THE SCHEDULE
Game 45
vs. Cal State San Bernardino (9-31, 7-24 CCAA)
Tuesday, April 21 • 6 p.m.
Triton Ballpark • La Jolla
Live Audio/Video • Live Stats

The 24th-ranked UC San Diego baseball team plays just one game this week, completing a four-game California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) series at home with one final contest against last-place Cal State San Bernardino (9-31, 7-24 CCAA). The second-place Tritons (29-15, 24-11 CCAA) hold a 2-1 edge in the set, having won 11-5 in La Jolla back on March 21, with the sides splitting a doubleheader in San Bernardino the following day (1-2, 10-1 in seven). Tuesday's first pitch is set for 6 p.m. at Triton Ballpark. UCSD is 17-8 at home, with CSUSB 3-14 on the road. The Tritons can clinch a second straight CCAA Championship berth with a victory.

TICKET PRICES AND ADMISSION POLICIES
General admission tickets to all regular-season home games at Triton Ballpark are $5. UCSD students are admitted FREE with valid identification. New admission policies are in place at the facility following off-season renovation. Dogs and other pets are no longer allowed at Triton Ballpark, nor are coolers. University food truck, Flavors of the World, will be on site for all remaining home contests, serving a selection of sliders, sides and beverages, and accepting Triton Cash and Dining Dollars, in addition to Visa and MasterCard.

PARKING INFO
Parking on the UCSD campus is free on weekends, but a permit is required and strongly recommended for weeknight contests. They can be purchased at the machine near the entrance to the Triton Ballpark parking lot. Please be aware of the danger of foul balls when parking. Overflow parking is available in the lots beyond the right field wall, still along Voigt Drive.

CHILI COOK-OFF AND FREE SUNGLASSES TUESDAY
The third annual Triton Athletes' Council (TAC)-Greek Chili Cook-Off will commence at 5:30 p.m. prior to this Tuesday night's game. The first 250 UCSD students in attendance receive free sunglasses courtesy of Toyota.

FREE POSTERS
Free Triton Baseball team posters will be available at Triton Ballpark for all remaining home contests during this 2015 season. The posters are once again sponsored by UCSD Dining Services and Pepsi.

LIVE COVERAGE
All UCSD home games at Triton Ballpark feature a live online video stream and live stats. Select games additionally have audio commentary, provided again this year by former Triton pitcher (2007-08) Tim Strombel (@Timmy2Sides). The final full broadcast (of 10) is Tuesday's series finale with Cal State San Bernardino at 6 pm. The audio/video is free, but does require registration and a login. Some road contests also have video and/or audio. All have live stats. Fans can access live coverage for home and away dates from the UCSD Schedule/Results page. Starting lineups, live between-inning updates and other gameday news and notes can be found by following Triton Baseball on the UCSD Athletics Twitter handle (@UCSDtritons).

THE MATCH-UP BY THE NUMBERS
UCSD is fourth in the CCAA in team batting average (.287), first in ERA (2.74) and first (tied) in fielding percentage (.971). Cal State San Bernardino is ninth in hitting (.251), 11th (last) in ERA (5.56) and 11th in fielding (.955).

THE NEW TRITON BALLPARK
Triton Ballpark on East Campus at UCSD has a brand-new look outside the foul lines in 2015. The extensive renovation was completed enough for competition to take place as scheduled with an Opening Day doubleheader on Sunday, Feb. 1. Some of the main features include a permanent grandstand to seat just over 500, a press box, new sunken dugouts, an area for food trucks, and restrooms, among several other amenities. Read details here. The first pitch at the new Triton Ballpark came from Trevor Scott, the first hit and RBI by Brandon Shirley, the first run by Tyler Howsley, and the first home run in the form of a grand slam by Brian Choi. The Marye Anne Fox Clubhouse down the right field line was introduced to the players on March 17. Watch a clip here. The official Triton Ballpark re-opening and clubhouse dedication took place on April 10, with the U-T San Diego present. View photo galleries from the ballpark construction here, Opening Day here, and clubhouse dedication here.

TRITON BASEBALL BACK ON TWITTER
After a hiatus, Triton Baseball has returned to Twitter @UCSDbsb! Be sure to give them a follow. Gameday info and updates will still predominantly come from the official UCSD Athletics Twitter handle @UCSDtritons. The majority of the Triton coaching staff, including head coach Eric Newman (@CoachEricNewman), are also on Twitter. Those links can be found at the bottom.

