CHICO, Calif. ?The 6th-ranked UC San Diego baseball team took both ends of a doubleheader on Saturday against Chico State at Nettleton Stadium. From the first inning in both games, the Tritons got off to quick starts. UCSD won the first game 10-8 and took the second game 5-3. The Tritons have now won 12 straight games, their longest streak at the D-II level. Trevor Decker earned the win in the second game, his 24th career victory, the second highest total in school history. Guido Knudson saved both games and is a perfect 8-for-8 in save opportunities this year. With the wins, UCSD improves to 22-7, 19-4 California Collegiate Athletic Association, while the Wildcats drop to 20-16, 11-12 CCAA.
Middle infielders Garrett Imeson and Vance Albitz led the attack with five hits apiece. Eight of the nine Tritons who started both games drove in at least one run.
UC San Diego re-took the lead with three runs in the sixth before the Wildcats re-tied it with a run in the bottom-half of the inning. The Tritons were relentless, however, and added two runs in the seventh and another in the eighth to take a 10-7 lead. Chico State got one run back in the eighth and threatened in the ninth, but Imeson's sparkling defense ended it almost as quickly as it started.
With Larson on first and nobody out, Robert Mills hit a hard ground ball up the middle. Imeson ? the second baseman ? dove to his backhand side, stabbed the ball, tagged second base, and then threw on to first to complete the double play.
In the second game, UCSD went to work quickly as Albitz doubled and advanced to third on Imeson's groundout. Evan Kehoe followed with an RBI groundout. Matt Cantele connected on a homerun to center field, and UCSD had a 2-0 lead in the first.
UCSD would never let the Wildcats tie the game, limiting each Chico rally to minimal damage. Knudson pitched a perfect 1.1 innings for the save.
Decker's 24th career win pulls him within one victory of the all-time record at UCSD. Byron Grubman won 25 games for UCSD from 2003-06.
16 games UCSD's longest winning streak, covering two seasons, the 1987-88 seasons. The longest single season streak is 15 games in 1987.
Cantele's homerun was his 51st of his career.
With two runs scored in the first game, Imeson has become UCSD's all-time career leader in runs scored. Imeson has now crossed the plate 158 times, with teammate Cantele right on his heels with 155 career runs.
In the first game, Josh Tanner hit his first career homerun, a solo shot to left field. It was just his third extra base hit of the season as Tanner has 31 hits this year.
UCSD is back in action on Sunday for the final game of the four game set. First pitch is slated for 12:00 p.m. at Nettleton Stadium on the Chico State campus.
