LA JOLLA, Calif. - We dubbed it, The DonnyBark at Triton Ballpark. For six innings, at least, it didn't disappoint.
In a primetime Friday showdown of aces, UC San Diego junior Justin Donatella out-dueled Chico State senior Luke Barker as the 28th-ranked Tritons blanked the No. 20 Wildcats, 6-0, to open a California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) series.
Donatella (4-1) went 7.1 innings, scattering five singles and a pair of walks while striking out nine. He thus extended his shutout streaks to 31.0 frames overall and 28.1 in his four conference starts, all wins. The Saugus native also lowered his season ERA to 0.28. Donatella leads the CCAA in ERA and strikeouts (42).
Barker (1-1), an All-American as the Wildcat closer a season ago, completed six innings and allowed just an unearned run on three hits, also all singles, two walks and a hit-by-pitch. He struck out six, with his ERA now at 0.79. Both right-handers threw exactly 109 pitches.
Donatella is the reigning National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) West Region and CCAA Pitcher of the Week, with Barker having earned those two awards just one week prior, both after complete games with 11 strikeouts.
The difference on this night was an uncharacteristic defensive effort out of the visiting 'Cats, who were second in the NCAA Division II with a school-record .977 fielding percentage in 2014. They committed three errors on Friday that led to five of the six runs being unearned, and failed to make at least two or three other plays.
UCSD scratched across its only run against Barker in the third. Gradeigh Sanchez was plunked with one away, and Justin Flatt followed by dumping a single into center. Michael Mann's fielder's choice grounder cut Flatt down, but second baseman Andrew Carrillo's relay squirted away from first baseman Tyler Madrid, allowing Mann to reach safely and Sanchez to scurry around third and score.
Donatella needed just 11 pitches to strike out the side in the third, with two of them looking around one of the swinging variety. He also set Chico State down in order in the fifth, on a pair of called third strikes and a flyout. The seventh was the only frame in which two Wildcats reached base against him, as Connor Huesers singled up the middle to lead off and Clayton Gelfand worked a one-out walk. Donatella was unfazed, however, freezing Jeff Ortega on the outside corner before inducing an infield groundout off the bat of a second straight pinch-hitter in Alex Michaels.
UCSD went right out and built a 4-0 advantage in the home half. Brett Levy reached on an infield error with one gone, Tyler Howlsey walked, and Steven Coe (Valley Center/Valley Center) slid a pinch-hit single through the left side to load the bases. With two away, Mann managed an infield single deep behind the second-base bag, with Coe arriving safely at the only station at which the Wildcats potentially had a play, and Howsley never stopping on his way around third behind Levy. Jack Larsen then followed by lacing an opposite-field RBI double into the gap in left center.
The Tritons capped the scoring with a two-run eighth. Brandon Shirley lifted a triple to the wall in left center, with the relay seemingly beating him there, but the Wildcat third baseman was unable to handle it cleanly. A walk put runners at the corners, with Shirley coming across on Levy's RBI fielder's choice grounder that left everyone safe on the third Chico State error of the contest. After a one-out double steal with no throw from the catcher, pinch-hitter Tyler Plantier (Poway/Del Norte HS) grounded sharply to the shortstop on his first pitch to bring in Erik Lewis.
Senior left-hander Chad Rieser relieved Donatella and registered the final five outs with two walks and two strikeouts. With a runner at second belonging to Donatella in the eighth and the lengthy shutout streak on the line, Rieser fanned Peter Miller and got pinch-hitter Matt Jacobson to ground out to Mann. The Tritons' senior first baseman had earlier made a diving stop toward the foul line on Carrillo to lead things off in the sixth with a previous unassisted putout.
Larsen finished 2-for-3 with a double, walk, run batted in and stolen base. Mann had two RBI. Donatella's final pitch marked a fourth strikeout for Wildcat Danny Miller.
The four-game series continues Saturday with a doubleheader beginning at 12 p.m. at Triton Ballpark.
Triton Notes: Justin Donatella's current shutout streak of 31.0 innings is the longest by a Triton since former ace Ryan Goodbrand opened the 2013 campaign with 31.1 shutout frames ... UCSD now has seven shutouts already in 2015 in just 21 games, after the seven it posted in 54 games a year ago marked the program's most in a single season of the NCAA Division II era (since 2001) ... Jack Larsen is now a perfect 5-for-5 in steal attempts, with Erik Lewis and Brett Levy each adding their first thefts of 2015.
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