RANKINGS REPORT
Following a 3-1 weekend, UCSD is up to No. 24 in the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper national poll. The Tritons were rated No. 22 by D2 Baseball News, No. 19 by Perfect Game, and receiving votes outside of the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) poll last week, with the latest editions not yet released at press time. They appeared at No. 15 in CBN's preseason edition, moving up to a high of No. 10 in the publication's first in-season listing on Feb. 16. Other preseason prognostications were No. 12 by the NCBWA (Jan. 28), No. 16 by D2 Baseball News, and No. 19 by PG (Jan. 29). UCSD's highest ranking in 2015 has been No. 8 by the NCBWA on Feb. 17. Regionally speaking, the Tritons are rated No. 3 in the West by both D2 Baseball News and the NCBWA. Watch for the first release of the all-important NCAA regional poll this Wednesday, with the top six teams in the final version of that ranking headed to the NCAA Division II Championship West Regional. Look for it here.

LAST TIME OUT
UCSD won the first three games of its series at Cal State Stanislaus over the weekend, all remarkably in shutout fashion, 11-0, 10-0 and 2-0, prior to dropping a 2-1 decision in Sunday's finale. Justin Donatella and Jack Rupe, Jr. combined on a two-hitter on Friday night, with Donatella going eight (0 BB, 6 K) and Rupe striking out the side in a perfect ninth. Then it was Trevor Scott (6.0 IP) and John Erhardt (3.0) in Saturday's first game and Alon Leichman (5.0) and Dan Kolodin (2.0) in the seven-inning nightcap who befuddled the Warriors. Stanislaus finally scored an unearned run on a wild pitch with two outs in the third inning Sunday after 27 straight shutout frames to begin the weekend, added an earned run in the fourth, and held on late.

AROUND THE CCAA
At 24-11 (.686) in league play, UCSD is in second place in the 11-team CCAA standings, behind Cal Poly Pomona (23-9, .719), which produced a big sweep over Cal State L.A. this past weekend. Tuesday's opponent, Cal State San Bernardino (7-24), is in last. UCSD can become the first team in the league to clinch one of four CCAA Championship berths, with a win over the Coyotes. Another full league slate is on tap this week, with CPP hosting Cal State Stanislaus for four. Follow all of the action through the CCAA baseball scoreboard. Bookmark it here.

SEASON FOR THE AGES BY DONATELLA
Justin Donatella (8-1) continues to lead the CCAA in wins, ERA (0.55) and strikeouts (88). He is up to third in the NCAA Division II in ERA, with more appearances and innings than either pitcher in front of him. Through games played on April 13, he was tied for eighth nationally in strikeouts, tied for 14th in wins, 10th in strikeouts per nine innings (12.87), 13th in hits allowed per nine innings (4.87), and sixth in WHIP (0.75). Batters are hitting just .144 against him. His strikeout-to-walk ratio sits at 7.33 (88-12). Donatella's ERA of 0.55 would constitute a single-season CCAA (0.98; Sonoma State's Harmen Sidhu in 2013; 82.2 IP) and school (1.58; Robert Rolf in 1984) record. He won each of his first six CCAA starts, becoming the first Triton to do so since Matt Rossman in 2010, before taking a no-decision at home against Cal Poly Pomona on April 2. The Tritons are an undefeated 9-0 in his league outings, with six shutouts. Donatella is 8-0 with that no-decision in CCAA play, with his only loss on the year coming in his 2015 debut at home against then-fifth-ranked and current No. 2 Colorado Mesa, the 2014 national runner-up. The junior right-hander threw 34.1 straight shutout innings prior to seeing a blooped RBI single drop in to center field with one away in the fourth inning of UCSD's 11-5 home win over Cal State San Bernardino on March 20. The incredible stretch dated back to his second frame of the season during the 2-0 loss to CMU on Feb. 6. He had yet to allow a run in 31.2 frames over his first four-plus CCAA starts prior to that fourth-inning single.

DONATELLA NAMED TOMKO SEMIFINALIST
Justin Donatella was named last Friday as one of 32 semifinalists for the second annual Brett Tomko Award, presented by D2 Baseball News to the pitcher of the year at the NCAA Division II level. The second-year award is named after Brett Tomko (15-2, 1.35, 154 K), who led Florida Southern to the 1995 national title prior to a lengthy career in Major League Baseball. The first recipient in 2014 was Mercyhurst's Dan Altavilla (9-1, 1.23, 129 K). Three finalists will be selected in late May, with the winner announced on June 1 after the NCAA Division II Championship.

