SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. - The 2nd-ranked UC San Diego baseball team completed a four-game sweep with an 8-4 victory at San Francisco State on Sunday afternoon at Maloney Field. The Tritons improved to 19-1 on the road this season as
Guido Knudson earned the victory to improve to 8-2 on the year. Knudson went seven innings, gave up three runs, no walks and struck out eight. Offensively,
Evan Kehoe and
Danny Susdorf had two RBI apiece.
With the win, UC San Diego improves to 45-6, 35-5 California Collegiate Athletic Association, while SFSU's season comes to a close at 22-32, 15-25 CCAA.
The Tritons will now move on to the postseason, beginning with the CCAA Tournament. The Tritons will be the No. 1 seed with a 35-5 conference record, while the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds will be Cal State Dominguez Hills and Cal State San Bernardino. The No. 4 seed will be Chico State as the Wildcats swept Cal State Monterey Bay on the final weekend of conference play.
The Tritons got on the board quickly against the Gators, scoring three runs in the first frame. Vance Albitz led off the game with a walk and would later score on Kehoe's two-RBI double. The run was Albitz' 64th of the season, a single-season school record. Susdorf singled for an RBI and UCSD had a 3-0 edge after the first.
With the Tritons leading 4-2 through five frames, the Tritons scored three runs in the sixth. Susdorf had an RBI single and Kellen Lee had a sac fly RBI. Grant Bauer also had a sac bunt RBI in the inning and UCSD led 7-2.
SFSU scored single runs in the seventh and eighth innings to pull within 7-4, but the Tritons went to closer Daniel Simmons who earned his second save of the year, going 1.1 innings and allowing no runs.
Kehoe finished the day going 2-for-4 with two RBI, while Susdorf went 2-for-3 with two RBI. Albitz went 2-for-4 with two doubles and Bauer finished 1-for-3 with an RBI.
Brandon Gregorich reached base but saw his 18-game hitting streak come to an end. Gregorich went 0-for-2 and was hit by a pitch and walked.
Against the teams in the CCAA Tournament, the Tritons went 4-0 against CSUDH, 2-2 against Chico State and 2-2 against Cal State San Bernardino.
UC San Diego will face Chico State in the first-round of the CCAA Tournament on Thursday in Stockton. All tournament games will take place at Klein Family Field on the University of the Pacific campus.
