LA JOLLA, Calif. - The UC San Diego baseball team battered No. 20 Azusa Pacific University in a key non-conference West Region tilt at Triton Ballpark on Tuesday night, 19-2. The Tritons produced a season-high 19 hits to match their season best of 19 runs.
In snapping a season-long three-game losing skid, UCSD improved to 24-12 overall on the year. Azusa Pacific dropped to 24-10. The result meant the split of the home-and-home season series between the sides, as the Cougars had taken a 6-2 decision in Azusa back on Feb. 24.
UCSD had already built a comfortable 10-2 cushion when it sent 15 men to the plate and generated its largest frame of 2015 through a nine-run eighth. The Tritons had six hits in the inning and benefitted from three Cougar errors. The visitors committed six defensive miscues in all on the night, leading to nine unearned runs.
True freshman right-hander Jack Rupe, Jr. (San Marcos/Mission Hills HS) earned his first decision (1-0) in his first collegiate start on the mound as the Tritons staffed the midweek contest, using six arms. Rupe tossed a pair of perfect frames, getting three groundouts in the first and two more in the second following a fly ball. John Erhardt struck out the first batter he faced in the third. After allowing back-to-back two-out hits to put Cougars at the corners, he got Mitch Dergazarian to ground one to the right side. Though second baseman Erik Lewis spiked his throw a bit, senior first baseman Michael Mann made the expert pick to save a run.
Travis Roberts induced an around-the-horn double play to get out of his only frame, the fifth, after a swinging strikeout and a six-pitch walk, the only one issued by the Tritons. Dan Kolodin fanned four in his two innings, including the side in the sixth. Fellow seniors Chad Rieser and Javier Carrillo, Jr., took the eighth and ninth with two strikeouts and one, respectively.
Offensively, UCSD put it all together, putting multiple base-runners on in all eight of its turns at-bat, with six of eight leadoff hitters reaching base safely.
Offensively, UCSD put it all together, putting multiple base-runners on in all eight of its turns at-bat, with six of eight leadoff hitters finding their way to first. Junior third baseman Troy Cruz (Chula Vista/Bonita Vista HS) reached safely in all five plate appearances, finishing 3-for-4 with a hit-by-pitch and a career-best four runs to lead all players. He was the beneficiary of the first of the APU errors.
The Tritons jumped on the scoreboard with a three-run first. Jack Larsen looped a single over the shortstop's head and into center to load the bases with one away. Lewis then lifted a sacrifice fly to left, with a walk filling the bags again. Sophomore rightfielder Christian Leung took a very close ball, and on the very next pitch, pulled a two-run single through the right side.
Twelve Tritons had at least one hit. Larsen, Leung, Gradeigh Sanchez, Tyler Plantier (Poway/Del Norte HS) and Brandon Shirley had two apiece, with the latter two players in reserve roles. Both of Plantier's singles came in the eighth after being sent on as a pinch-hitter, with the local product sending both through the left side Leung's three RBI marked a career high. Mann matched his best with four RBI, with two on a fourth-inning triple. Sanchez scored three.
Justin Flatt ran all the way to the wall in left and made a nice grab while falling down to begin the second. The redshirt freshman walked a season-high three times.
Azusa Pacific used 11 pitchers, with sophomore starter Wyatt Wood (4-1) taking the loss after tossing just the first. As opposed to the Tritons using their bullpen, the Cougars sent out four of their five pitchers who have started at least one game in 2015. Freshman third baseman Adrian Tovalin's (San Diego/Otay Ranch HS) long home run, his fifth of the year, capped APU's scoring in a two-run fourth.
UCSD, currently third in the California Collegiate Athletic Association, now hosts fourth-place Cal State Monterey Bay for a crucial four-game series this Friday through Sunday, April 10-12. Friday night's first pitch is slated for 6:15 p.m. The official grand opening of the new Triton Ballpark and dedication of the Marye Anne Fox Clubhouse will begin at 5:45 p.m.
Triton Notes: Justin Flatt extended his reached-base streak to 20 games ... Brett Levy threw out his third base-runner of the season to end the seventh ... UCSD reached double figures in runs for the 10th time in 2015, and first since March 22 ... The Tritons previously scored 19 in a 19-0 home win over Cal State Dominguez Hills on Feb. 21, pounding out a previous season high of 18 hits in that contest ... UCSD is now an even 6-6 against nationally-ranked opponents this year ... The Tritons matched their season high of three sacrifice flies, with two by Erik Lewis to give him a league-leading six ... UCSD hit two triples in the same game, by Gradeigh Sanchez and Michael Mann, for the first time in 2015.
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