DONATELLA BULLETS
Allowed a run in only three of 10 outings in 2015 ... Unofficially at 1000 pitches thrown for the year, with 685 strikes (69 percent) ... Produced CCAA's single-game high in strikeouts in both 2015 (12-tied) and 2014 (13) ... Out of 65 innings he has started and finished in 2015, has allowed a run in just five, meaning 60 zeroes on the scoreboard, with no more than a single run in any one of his frames, so no crooked numbers ... ERA has been under 1.00 after every outing this year, except the first vs. Colorado Mesa on Feb. 6 (2.25), with a low of 0.28 (3/6 vs. Chico State) ... Has reached double digits in strikeouts three times in 2015 and four for his career ... Has twice in 2015 retired the first 10-plus batters of a game, with 14 against Cal State East Bay (2/27) and 12 at Cal State Stanislaus (4/17) ... Of the five runs he has given up, four were earned, with the latest coming on his only surrendered home run of 2015, to CCAA leader Kyle Garlick (14) of CPP (4/2) ... Working on a current shutout streak of 15.2 innings since that home run ... Next start is at Cal State L.A. next Thursday night, April 30, at 6 p.m.

SHUTOUTS ON SHUTOUTS
With three more shutouts to begin its series at Cal State Stanislaus this past weekend, UCSD has a program-record 12 in 2015 through 44 games, having produced seven, the previous high for its Division II era, a year ago in 54. The program record had been nine, by the 1987 squad that made it to the NCAA Division III College World Series. With whitewashes to mark both ends of Saturday's doubleheader, the Tritons moved into sole possession of first place nationally in Division II, leapfrogging Franklin Pierce (11). UCSD has twirled back-to-back-to-back shutouts twice in 2015, having also done so to begin its series with Cal State Dominguez Hills, Feb. 19-21. UCSD had never before achieved the feat of three straight shutouts in program history, dating back through the 1980 season. The Tritons on five prior occasions had posted two successive shutouts, most recently at home to start off the 2014 series with the Toros, on March 6 (1-0) and March 7 (7-0). They then did it again on April 10-11 against Cal State Monterey Bay, 8-0 and 5-0.

SANCHEZ AT TOP OF ORDER
Junior outfielder Gradeigh Sanchez has started in the leadoff position in each of the past 20 games, primarily as the Tritons' designated hitter. He is batting .411 (30-for-73) during this stretch, with at least one hit in 16 of those 20 contests, and is up to third in the CCAA with his team-best .374 season average. Sanchez has produced career bests of a 10-game hit streak, the longest by a Triton in 2015, and 15-game reached-base streak. The Mission Viejo product drew a walk to lead off the home half of the first inning in all five of UCSD's games from April 7-12, and more interesting still, went ball-ball-called strike-ball to begin each of those at-bats, before eventually accepting the free pass. He has led off with a walk in each of the Tritons' last six home contests, and reached base to begin all eight games at home since he took over the leadoff spot, with seven walks and a single. Sanchez scored the run in UCSD's lone walk-off triumph of 2015, on Justin Flatt's single through the right side in the 11th inning against league leader Cal Poly Pomona on April 2. He singled up the middle with two outs, stole his first base of the year, and scooted on over to third on the catcher's throwing error, with Flatt producing the decisive hit on the very next pitch. Watch it here.

LEAGUE-LEADING PITCHING
After a one-week hiatus, UCSD is back atop the CCAA in team ERA at 2.74, just ahead of Cal Poly Pomona (2.78). No other team is under 3.50. The program record is 2.92 from the 1994 season. The Tritons have a league-leading 357 strikeouts. The starting rotation of Justin Donatella (8-1, 0.55), Trevor Scott (6-5, 2.23), Alon Leichman (6-2, 3.47) and Troy Cruz (5-4, 2.86) all have an ERA of under 3.50 and at least five wins. Donatella paces the CCAA in wins, ERA and strikeouts (88), and is first on the staff with 65.1 innings. His closest competitor in the CCAA in strikeouts, is 21 behind. The Tritons as a team have issued only 99 walks, the fewest in the league.

