LA JOLLA, Calif. - Freshly ranked at the No. 1 position in Division II, the UC San Diego baseball team topped Cal State San Marcos Monday to earn its 15th-consecutive victory. The Tritons' winning streak ties the previous school record.

"Fifteen is a row is nice and all," UCSD head coach Dan O'Brien said, "but there are still a lot of things we need to improve on each day to be a better team. Our goal is getting that national championship."

The Tritons improve to 24-3 overall this season and are tied for the No. 1 spot nationally with Florida Southern in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper poll released Monday. CSUSM, a member of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), falls to 17-8-1 in 2010 with the loss today.

In an effort to spread out playing time in Monday's non-conference game, O'Brien and his staff sent nine different pitchers to the mound. Junior lefthander Taylor Austin would end up earning the win, his first of the season, after pitching a perfect second inning. Notably, Richard Kilbury and Sean Greer also did not allow baserunners in their one-inning outings.

The key performance of the day for the Tritons came from junior catcher Kellen Lee, who contributed a 3-for-4 effort at the plate out of the No. 7 spot in the lineup. His first hit of the day, a two-run blast over the left field fence in the second inning, put UCSD ahead 3-2 and the Tritons wouldn't look back from there. UCSD's attack put five runs on the board in that frame en route to collecting 11 hits on the afternoon.

Senior first baseman Brandon Gregorich and junior second baseman Grant Bauer added two hits apiece for the Tritons. On the opposite side, third baseman Ricardo Moran led the Cougars' offense with a 4-for-5 performance.

UCSD will travel to play Cal Poly Pomona Thursday and Friday to continue California Collegiate Athletic Association action. Both squads will then meet again for a Saturday doubleheader in La Jolla starting at 12 p.m.