSD scored nine times in the second, including three consecutive extra-base hits (doubles by Garrett Imeson and Evan Kehoe, and a two-run homerun by Matt Cantele).
The homerun was Cantele's fourth of the year, giving him 52 in his UCSD career. The all-time mark at UCSD is 53.
After his shortest stint of the season last week at Chico State, Matt Rossman (6-2) rebounded to hurl six innings, scattered five hits, one run, 10 strikeouts and no walks. Jeff Rauh made his first collegiate appearance for the Tritons, pitching the seventh inning.
Bryan Knapp and Jason Ayers also had their first collegiate hits as part of UCSD's 24-hit attack.
In the second game, the Tritons scored four times in the first and added single runs in the second and third to take a 6-0 lead through three innings.
Decker sailed along, going 5.0 innings, allowing just four hits and one run. Decker improves to 5-1 this season. Sean Greer and Guido Knudson also work an inning each.
Albitz and Imeson had three hits apiece, as Imeson also had three RBI. Cantele and Robert Sedin also had multi-hit games. Albitz' hits were a homerun short of the cycle.
UCSD will go for the series sweep on Saturday as the Tritons and Antelopes take the field at 12:00 p.m.