SOPHOMORE BUMP FOR LARSEN
Jack Larsen has produced the opposite of a sophomore slump, as the second-year Triton outfielder has made himself into an MVP candidate in the CCAA. After finishing the 54-game 2014 slate with a .269 average, six extra-base hits and 13 RBI, the Mission Viejo product is second on the team in batting (.354), and first in both extra-base hits (16) and RBI (42) in 2015. He is tied for sixh in the CCAA in average, second in RBI, tied for ninth with 10 doubles, and sixth in slugging (.542). In conference games only, Larsen is batting .348 with 34 RBI.

DEFENSIVE UPSWING
UCSD is up to a .971 mark in fielding percentage, now in a three-way tie for first in the CCAA after a slow start defensively. The Tritons had a run of six straight games without an error during a season-long six-game road stretch from March 22-29. The single-season record for consecutive games without an error for the program's Division II era still stands at seven, from March 27 to April 9 of the 2010 campaign, when the Tritons set a Division II record that still stands with a fielding percentage of .984, en route to a return trip to Cary, N.C. UCSD has been charged with just 15 errors in 25 games (.983) since a program-record 11 at Cal State East Bay on March 1.

TWO-HEADED MONSTER AT END OF BULLPEN
Fourth-year seniors Dan Kolodin and Chad Rieser have five and three saves, respectively. Kolodin (2-1, 4.15), a right-hander, is second on the staff with 19 appearances, 17 in relief, and is tied for third in strikeouts (49) while fifth in innings (43.1). Rieser (0-0, 3.10 ERA), a left-hander, has made a team-best 22 appearances with 39 strikeouts over 29.0 frames. He struck out the side in order in both the sixth and seventh on Feb. 21 against Cal State Dominguez Hills. On March 7, Rieser saved both ends of a doubleheader sweep at home over rival Chico State, becoming the first Triton to achieve the feat since Kolodin in another home sweep against SF State on April 6, 2013. A third senior, right-hander Javier Carrillo, Jr. (1-1), has a 2.81 ERA and one save over 15 relief stints.

MANN ALIVE
Senior first baseman Michael Mann has turned things around after a rough start to his final collegiate campaign. He held a .200 batting average following the 6-2 loss at Azusa Pacific on Feb. 24. Since then, Mann is hitting .416 (37-for-89), with 17 RBI and 10 multi-hit efforts in 26 appearances, to increase his average to .343, third on the team. During this stretch, the Orinda native produced a 5-for-5 showing in the series finale at East Bay on March 1. Over the course of the 2013, 2014 and 2015 seasons, there have only been two five-hit efforts by a Triton, both from Mann, as he was 5-for-5 against CPP in the 2014 West Regional last May 16. The Division II-era single-game program record is six hits. Mann also went 4-for-5 on Feb. 28 at East Bay.

TRITONS CRUZ OVER TO FIRST BASE
Redshirt freshman Justin Flatt now leads the CCAA with 34 walks, ahead of junior All-American Troy Cruz and Erik Lewis, each with 32, and Jack Larsen (31). The Triton quartet in fact takes up the top four spots in the conference. A year ago, it was Nick La Face (47), Lewis (42) and Justin Rahn (35) all ahead of the CCAA pack. UCSD comfortably tops the CCAA in walks as a team (239), with CSUMB second at 179. By comparison, Tuesday's opponent, CSUSB, has drawn just 92.

STREAKS SNAPPED
UCSD had gone 15 straight CCAA sets without suffering a series loss, going back to a road trip to Cal State Monterey Bay to end the 2013 campaign, before a 3-1 loss to Cal Poly Pomona, April 2-4 ... The Tritons had in fact won six straight completed CCAA sets, including all five this year (not including the in-progress CSUSB series), going back to a 3-1 win over CSUSB to conclude the 2014 regular season ... The Tritons played error-free baseball over a six-game road stretch from March 22-29 prior to the April 2 home date vs. CPP, with their Division II-era best still standing at seven straight (March 27-April 9, 2010) ... Gradeigh Sanchez had his career-best 10-game hit streak and 15-game reached-base streak end at CPP on April 4 ... Justin Donatella had won his first six CCAA starts this year prior to taking a no-decision against CPP on April 2 ... Justin Donatella strung together a career-best streak of 34.1 innings of shutout baseball (first 31.2 frames of CCAA play) between Feb. 6-March 21 ... Erik Lewis had his lengthy reached-base streak going back to last season snapped at 40 games on Feb. 28.

