LOS ANGELES - Cal State L.A. jumped out to a 3-0 first-inning lead and held on to edge 22nd-ranked UC San Diego, 3-2, to open a four-game California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) baseball series at Reeder Field on Thursday night.
With the defeat, UCSD dropped to 30-16 overall and 25-12 in the CCAA. The Tritons also fell half a game back of idle Cal Poly Pomona (33-13, 25-11 CCAA) in the race for the regular-season league crown. Fourth-place Cal State L.A., still with work to do to clinch a postseason spot, moved to 27-18 overall and 22-15 in league play.
The game got out to almost a surreal start for those who have been tracking the Tritons all season long, as the first four Golden Eagle batters all produced base hits against ace Justin Donatella for what would prove to be the home side's only three runs on the night. The first three went to the opposite field, with leadoff man Trent Zaks lining a single to right off the junior right-hander's very first pitch. Jesus Cuevas' two-run double into the left field corner preceded an RBI single to left by Dakota Hernandez.
"Early in that first inning, he was making mistakes with two-strike counts," said head coach Eric Newman of his horse on the mound. "He left balls up out over the plate. He wasn't as sharp yet. (Cal State L.A.) did what you're supposed to do, and they got some hits. That's baseball. You never know when the inning's going to come. You like the fact that if it happens early, at least you have some game to try to get back in it. They did a good job in that first inning."
Donatella, a big 6-foot-6 product of Saugus, showed some agility in getting off the mound to start a 1-6-3 double play to clean up a leadoff single in the fourth. After two more singles, he got Ryan Welker to fly out to right to keep the deficit at three.
Both starting pitchers then put together stretches of eight straight retired batters through their respective seventh frames, before UCSD rallied in the eighth.
A couple of defensive miscues to start things off by the Golden Eagles, who entered with the lowest fielding percentage in the CCAA, netted the Tritons a pair of base-runners in the form of Andrew Hobson and Brandon Shirley with nobody out. Christian Leung then dropped a pinch-hit single into shallow center to load the bases. Shortstop Tyler Howsley's RBI fielder's choice groundout to the right side put the Tritons on the board, down 3-1. Golden Eagle starter Icezack Flemming then hit Gradeigh Sanchez with a 2-2 offering to fill the bases once more. A first-pitch sacrifice fly by Troy Cruz (Chula Vista/Bonita Vista HS) pulled UCSD within one, but Flemming caught Michael Mann looking at strike three to maintain the slim edge.
Donatella set down the first two Golden Eagles without issue in the home eighth on a called third strike and a foulout to extend his run to 10, before a two-out single ended his evening. Senior right-hander Javier Carrillo, Jr., came on to throw three strikes past Kyle Peralta and get his side back in the dugout for a final crack. Flemming got through the 4-5-6 hitters in the Triton lineup, all on groundouts, however, to close it out. All three UCSD hits came from the bottom of its order.
Donatella (8-2) threw 7.2 innings, giving up three runs on a season-high 11 hits without a walk. Six strikeouts increased his league-leading total to 94. Donatella posted successive perfect frames in the sixth via flyout and back-to-back swinging strikeouts, and the seventh on a strikeout, groundout and flyout. His ERA went from 0.55, second nationally in Division II and third among all NCAA divisions, to a still-CCAA-best 0.86.
"He did a great job after (the first)," added Newman. "He pitched really well. I have no problem with how he pitched. A lot of times, some of those mistakes early in the games, they don't hit them. They haven't seen him. (Cal State L.A.) did (hit them). He pitched really well after that. He learned that he had to be a little better with two strikes. He couldn't just make those mistakes. Some days as a pitcher, they miss your mistakes, and you throw a shutout. On other days, they hit your mistakes and you give up a couple of runs."
Donatella benefitted from a pair of nice plays by his middle infielders. He was only able to get his glove on a comebacker before Howsley charged in, gathered and fired for the final out of the third. Senior second baseman Erik Lewis then expertly knocked down a hard liner, also off the bat of Jake Jelmini with Hernandez on base through a one-out single, before tossing to first to end the fifth.
Flemming (9-2) tossed a complete game, allowing two unearned runs on three hits and two walks. He struck out eight to give him 80, as the senior right-hander sits right behind Donatella in the CCAA. Flemming had five 1-2-3 frames, in the first, fourth, sixth, seventh and ninth, with everything on the infield in the latter three on six groundouts, two strikeouts and a lineout. He induced a routine double play in getting around a leadoff walk in the second. Zaks was 3-for-4 with a run scored. Hernandez finished 3-for-4 as well, with an RBI. Cuevas drove in a pair of runs.
"We gave at-bats away early in the game," concluded Newman. "I thought we were a little tentative and passive, especially on the fastball. We let (Flemming) get some confidence going, and that was probably the difference in the game. We had some opportunities there late. We just couldn't quite get that final hit together to get this game tied back up. That one inning (eighth), we put some good at-bats together, but as an offense, we need to do a better job, one through nine (hitters), for nine innings, putting that pressure on (the other pitcher). Whether we score or not, we have to have better at-bats than we had today.
"There's no time to worry or fret. At this point, we're in a race. We're in the playoff hunt. They're in the playoff hunt. These are going to be close games, and we're going to have to battle and grind. That's the way it's going to be from here on out. We have to just get to the next game."
UCSD and Cal State L.A. continue their split-venue series at Reeder Field on Friday night with another 6 p.m. first pitch in primetime.
Triton Notes: Gradeigh Sanchez started his 22nd straight game in the leadoff position ... The contest marked Erik Lewis' 100th appearance in a Triton uniform ... After 65.1 innings pitched in 2015, Justin Donatella surrendered more than a single run for the first time in tonight's opening frame ... The first inning also ended Donatella's latest shutout stretch at 15.2 ... Donatella matched his career high with 11 hits against him ... With two more walks, UCSD increased its league-leading season total to 247, and is just now seven behind Lander, which leads the country with 254 ... The Tritons fell to 9-1 to open CCAA sets in 2015.
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