HAYWARD, Calif. - Seventeenth-ranked UC San Diego used a four-run third to get out to a 6-2 lead, and went on to top Cal State East Bay, 9-3, in California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) baseball action at Pioneer Field on Saturday afternoon.
The teams were scheduled to play a seven-inning nightcap to complete a doubleheader, but with lightning present and bad weather looming, the second contest was postponed. The Tritons and Pioneers will attempt to wrap up their four-game series with an 11 a.m. twin bill in Hayward on Sunday, March 1, with again a seven-inning affair slated to follow a regulation nine-inning meeting. The original plan called for a single 11 a.m. finale on getaway day for UCSD.
With Saturday's victory, UCSD improved to 12-6 overall and 8-2 in the CCAA. Cal State East Bay dropped to 3-7 overall and 0-6 in league play. The Tritons had taken Friday's series opener, 5-0, behind a one-hit shutout by ace Justin Donatella.
After getting blanked on Friday, East Bay jumped on the scoreboard in the first frame, when Dakota Conners singled with one out, stole second, and scored on Jason Fletcher's two-out double into the gap in right center.
UCSD answered right away as Jack Larsen, leading off the second, got a hold of a 1-2 pitch from Justin Harr and pulled it out to right for his team-best third home run. Larsen was making his first start in center field of 2015 after being the primary Triton centerfielder as a freshman in 2014 and moving to right. The visitors loaded the bases with two gone on a single and two walks, and junior Gradeigh Sanchez, batting at the top of the order for the first time this year, beat out an infield single to bring home Michael Mann with the go-ahead run.
East Bay came back and knotted the score at 2-2 on Chris Porter's two-out home run in the second, the catcher's second long ball of the season.
The offense continued, with the Tritons opening up the third via Troy Cruz (Chula Vista/Bonita Vista HS) single, Larsen double, and RBI singles by Mann and Justin Flatt to put them back on top, 4-2, and end Harr's day. Flatt stayed alive from an 0-2 hole and took three balls before producing his run-scoring hit up the middle. Christian Leung then greeted Jacob Call with a single to leave the bases full of Tritons for a second straight frame. Steven Coe (Valley Center/Valley Center HS) followed with a sacrifice fly as East Bay finally registered the inning's first out. Tyler Howsley's RBI groundout capped the scoring for the third, with UCSD ahead, 6-2.
East Bay got something going in its half of the seventh through a leadoff walk and a single. That signaled the end of Triton starter Alon Leichman's afternoon. Dan Kolodin replaced him on the mound, and after fanning Porter, the senior right-hander induced a comebacker that turned into an inning-ending 1-6-3 double play.
The teams traded single runs in the eighth. UCSD's came on an RBI fielder's choice grounder by Sanchez after a leadoff walk to Leung and a Pioneer error put Tritons at the corners with one away. East Bay's score was also unearned, aided by an infield error with Fletcher's single bringing in Conners to make it a 7-3 deficit.
UCSD added two final runs in the ninth, opening up with successive doubles by Cruz and Larsen, both on 1-2 counts, with Larsen scoring on a sacrifice fly by Flatt.
Leichman (3-0) went a season-long 6.0 innings and allowed two runs on seven hits and one walk. He struck out five to equal his season high, with a 1-2-3 fifth on just nine pitches. Kolodin handled the final 3.0 frames for his second save, surrendering just the unearned run in the eighth on two hits without a walk. His four strikeouts included what amounted to the final two batters of the day. He had three assists.
Larsen was 3-for-5 with a home run, two doubles, three runs scored and two RBI. Mann went 4-for-5 with two runs and one RBI. Leung was 1-for-3 with two walks and a run. Cruz wound up 2-for-5 with a double and two runs. Flatt and Sanchez each knocked in a pair, with the total marking a single-game career high for Sanchez.
Harr (1-2) gave up six runs on seven hits and two walks in two-plus frames. He struck out two, with one in a 1-2-3 first inning. Call (6.0 IP, R, 0 ER, 2 H, 2 BB) turned in a perfect fourth and sixth during effective relief. Fletcher was 3-for-4 with a double and two RBI. Conners scored twice and swiped his second base of the series.
Triton Notes: East Bay's home run was just the second allowed by Triton pitching in 2015 ... Redshirt freshman catcher Steven Coe is now 5-for-8 in throwing out runners attempting to steal ... Michael Mann's effort marked his third in a Triton uniform with four or more hits, having gone 4-for-4 and 5-for-5 in a pair of contests a year ago ... Erik Lewis' reached-base streaks of 17 games this season and 40 going back to the end of 2014, were snapped Saturday ... Lewis was the only Triton to reach safely in each of this season's first 17 contests ... UCSD came back and won a game in which it trailed for just the second time in 2015, the other instance coming in the doubleheader nightcap at home with SF State on Feb. 14, when the Tritons turned a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 victory ... UCSD has now taken five straight against East Bay, having come out on top in the final three match-ups of last year's series.
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