DONNY DONS AWARDS FOR DOMINANT STARTS
Justin Donatella has now twice in 2015 won both the CCAA and NCBWA West Region Pitcher of the Week awards, first for his one-hit shutout at Cal State East Bay on Feb. 27 with 11 strikeouts on just 98 pitches, and then for another six innings of shutout baseball with a season-high 12 strikeouts in a home win over Cal State Monterey Bay on April 10. At East Bay, Donatella retired the first 14 Pioneers he faced, with the home side managing just a two-out single through the left side in the fifth inning, and a leadoff hit-by-pitch in the seventh. He registered eight more outs on grounders, and the other eight on fly balls, also handling all four of his defensive chances cleanly with three assists on comebackers and one putout. Donatella's very next outing of 7.1 shutout frames with nine strikeouts against Chico State, garnered him a spot among 10 Collegiate Baseball Newspaper National Players of the Week from all levels of college baseball.

PROGRAM FIRST FOR DONATELLA
Justin Donatella's remarkable performance at Cal State East Bay on Feb. 27 marked the first one-hit, nine-inning shutout by an individual Triton pitcher in the Division II era, since 2001. Former standouts Tim Shibuya (7.0 IP) and Elias Tuma (2.0) previously combined on a one-hit, nine-inning shutout in another defeat of Cal State East Bay, 1-0, on Feb. 19, 2011. Five Triton arms teamed up on a nine-inning one-hitter on Feb. 5, 2002, in a 3-1 victory at crosstown rival Point Loma. The only no-hitter for UCSD's Division II days came from Trevor Decker against then-top-ranked Cal State Stanislaus, a 6-0 home triumph in seven innings back on March 14, 2009.

YOUNG OUTFIELD
All but four of the 132 combined starts in the UCSD outfield in 2015 have come from redshirt freshman Justin Flatt, redshirt sophomore Brandon Shirley, and true sophomores Jack Larsen and Christian Leung. Flatt, Shirley and Larsen started left to right in each of the first 17 games. Leung's play has earned him 13 starts in right field since, with Larsen moving back over to center, where he made all 44 of his starts as a freshman in 2014. The outfielders have combined for 10 of the Tritons' 15 home runs, with Larsen accounting for a team-best five. Flatt served as the leadoff hitter for the first six contests, with Shirley taking over at the top of the order for the next 11. Flatt reached base safely in each of the first 12 games, then in a team season-best 20 straight from Feb. 24-April 7, and in 40 of the 43 games he has played in. Larsen, who has batted either third or fourth in the lineup, is second on the team in average (.354), and first in RBI (42), multi-hit (14) and multi-RBI (12) games. He is second in the CCAA in RBI, and tied for sixth in hitting.

VETERAN INFIELD
Over the first 44 games, the Tritons have generally started the same veteran infield. Just like in 2014, it's been Troy Cruz at third base, Erik Lewis at second and Michael Mann at first, with Tyler Howsley, a part-time starter at shortstop as a freshman a year ago, taking over that spot for good. The only exceptions have been at third for the 10 games when Cruz has been on the mound, and six starts at first between Zach Friedman and Justin Flatt. Brett Levy has been behind the plate for 26 of the 44 games, with fellow fourth-year senior Brian Choi drawing five starts. UCSD's middle infield has exclusively been Howsley and Lewis, with Cruz the only other Triton to start all 44 games, though 34 of his starts have come at third, with 10 on the mound.

STATISTICAL ODDS AND ENDS
Justin Flatt reached base in 20 straight games, the longest run by a Triton this year, through April 7 ... Gradeigh Sanchez, UCSD's leadoff batter the last 20 contests, has produced the longest hit streak by a Triton in 2015, with his career-best 10-gamer through April 3 ... UCSD is an even 6-6 against nationally-ranked opponents in 2015 ... The Tritons never trailed during their four-game home sweep over then-20th-ranked archrival Chico State, March 6-8, and have not lost a series to the Wildcats since 2007 in Chico (3-1) ... Redshirt freshman catcher Steven Coe has thrown out six of 14 (.429) would-be base-stealers this season ... The Tritons' nine-run eighth inning in the 19-2 home romp over Azusa Pacific on April 7, was their largest frame since collecting 11 runs in the ninth during a 17-3 win at SF State on April 18, 2014 ... UCSD has tallied exactly 19 runs twice this season, having last had at least two efforts with 19 or more, in 2010 ... UCSD is 26-6 when scoring first (with three such losses vs. CPP), and 9-1 when scoring in the first inning ... The Tritons are 23-1 when out-hitting their opponent, and 26-5 when scoring at least four runs ... They have reached double figures in runs scored 12 times (11-1).

