LA JOLLA, Calif. ?The 6th-ranked UC San Diego baseball team swept a doubleheader against Cal State San Bernardino on Saturday afternoon at Triton Baseball Field. UCSD won the first game 10-4 as Matt Cantele tied the career homerun record with his 53rd round-tripper as a Triton. In the second game, Trevor Decker became UCSD's all-time career wins leader with win No. 26, as the Tritons defeated the Coyotes 7-4. “Having Cantele tie the homerun mark and Decker setting the all-time wins mark in the same day is something special,” said head coach Dan O'Brien.
With the wins, the Tritons improve to 30-11, 24-8 California Collegiate Athletic Association, while the Coyotes drop to 19-23, 13-18 CCAA.
UCSD and Sonoma State clinched CCAA Tournament berths yesterday.
In the first game, Cantele went 4-for-4 with two doubles, a homerun and five RBI. Kellen Lee also drove in two runs with two solo homeruns. Kirby St. John earned his first win of the season (1-2) with his best outing of the year. St. John went 7.0 innings, allowing four runs and striking out two.
In the second game, Brandon Gregorich came through with the big hit, a three-run homerun to left that gave the Tritons some breathing room. Decker improved to 6-2 on the season.
In the first game, the Tritons scored first as Kellen Lee hit his team-leading eighth homerun, a solo homerun to right field and the Tritons had a 1-0 lead.
In the UCSD third, Garrett Imeson singled and Evan Kehoe reached on a fielders choice. Matt Cantele followed with a two-RBI double to center field and UCSD had a 3-0 lead. After Brandon Gregorich was hit by the pitch, Tim Mort doubled to the right field corner for two-RBI and UCSD went ahead 5-0. Robert Sedin followed with an RBI single for UCSD's 6-0 lead.
Jesus Beltran led off the CSUSB fourth with a solo homerun and made the score 6-1 UCSD.
With two outs in the UCSD sixth, Cantele doubled to the right center gap for his third RBI of the game and the Tritons led 7-1.
In the UCSD seventh with two outs, Lee homered to left center and UCSD went ahead 8-1.
In the CSUSB eighth, Beltran hit his second homerun of the game, a two-run shot to make the score 8-3 UCSD. With two outs, Chris Olsen hit an RBI single to pull CSUSB within 8-4.
In the UCSD eighth, Cantele homered to right field, a two-run shot for UCSD's 10-4 edge. The homerun tied the career mark of 53 at UCSD.
Sean Greer and Jeff Rauh pitched the final two innings of the first game for the Tritons.
In the second game, the Coyotes threatened in the first, putting runners on the corners but Trevor Decker got out of the inning with no runs scoring.
In the UCSD first with two outs, Evan Kehoe doubled to left center, driving in two runs and UCSD led 2-0.
With one out in the CSUSB third, Kyle Davis tripled to right field and would score on Brent Planck's RBI groundout to pull CSUSB within 2-1.
With two outs and two on in the UCSD fifth, Gregorich hit a three run homerun to left and the Tritons went ahead 5-1.
In the CSUSB sixth, Julio Torres hit a two-run homerun to right and pulled UCSD within 5-3.
In the UCSD sixth, the Tritons put two on with no outs. With two out, Albitz doubled to left for an insurance run and the Tritons led 6-3. The Tritons would add another run on a wild pitch for the 7-3 edge.
In the CSUSB seventh, Andrew Tapia led off with a solo homerun to left making the score 7-4 UCSD. The potential tying run would never come to the plate as Guido Knudson finished off the Coyotes without further damage.
UCSD, who clinched a CCAA Tournament berth with yesterday's win, finished the conference slate next week with four games against Cal Poly Pomona. UCSD is at Cal Poly Pomona on Thursday and Friday, before returning to Triton Baseball Field with a doubleheader on Saturday.
