KEIZER, Ore. ? The 2nd-ranked UC San Diego baseball team tied a season-high with 24 hits en route to an 18-3 win over No. 18 Western Oregon in the NCAA West Regional Semifinal game on Friday night in Keizer, Oregon. UCSD went 11-for-18 with two outs and 12-for-20 with runners in scoring position as seven UCSD starters had multi-hit games. Kellen Lee had a big night going 3-for-5 with two doubles, a homerun and four RBI. Trevor Decker (9-2) earned the win, pitching seven innings and allowing just one earned run. UCSD improves to 38-12 while the Wolves drop to 34-13. UCSD will play for the NCAA West Regional title on Saturday at 3:00 p.m. against either Sonoma State or Western Oregon.
In addition to Lee's offensive numbers, several Tritons contributed. Matt Cantele hit his seventh homerun of the year, as Lee followed with back-to-back homeruns. Vance Albitz went 4-for-6 with two runs scored, Josh Tanner took over the team lead in batting average going 4-for-5 with three runs scored. Garrett Imeson hit a three-run homerun and went 3-for-4 with four RBI. Robert Sedin went 3-for-5 with two runs scored and Tim Mort went 2-for-4 with three runs scored and two RBI.
“Our objective has been to be a complete team this year,” said head coach Dan O'Brien. “Our team has been playing relaxed baseball and is right where they need to be mentally.”
The Tritons got on the board first, manufacturing a run. Vance Albitz led off with a single to right field and advanced to second on Josh Tanner's sac bunt. Albitz advanced to third on a balk and scored on Garrett Imeson's sac fly foul out to right field for the 1-0 lead.
WOU tied the game at 1-1 in the second on an infield single by Eric Renander.
In the UCSD third, Albitz hit a two-out double over the right fielders' head and scored on Tanner's single to center for the 2-1 Triton lead.
The Wolves tied it up in the bottom half of the third as a Triton error on the potential third out allowed a run to score at 2-2.
In the UCSD fourth with one out, Robert Sedin doubled off the left field wall and Matt Cantele followed with a two-run homerun over the right field fence to put the Tritons up 4-2. The homerun was Cantele's seventh of the season and 55th of his career. Kellen Lee followed with an opposite field homerun to right field, his team-high 12th of the year for the 5-2 Triton lead. Tim Mort would make it three consecutive extra base hits for the Tritons with a double to the right center. Albitz followed with his third hit of the game, a bunt single down the first base line to put runners on the corners. Tanner put down UCSD's sixth consecutive hit with a single through the right side for an RBI and UCSD led 6-2. UCSD had 11 hits through four frames and knocked the Wolves' starting pitcher out of the game.
Decker got a shut down inning in the bottom of the fourth, allowing a double but no runs and the Tritons led 6-2 after four frames.
In the UCSD fifth with two outs, Sedin doubled to right center and Cantele walked. Lee followed with an RBI double to right center, giving the Tritons a 7-2 edge. Mort kept the two-out rally alive with a single to right field, driving in two more runs and UCSD went ahead 9-2. Albitz singled to right center for UCSD's fourth run of the frame and the Tritons led 10-2.
In the WOU fifth, the Wolves loaded the bases with one out. Decker got the WOU clean-up hitter on a double play which kept the score at 10-2 UCSD.
The Tritons put the first two runners on in the sixth. With one out, Evan Kehoe doubled to left field for an RBI, UCSD's 11th run of the game. With two outs and the bases loaded, Lee doubled to left field for two more RBI and the Tritons went ahead 13-2.
UCSD loaded the bases with no outs in the seventh on three consecutive singles. Kehoe hit into a double play which scored UCSD's 14th run.
In the UCSD eighth, Imeson hit a three-run homerun to left and UCSD led 17-2. With two outs, Nick Geach hit a pinch-hit RBI single for UCSD's 18th run.
In addition to Decker, the Tritons' Daniel Simmons and Sean Greer saw action out of the bullpen.
UCSD is back in action on Saturday against either Sonoma State or Western Oregon for the NCAA West Regional title at 3:00 p.m. SSU and WOU play at 11:00 a.m. to decide who advances to face the Tritons.