POWER UP
The Tritons hit five home runs during their season-opening four-game series with Western Oregon, having needed 38 contests to achieve that total in 2014. Prior to the 8-3 victory in the nightcap with Western Oregon on Feb. 1, the previous time that UCSD hit three home runs in a single game was a 10-5 loss at Cal Poly Pomona on Feb. 23, 2012. The Tritons have done it twice in 2015, launching three more long balls to open the doubleheader at Cal State East Bay on March 1. Brian Choi's grand slam in that Western Oregon contest was the first by a Triton since Justin Rahn's against CPP in the third inning of a 20-5 triumph during the NCAA West Regional in La Jolla on May 16, 2014. Having finished 2014 with 11 home runs in 54 games, UCSD has 15 through 44 games this season.

HIT-BY-PITCH RECORD
Cal State Dominguez Hills pitchers hit UCSD batters a total of nine times during a 19-0 drubbing in game one of the Feb. 21 doubleheader in La Jolla. That constituted a Triton program record at least for the Division II era (since 2001), and likely all-time. UCSD was plunked seven times in a single game four times prior, in 2007, 2005, 2004 and 2003.

CRUZ A STAR OF THE YEAR
UCSD junior Troy Cruz was named on Jan. 14 as one of eight San Diego Hall of Champions Amateur Stars of the Year for 2014. The local product out of Chula Vista (Bonita Vista HS) was a two-time SDHOC Star of the Month during the 2014 calendar year. He helped guide UCSD to a record sixth CCAA tournament title and into the NCAA postseason, excelling as both an infielder and pitcher. Cruz was recognized at the 69th Annual Salute to the Champions on Feb. 23 at the Town and Country Convention Center. Both he and Triton head coach Eric Newman were in attendance, with Cruz addressing the crowd. Read a Triton Q&A with Cruz here.

TRITON NOTES
Troy Cruz went a perfect 4-0 in his four starts in March, with a 2.10 ERA, 24 strikeouts and a single walk in 25.2 innings, earning him the third San Diego Hall of Champions Star of the Month award of his Triton career ... Justin Donatella's incredible February (3-1, 0.36 ERA, 33 strikeouts) with a shutout streak of 23.2 innings, earned him a first career San Diego Hall of Champions Star of the Month selection ... Trevor Scott and Jack Larsen were named on Feb. 3 as the 2015 season's first CCAA Baseball Pitcher and Player of the Week, respectively ... Troy Cruz was chosen to the NCBWA Preseason All-America Third Team at the utility spot, with Cruz (first team), Justin Donatella (second) and Erik Lewis (second) each named to NCBWA Preseason All-West Region teams (Jan. 23) ... UCSD was picked to place third in the 2015 CCAA regular-season race by the league's 11 head coaches, as announced on Jan. 27, with reigning West Region champion Chico State favored.

ROSTER NOTES
UCSD's 36-player 2015 roster features 17 letterwinners, seven returning redshirts and 12 newcomers ... The Tritons have retained six out of nine regular position players and three of four starting pitchers ... UCSD returns a quartet of all-conference performers from a year ago in junior All-American and two-time All-CCAA First Team selection Troy Cruz, senior Erik Lewis (first team), junior Justin Donatella (first) and senior Michael Mann (third) ... All but two players on the roster, junior pitcher Alon Leichman (Kibbutz Gezer, Israel) and redshirt freshman Tim White (Stratford, CT), are California natives ... Besides Cruz (Chula Vista/Bonita Vista HS), the five other San Diego products are redshirt freshman catcher Steven Coe (Valley Center/Valley Center HS), and newcomers Troy Forester (Carlsbad/Palomar College/Carlsbad HS), Cameron Kurz (Encinitas/La Costa Canyon HS), Tyler Plantier (Poway/Del Norte HS), and Jack Rupe, Jr. (San Marcos/Mission Hills HS) ... Plantier is the son of Phil Plantier, who played eight seasons in Major League Baseball for five franchises, and served as the hitting coach of the hometown San Diego Padres from 2011-14 ... Tyler Howsley, Jack Larsen and Gradeigh Sanchez played together at Mission Viejo's Capistrano Valley High School.

