POMONA, Calif. - Right fielder Kyle Saul's solo home run in the top of the 11th inning led the No. 8 UC San Diego baseball team to a dramatic 8-7 win over Cal Poly Pomona in the front end of a doubleheader Saturday at Scolinos Field. The Broncos returned to take a 5-1 victory in game two.
With the scored knotted at 7-7 in a back-and-forth game, Saul led off the 11th with a home run to left, the first of the season for the senior.
The Tritons hit four home runs in the game. The last time they hit more than four in a single game was on Apr. 2, 2010 when they swatted six at Cal State San Bernardino.
Designated hitter Nick Hom, who sparked a winning rally in the ninth in Friday night's 2-1 Triton win, drew a walk to lead off the game. Hom moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Saul and took third on a wild pitch. Center fielder Danny Susdorf flew out to center, picking up a RBI as Hom scored. With two outs, left fielder Aaron Bauman blasted a solo shot to left, his second home run of the season. First baseman Evan Kehoe reached on a single to center and scored when catcher Kellen Lee homered to right-center.
Cal Poly Pomona got on the board in the third when shortstop Mike Santora had a two-out double that scored left fielder Taylor Lawson. The Tritons answered back with a single run in the top of the fourth when Hom singled with two outs, scoring second baseman Grant Bauer.
In the fourth, the Broncos led off their half with four straight hits. First baseman Chris Miller had a two-run single through the right side of the infield, bringing Cal Poly Pomona within two at 5-3.
Reliever Michael Parker kept the Tritons scoreless in the top of the fifth. The Broncos took their first lead in the bottom with three runs. With one out, center fielder Travis Taijeron singled, stole second and scored on a single by right fielder Jordan Whitman. UCSD starter Greg Selarz was replaced by Justin Burns, who got a quick second out with a fly ball. However, Miller tripled, scoring Whitman, and then crossed the plate himself when catcher Jenzen Torres singled to center, putting Cal Poly Pomona up 6-5.
Lee wasted no time tying the game back up as he jacked his second home run of the game and third of his season to lead off the top of the sixth. He had been slumping coming into today, batting .167 with one hit in his last eight games (17 at-bats). In 2009, he hit a pair of homers against Cal State Bernardino.
The Tritons regained the lead in the top of the seventh. With one out, Susdorf singled off of reliever Geoff Broussard, stole second and took third on an error by Torres. Bauman knocked in Susdorf with a single, making it 7-6, and Kehoe followed with a base hit. The Broncos picked up a huge second out when Lee popped up to Torres at the plate. Broussard struck out Bauer to kill the rally with no further damage.
Taijeron laid down some damage as he led off the bottom of the seventh with a home run off of Burns to tied it at 7-7. After a flyout and a single, Burns got out of the inning when he got Miller to ground in to a double play.
At least one run was scored in six of the first seven innings played, but the eighth, ninth and 10th went scoreless.
Shortstop Garrett Tuck and third baseman Matt Hubbard led off UCSD's half of the eighth with singles. Tuck was forced out at third on a fielder's choice. Unfortunately, the Tritons couldn't score either runner. Broussard got Saul to fly out and he ended the inning when Susdorf lined a ball right back to him.
It was a quiet bottom of the eighth inning as Burns put the Broncos down in order. In the ninth, UCSD again got a leadoff batter on as Bauman doubled to right-center. Broussard got his final batter, Kehoe, to fly out before Jake Reed, who took the loss last night, replaced him. Lee reached on a fielder's choice with Bauman out at third for the second out of the inning. Bauer then grounded out to first and Reed was out of the inning.
Burns got the first two batters in the bottom of the ninth and was replaced by Elias Tuma. Tuma was met by a single from Taijeron and another by Whitman that moved Taijeron up two bases to third. Tuma shut it down by getting Edwards to ground out to second.
The top of the first extra inning saw Reed get the Tritons in order. Torres walked in the bottom of the tenth, but Tuma kept it at that to send the game into the 11th.
After Saul's home run, Reed was able to get the next three batters. With one out in the bottom of the 11th, Santora singled, but the next batter flied out and Tuma struck out Whitman to get his second win in as many days and remain perfect at 4-0.
It was the 11th career long ball for Saul. He hit eight last season and one in each of the 2009 and 2008 seasons.
Cal Poly Pomona starter Ryan Dunn gave up five runs on seven hits over four innings. He struck out none and walked one. Selarz went 4.1 innings, giving up two runs on four hits. Reed fell to 3-2 with his second loss in two days.
There was no shortage of offense as the two teams combined for 34 hits, 17 on each side. Bauman went 4-for-6 with a run and two RBI. Five other Tritons had two hits each. Taijeron and Whitman each had three hits for the Broncos.
In game two, Cal Poly Pomona scored a single run in the first and sewed up the win with four more in the fifth inning. The Tritons tallied their lone run in the sixth off a double by designated hitter Nick La Face that drove in first baseman K.C. Rentfro.
Starter Jeff Rauh (1-1) took the loss for UCSD, giving up five runs (one earned) on seven hits in five innings.
Kevin Bosson went all seven innings and improved to 5-2. He gave up just four hits and struck out seven.
The Tritons are now 20-8 overall and 13-7 in CCAA play. The Broncos are 16-10 and 10-10.
The Tritons take on Cal State L.A. in a four-game set next week. The first two games will be in Los Angeles on Thursday, Mar. 31 (6 p.m.) and Friday, Apr. 1 (3 p.m.). Triton Ballpark will host a noon doubleheader on Saturday, Apr. 2. Tickets for all home games are available at Triton Ballpark beginning one hour prior to first pitch. UCSD students are admitted free with a valid ID.
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