LOS ANGELES - The 22nd-ranked UC San Diego baseball team got a great start out of senior Trevor Scott and some stellar defense in defeating Cal State L.A., 6-1, in California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) action Friday night at Reeder Field.
UCSD improved to 31-16 overall and 26-12 in the CCAA. The Tritons remain half a game back of Cal Poly Pomona (34-13, 26-11 CCAA), an 8-1 victor earlier Friday at SF State, in the regular-season title chase. Fourth-place Cal State L.A. had its four-game win streak snapped and fell to 27-19 overall and 22-16 in league play. The series is now even as the Golden Eagles took Thursday night's opener, 3-2.
Scott (7-5) allowed the one run on seven hits and one walk over 7.0 innings. The left-hander struck out eight, including four straight from the end of the second through the third. After two quick outs in the home first, he ran into some trouble through a hit-by-pitch and an infield error, but fanned Kyle Peralta. Another infield error started the home second, but Scott cleaned that up by inducing an easy 4-3 double play to Erik Lewis at second base. A leadoff single in the fourth, CSULA's first hit of the contest, was also then wiped out by a routine 4-6-3 twin killing. Following a pair of ensuing singles, a flyout ended that threat against the Tritons.
"It was a really good night," remarked Scott. "The first time through the order, they hadn't figured out my change-up, so I was going to that quite a bit. My slider was on today, and my fastball had a lot of movement, and had a lot of late life on it. I felt like I was able to neutralize their offense a little bit, especially early in the game. As it got later, I had to start pitching a little bit more. I felt like I had a lot of success. I got some double plays. I had a lot of strikeouts tonight, so it was definitely fun for me."
"Trevor was great," said UCSD head coach Eric Newman. "We talked pitching-wise, about not letting results get in the way of executing pitches, and actually enjoying just executing pitches. Not results, not outs, not strikeouts, not anything other than enjoying executing pitches and playing great defense. Team mentality. I was really proud of the guys today. Trevor obviously toed the rubber and made it really easy to follow that. He gave us that courage. But the offense stayed right with him. The guys played great defense. It was a great team win."
Offensively, Gradeigh Sanchez and Lewis worked back-to-back walks to begin the game, with Sanchez seeing eight pitches from Golden Eagle starter Brandon Quintero. Michael Mann then roped a 1-2 offering over the second-base bag to load the bases. Quintero responded with successive strikeouts, however, and bounded off the mound to catch the flip just in time from Dakota Hernandez at first base.
Quintero had control issues again in the second, walking two more with one away before Sanchez sent a 2-2 pitch back up the middle for an RBI single as Brett Levy sped around third for the first run of the evening. Mann then lined a single to right to score Tyler Howsley, but Sanchez was thrown out at the plate.
UCSD added a third run in the third when Jack Larsen singled up the middle to lead off and took second on Quintero's second wild pitch with two gone, just before Justin Flatt smacked an RBI double off the wall in right.
Cal State L.A. got that one back in the fifth on a one-out, pinch-hit home run by Josh Guerra, the senior blasting a 1-0 pitch out to center for his second on the year.
UCSD filled the bases in the sixth on a stung leadoff double that Lewis pulled into the gap in right center, a one-out, five-pitch walk to Larsen, and a lined opposite-field single to right by Troy Cruz (Chula Vista/Bonita Vista HS) facing an 0-2 count. Following a pitching change, Christian Leung's RBI groundout prevented the shutdown inning. After Flatt drew his league-best 35th walk, Levy dropped a two-run single into left center as CSULA leftfielder Jesus Cuevas lost his footing.
Just as it began to look like the Tritons may give some of that cushion right back, with the Golden Eagles opening the home half with two singles, Scott got a strikeout and two fly-ball outs to rightfielder Leung to escape. The sophomore had to range quite a distance toward the very edge of foul ground in order to make the first play.
To begin the home seventh, Andrew Montanari put down a push bunt, only to be denied a single by Lewis, who charged, gathered and scooped with his glove hand in fluid motion to narrowly beat the Golden Eagle shortstop. Trent Zaks followed with a double to right center, but a groundout and flyout left him stranded at third.
UCSD turned a third and final double play, all started by Lewis, to end the eighth. Jack Rupe, Jr. (San Marcos/Mission Hills HS) took over for Scott and got a popout before hitting Peralta. Lewis then coolly handled the short hop and combined with Howsley and Mann on the 4-6-3. The freshman right-hander set the bottom of the Cal State L.A. lineup down in order in the ninth, freezing Montanari for the last out.
Levy was 1-for-2 with one run, a career-high-matching three walks, and a season-best two RBI. Sanchez went 1-for-3 with two walks and an RBI. Mann and Larsen each finished with a pair of hits. Larsen had a double, walk and two runs.
"We talked before the game about executing the game plan, not getting tied to the result of getting a hit, but tied to the quality of our at-bats," added Newman. "And, the quality of our at-bats was outstanding tonight. You look across the board, every guy had multiple quality at-bats, and some guys gave us three or four quality at-bats out of their five. That's what the key to winning is. The key to winning in this game is not getting caught up in the result, but just play the game the way you know it's supposed to be played. Get the quality at-bats going, pitch, play defense. That's how you win, especially this time of year."
Quintero (4-3) went 4.1 frames and gave up three runs on six hits, walking eight and striking out six. The junior right-hander put multiple base-runners on in all five of his innings before exiting with two on and one out in the fifth. Reed Reznicek came on in his place and registered consecutive strikeouts.
Multiple Tritons in fact reached base safely in each of the first six innings Friday, before Marcos Casillas retired them in order in the seventh, eighth and ninth.
The series now shifts south to La Jolla for its conclusion Saturday with a doubleheader set for a 2 p.m. start at Triton Ballpark. It will be Senior Day at UCSD for eight seniors, who will be recognized for their achievements in between games.
Triton Notes: Gradeigh Sanchez started his 23rd straight game in the leadoff position ... Friday marked Erik Lewis' 100th start in a Triton uniform, all at second base ... After 42 starts in left field and one at first base, redshirt freshman Justin Flatt made his first collegiate start as the Triton designated hitter ... With 10 more walks, UCSD increased its league-leading season total to 257, moving past Lander (254) and into sole possession of first place nationally in Division II ... The Tritons fell one base on balls short of their season high of 11 ... With nine strikeouts tonight by Trevor Scott and Jack Rupe, Jr., UCSD increased its league-leading season total to 383, now two away from tying the program record set in 2010 ... Scott extended his shutout streak to 18.2 innings before Josh Guerra's home run ... Jack Larsen's double in the fourth was his team-best 11th on the year, but first since March 28 at Sonoma State ... Former Triton All-American centerfielder Danny Susdorf (2010-13) was on hand at Reeder Field ... Tonight's Golden Eagle starting pitcher Brandon Quintero and UCSD's Troy Cruz were teammates last summer for the National Baseball Congress (NBC) World Series champion Santa Barbara Foresters, with each right-hander seeing action on the mound in the title game in Wichita, Kan., on Aug. 9, as Quintero (6.0 IP) started and Cruz (3.0) earned the win in relief.
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