SCHEDULE BREAKDOWN
UCSD's 2015 schedule consists of 49 regular-season games, including 28 at home within the friendly confines of Triton Ballpark. The Tritons faced CCAA favorite Chico State at home for the second year in a row, sweeping that four-game series between archrivals, March 6-8. UCSD wrapped up a season-opening, season-long 11-game homestand on Feb. 17. The CCAA Championship will be held in the neutral-site city of Stockton for the third year in a row, but after the previous two editions took place at Banner Island Ballpark, the four-team tournament is headed back to Klein Family Field on the campus of the University of the Pacific, May 7-10. It would be a familiar locale for the Tritons, who won their third and fourth CCAA tourney titles back-to-back at the venue when the event was held there previously in 2010 and 2011.

HEAD COACH ERIC NEWMAN
Eric Newman is in his fourth season as the UCSD head coach. The 2012 CCAA Coach of the Year has a 126-79 record (96-55 CCAA) in charge of the Tritons and 221-151 overall in his six-plus seasons as a head coach. Newman guided UCSD to the 2012 CCAA regular-season and tournament titles in his first go-around in La Jolla, and a subsequent trip to the NCAA Division II West Regional. His Tritons won a record sixth conference tourney crown last May in Stockton, to again nab the CCAA's automatic berth into the NCAA Championship. With UCSD earning the region's top seed, Triton Ballpark played host to the 2014 NCAA West Regional. Newman has now led the Tritons to two CCAA banners and two NCAA postseason appearances in his three years, as well as two 30-win campaigns. He previously went 95-72 in three seasons at the helm of Dallas Baptist University from 2005-07.

ABOUT THE COYOTES
Cal State San Bernardino (9-31, 7-24 CCAA) is mired in last place in the CCAA and is coming off of a four-game sweep in Hayward at the hands of Cal State East Bay over the weekend. Game scores were 6-1, 4-2, 7-2 and 7-6, as the Coyotes managed a total of 11 runs. The host Pioneers scored twice in the eighth and twice more in the ninth to rally for a walk-off triumph in Sunday's finale. CSUSB has lost five straight in all since winning the first three games of its home series with SF State, April 10-11. Warren Fishback (.344) and Aaron Owen (.318) are the only two CSUSB players hitting above .300, with the duo having combined for nine of the Coyotes' 12 home runs. Fishback also leads the team in hits (44), doubles (15), RBI (24) and walks (14). Don Parnell is in his 24th season at the helm.

SERIES HISTORY
UCSD holds a commanding 52-25 advantage over Cal State San Bernardino in the all-time series, and is 43-19 against the Coyotes since 2001, when the Tritons moved up to the NCAA Division II and joined the CCAA. This includes an 23-8 edge over the last 31 meetings since 2007. UCSD won the series, 3-1, in each of the last two seasons, and leads 2-1 heading into Tuesday's 2015 finale. Last season, UCSD took the first three games by scores of 9-2 and 9-6 on the road, and then 6-4 at home. Needing to complete the sweep with the seven-inning doubleheader nightcap in La Jolla, in order to earn what proved to be a share of the CCAA regular-season title, the Tritons dropped a 4-3 decision as the Coyotes rallied from a 3-0 deficit late. In 2013, the teams split two games in La Jolla before the Tritons pounded out 27 runs on 24 hits in a doubleheader sweep in San Bernardino, 11-4 and 16-5 in seven innings. The sides split the four-game set in 2012, each winning twice on its home diamond.

GEAR HERE
UCSD Athletics has partnered with Advanced-Online to provide a web-based, on-demand option for UCSD apparel and merchandise. Fans have access to over 600 products that can be processed and shipped within 24 hours. Visit the site at UCSDTritonsGear.com.

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UP NEXT
UCSD is idle from competition this weekend. The Tritons then wrap up the regular season against Cal State L.A., with the first two meetings in primetime in Los Angeles, April 30-May 1, ahead of a Senior Day doubleheader at Triton Ballpark on Saturday, May 2, beginning at 2 p.m.

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