LA JOLLA, Calif. - The 3rd-ranked UC San Diego baseball team got a third consecutive complete-game from
Tim Shibuya, en route to a 5-2 victory over No. 10 Cal State Dominguez Hills on Friday afternoon at Triton Ballpark.
Brandon Gregorich drove in three RBI and had three hits, along with teammates
Aaron Bauman and
Vance Albitz. UCSD had the leadoff runner on base in each of the first five innings of the game. "We made a lot of uncharacteristic mistakes today, but the guys did a good job in overcoming those and rising to the occasion in a post-season environment," said head coach
Dan O'Brien. With the win, UCSD improves to 38-6, 28-5 California Collegiate Athletic Association, while CSUDH drops to 34-12, 24-9 CCAA.
The Tritons now have a four-game lead in the CCAA standings with seven conference games remaining, three left in the series against Cal State Dominguez Hills.
Shibuya pitched his fourth complete game of the year and third consecutive, to improve to 9-2 on the year. He went 9.0 innings, scattered eight hits, allowed one earned run, walked one and struck out four. Shibuya allowed only three hits after the third inning.
CSUDH scored single runs in the first and third innings. One on an RBI by Abel Medina and another run scored on a UCSD error.
Kevin Pillar extended his hitting streak to 44 games, with a single deflected off the pitcher in his first at-bat.
Bret Montgomery took the loss for the Toros, allowing eight hits and four runs in six innings of work.
UCSD scored its first run on a Bauman RBI single in the first.
With UCSD trailing 2-1 in the third, UCSD scored twice in the bottom of the third, with a two-RBI double by Gregorich.
Blake Tagmyer added an RBI in the fifth and Gregorich had an RBI in the seventh to give UCSD a 5-2 lead.
CSUDH put two runners on with one out in the ninth, but Shibuya got the final two outs on a ground out to first and a ground out to second base.
Albitz' three hits pushed him across the 300-hit plateau, and the senior shortstop now has 301 career hits, nearing former Triton Garrett Imeson's career mark of 306 hits.
UCSD and CSUDH continue the series on Saturday with a doubleheader in Carson at 12:00 p.m.
