CARY, N.C – The UC San Diego baseball team's drive for a national title came up short Saturday, as the top-ranked Tritons lost a 6-4 decision to No. 9 Southern Indiana on the final day of the 2010 NCAA Division II National Championship Finals at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, N.C.

UCSD jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning, but USI rallied for three runs in the second and added two more in the fourth to take control. The Tritons would pull to within two in the eighth, but their comeback bid ultimately fell short and the Screaming Eagles held on to claim the program's first national championship.

Brad Vance drove in three runs and Trevor Leach tossed seven strong innings for Southern Indiana (52-14), which won 15 of its final 17 games en route to the title. The Screaming Eagles rallied for back-to-back victories on Friday and Saturday after suffering a 3-0 loss to Georgia College & State on Thursday.

Brandon Gregorich went 3-for-5, Evan Kehoe had two hits and drove in a run, and Kyle Saul homered for UCSD, which finished the season with an overall record of 54-8. The Tritons won 20 of their last 22 games in 2010 and went 6-1 in the NCAA Tournament.

"Our guys did exactly what they needed to do and battled to the very end," Dan O'Brien, the winningest coach in program history said. "They stayed resilient, they stayed loose, we just didn't get it done. I can't tell you how proud I am of this ball club for how they go about their business day in and day out."  

UCSD took an early lead with two runs in the first, scoring in the opening frame for the third time in four games in the NCAA Finals. Saul drilled a solo home run to left center to start things off and Kehoe followed with an RBI double that plated Aaron Bauman for the 2-0 advantage.

But the lead would not last long, as the top of the second inning proved to be one the Tritons would like back. Two walks by UCSD starter Tim Shibuya and a pair of errors led to three runs for USI, with designated hitter Todd Martin delivering the big blow, a two-run double down the left field line to put the Screaming Eagles in front, 3-2.

All three of the runs were unearned.

"We picked a bad day to have some very uncharacteristic mistakes," O'Brien said.

USI tacked on two more runs in the fourth on a two-run single by Vance and scored again in the seventh to push the advantage to 6-2.

The Tritons came back with two in the eighth, cutting the deficit in half. Gregorich led off the inning with a double to the gap in left center and came around to score on a sacrifice fly by Danny Susdorf. Blake Tagmyer's two-out single to left drove in Kehoe, who had singled, to make it 6-4.

But UCSD was unable to keep the momentum going, as Screaming Eagle reliever Dan Marcacci worked a perfect bottom of the ninth to keep the Tritons at bay and seal the victory for Southern Indiana.

Leach, who made his first appearance in the National Finals after serving a four-game suspension for hitting a batter in the Midwest Region Championship game, earned the win for USI to run his season record to 12-1. After allowing three hits in the opening inning, the right-hander held UCSD to just four over the next six innings. He struck out two and walked three.

Shibuya (13-3) took the loss for the Tritons, falling for the first time since losing a 2-1 decision to Cal State L.A. on April 15. He allowed five runs, two earned, on five hits in four innings of work.

After his 11-inning complete game against Central Missouri earlier in the week, Matt Rossman came out of the bullpen and allowed a hit and a walk in 2/3 of an inning, while Guido Knudson allowed a run on one hit in 2 1/3 innings of relief.

Daniel Simmons made his first appearance of the Finals, retiring the side in order in both the eighth and ninth.

UCSD out-hit USI 11-7 in the game, but left 10 runners on base.

"(Leach) was leaving a lot of balls over the plate and I thought we hit a lot of balls hard, just right to guys," Gregorich said. "I thought we got good pitches to hit, we just couldn't come up with the clutch RBI in the middle innings."

Bauman, Saul, Rossman, and Vance Albitz were named to the all-tournament team. Southern Indiana pitcher Taylor Dennis, who posted a 2-0 record at the National Finals, including a win in Friday's semifinal round, was named Most Outstanding Player.

UCSD's 54 victories were a new program record, while the eight losses were also the fewest in a season.