GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. - A cold offense added to the chill in the air as the UC San Diego baseball team suffered a 14-4 loss Friday at No. 29 Colorado Mesa University. The Tritons were held to four hits while the Mavericks banged out 18 at Canyon View Park in Western Colorado.
UCSD dropped to 1-4 overall with the non-conference loss, while CMU improved to 3-2. It was the first tilt of a four-game series between the two teams.
Eight unearned runs in the fifth inning proved to be the difference as Colorado Mesa took a commanding 10-0 lead. The Mavericks had six hits while UCSD had two errors, a passed ball, a wild pitch and a walk in the inning. Colton Schoelkopf had a two-run double down the left field line as CMU batted around the order.
The last time UCSD lost by 10 runs was Feb. 28, 2009 when it was defeated 16-6 at Cal State L.A.
Triton starter Jeff Rauh (0-1), who struck out a career-high 12 against Western Oregon in his season debut last week, gave up nine runs (two earned) on nine hits over 4.2 innings. He struck out two and walked two in the loss.
Nolan Snell (2-0) earned the win for Colorado Mesa, surrendering four runs on three hits over 5.1 innings of work. He struck out six and walked five.
UCSD left the bases loaded in the first inning. With one out, Scott Liske singled to right and Justin Rahn followed with a base hit through the left side of the infield, moving Liske to third. Nick La Face was hit by a pitch to plug the bags, but Snell sat Richard Seigel down looking and got Garrett Tuck to line out to second to end the threat.
CMU took an early lead by scoring two runs in the bottom half of the first. With one away, Erik Kozel reached on a bunt single and stole second. Jeff Popick walked and the Mavericks loaded the bases as Mitch Corwin singled to third base. Dustin Fackrell singled to left, allowing Kozel to score the game's first run. Popick was plated during the next at-bat on a sacrifice fly ball to center by Justin Rosales.
The Tritons got four runs back in the sixth as they quickly loaded the bases again on Snell. Tuck led off with a single, Jack Lombardi walked and Brett Levy was hit by a pitch. Pinch hitter Sam Michaels was also hit by a Snell offering, allowing Tuck to score UCSD's first run of the game. On the next at-bat, Lombardi scored on a fielder's choice by Danny Susdorf. Following a wild pitch and a walk, Snell was lifted and replaced by Tim Moore. With the bases loaded again, Rahn grounded out to third, allowing Levy to score the Tritons' third run of the inning. La Face singled to second base, scoring Susdorf, before Moore struck out Seigel to end the inning.
Left-handed reliever Richard Kilbury gave up a single to Fackrell, but struck out the side in the bottom half of the sixth.
The top of the seventh looked promising for the Tritons as Moore walked Tuck and Lombardi back-to-back. However, he got three straight outs on a fly ball to left, a fielder's choice and a fly out to right.
Kilbury got the first two Mavericks he faced in the seventh to fly out. Sergio Valenzuela reached on an infield error, but Kilbury erased any harm by serving up a ground ball for the third out.
The Tritons went down in order in the eighth as Moore struck out two batters.
The Mavericks added another four runs in the eighth. Popick led off with a single against reliever Sean Rowan and Corwin then doubled to right. Fackrell singled down the right field line to score Popick. With runners at first and third, Rosales reached on a fielder's choice and picked up an RBI for plating Corwin. Three straight singles, the 16th, 17th and 18th hits of the game for CMU, led to two more runs.
Moore finished out the game by slamming the door shut in the ninth, getting the Tritons in order on a ground out, a fly out and a strikeout.
Fackrell, Colton Little and Braden Box all had three hits each for Colorado Mesa. Rosales finished with three RBI.
La Face, Liske, Rahn and Tuck accounted for UCSD's four hits.
The temperature at game time was 42 degrees in Grand Junction, located 240 miles west of Denver near the Utah border.
It was just the sixth ever meeting between UCSD and Colorado Mesa, which was known as Mesa State before this year. The Tritons hold a 4-2 lead in the all-time series.
The two teams play a doubleheader Saturday with the first game slated for an 11 a.m. (PT) start in Grand Junction. The series wraps up Sunday with a single game at 11 a.m. (PT). The games will be covered by live stats.
- UCSDtritons.com -
