LA JOLLA, Calif. - The 28th-ranked UC San Diego baseball team swept a California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) doubleheader against 20th-ranked rival Chico State Saturday at Triton Ballpark. Scores were 10-7 in game one and 4-3 in the seven-inning nightcap.
The Tritons thus clinched their fourth straight series victory to begin the 2015 conference slate, with three prior three-games-to-one decisions in the fold. They won Friday night's opener behind ace Justin Donatella, 6-0.
UCSD improved to 16-7 overall and 12-3 in the CCAA. Chico State, the reigning West Region champion and preseason CCAA favorite, dropped to 6-7 overall and an even 5-5 in league play.
Sophomore outfielder Jack Larsen had a big day at the plate for the home side, as he went 5-for-8 with two doubles in the opener, his first collegiate triple in game two, three runs scored and five RBI. He continues to lead the conference in RBI, with 27.
On the mound, senior left-hander Chad Rieser earned the save in both contests, and has closed out all three games against the Wildcats, though Friday night was not in a save situation. He now has a team-best three saves on the season.
Starters Trevor Scott (4-2) and Alon Leichman (4-0) picked up the decisions, with both now at four wins. Leichman was scheduled to be the starter in the first game, and Scott the second, but the junior right-hander was pushed back with flu symptoms. Leichman only arrived at the park late in the opener, and took the mound to gut out four-plus innings of effective work. Scott threw 5.2 frames.
The four-game series concludes Sunday with a single getaway-day finale at 11 a.m. at Triton Ballpark. UCSD will go for its first four-game regular-season sweep of the 'Cats since 2011 in Chico. The teams had split in each of the last three years. The Tritons have not lost their regular-season set with Chico State since 2007 in Chico.
Game One
Saturday's first game featured several ebbs and flows. UCSD got out to a 5-1 lead after four frames, and Chico State halved its deficit down to 5-3 in the sixth, with the Tritons answering that rally by batting around during a five-run home half. The 'Cats still didn't go away, producing a three-run seventh and adding a final run in the ninth, before Rieser came on and finally shut the door.
That single run was already in, with Wildcats at the corners and the Tritons nursing their 10-7 advantage. Rieser fanned the next two batters swinging, before pinch-hitter Clayton Gelfand's nubber was handled by catcher Brett Levy for the final out.
Scott gave up three runs on six hits and one walk during his time on the mound, and struck out four. Freshman right-hander Jack Rupe, Jr. (San Marcos/Mission Hills HS), tossed a clean eighth after leadoff batter Cody Slader had reached via error, with a popout, groundout and flyout.
UCSD produced hits to begin each of its first four innings, including three doubles, and converted those opportunities into runs in three. In the first, Gradeigh Sanchez laced a two-bagger down the left field line, but that initial threat was extinguished in a hurry as Slader cut Sanchez down on a fielder's choice grounder, and Chico starter Brad Lohse (0-1) deftly started a 1-6-3 inning-ending twin killing.
Larsen started the home second by working a full count and seeing eight pitches from Lohse before sending a double down the line in left. On a ball hit by Troy Cruz (Chula Vista/Bonita Vista HS), Lohse came up with the opposite of the quality he displayed defensively just one frame prior, and sailed his throw wide of his first baseman, leaving Larsen at third and Cruz at second. On successive singles, Christian Leung and Erik Lewis provided sharp-contact RBI singles for a 2-0 Triton lead.
In the third, Larsen hit his second opposite-field double in as many at-bats, and third of the series, this time finding the gap in left center to drive in Justin Flatt, who had singled on Lohse's first offering of the inning.
UCSD put runners at the corners with no outs in the fourth as Tyler Howsley followed Brett Levy's double to left center by squeezing an opposite-field single through the right side on a 3-2 pitch. Both Tritons came around to score, on ground balls by Sanchez and Michael Mann, respectively.
The home sixth saw the rarity of a two-pitch outing, that for top Wildcat reliever AJ Epstein. He had entered with a 0.00 ERA and just one hit against in 7.2 innings of work this season, but came on after UCSD had loaded the bases, all with one away. Larsen greeted the junior left-hander by fisting a two-run single down the line in right on the very first pitch, and Cruz obliterated Epstein's next offering over the centerfielder's head and to the wall to plate two more. Epstein's day was done.
Larsen finished 4-for-5 for his second career four-hit effort, with his two doubles, two runs and three RBI. Cruz was 1-for-5 with a double, two runs and two RBI. Flatt went 1-for-3 with two walks and two runs. Sanchez and Levy each had two hits, one run and one RBI, combining for three doubles.
Lewis made a diving stop behind the second-base bag in the fifth, and though he skipped a long, difficult throw, it was expertly picked off the hop by Mann at first.
Game Two
In the nightcap, Rieser entered the fray in the sixth, with UCSD ahead by the count of 4-2, two away, and the tying run at first. He went to a full count on pinch-hitter Matt Jacobson, and got him to ground out to Howsley at short.
UCSD jumped on freshman right-hander Hunter Haworth (1-2) in the form of a three-run first, as Flatt doubled with one out, Mann walked, and Larsen continued to spray the ball to all fields by pushing a two-run triple into the right field corner. Cruz then doubled to score Larsen.
After Chico State had pulled a run back in the visitor fourth, UCSD matched it in the bottom half. Lewis' one-out single preceded a perfectly-executed hit-and-run, with Slader abandoning his position at shortstop to cover second base, and Steven Coe (Valley Center/Valley Center HS) chopping a single through the hole. With two outs, Brandon Shirley came up with the clutch two-strike RBI single to center for what proved to be the winning run.
John Erhardt took over in the fifth after the 'Cats had opened with back-to-back singles off of Leichman. The redshirt freshman right-hander struck out pinch-hitter Jeff Ortega, and though the visitors loaded the bases and lifted a sacrifice fly, Erhardt teamed up with Mann for a tough 3-1 putout at first to get out of further trouble.
An under-the-weather Leichman battled through his stint, allowing two runs on three hits and one walk. He struck out one. Freshman Anthony Sommer got a strikeout and a flyout in between a single and a walk in the sixth, before Rieser.
Triton Notes: UCSD hit a season-high six doubles in the first game ... Gradeigh Sanchez hit two doubles in a game for the first time in his career, and Jack Larsen for the third, all coming this season ... The walk by Troy Cruz in the second game was his nation-leading 23rd of 2015 ... Chad Rieser became the first Triton to save both ends of a doubleheader since current teammate Dan Kolodin, also at home, against SF State on April 6, 2013 ... Last year, when these two teams also met in La Jolla during the regular season, it was Chico State that swept the Saturday doubleheader, after another dominant Triton win in the Friday night opener behind starter Justin Donatella, 8-1 ... With his five RBI on the day, Jack Larsen has already more than doubled his total of 13 from his freshman campaign, now sitting at 27 ... Larsen has also more than doubled his number of extra-base hits, with three Saturday giving him a team-leading 13 for 2015, after producing six in 2014.
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