WALNUT, Calif. - Four right-handers, led by senior starter Dan Kolodin, combined on a three-hit shutout as the 30th-ranked UC San Diego baseball team cruised past Dixie State University, 7-0, in an elimination game of the 2015 NCAA Division II Championship West Regional at Mazmanian Field on Saturday afternoon. The six-team, double-elimination tournament is being hosted by top-seeded Cal Poly Pomona on the Mt. San Antonio College campus.
Fifth-seeded UCSD, the designated visitor following a coin flip Friday evening, improved to 35-20 overall. Fourth-seeded Dixie State completed its 2015 campaign at 32-19.
UCSD moves on to the final day of the West Regional for the second straight year. With second-seeded Azusa Pacific advancing past Saturday and unable to play on Sundays, the tourney will extend into Monday. The Tritons play at 11 a.m. that day against APU, which suffered its first defeat, 6-2, to CPP in Saturday's last game. That result not only kept the Broncos alive, but moved them into the West Region championship game on Monday at 3 p.m. UCSD would have to win twice, at 11 a.m. over APU, and at 3 p.m. over CPP, to conquer the West and book its trip to Cary, N.C.
Kolodin (5-1) gave the Tritons six shutout innings in yet another high-pressure spot start for the fourth-year product of Westlake Village. He scattered two hits and two hit-by-pitches, walking none. Kolodin struck out four and had a pair of 1-2-3 frames to begin and end his day, in the first and sixth. Having only let up those four base-runners, just one of them reached second, on a second-inning double.
Kolodin was brilliant in a similar situation a year ago, drawing a starting assignment from head coach Eric Newman and going six strong to lift his squad from an elimination game, into the last day of the West Regional. He gave up one run in that home outing against California Baptist, as UCSD hosted the 2014 edition in La Jolla.
After both starters needed just 11 pitches to get through 1-2-3 opening frames, the second began in promising fashion for UCSD, as Jack Larsen was hit by freshman left-hander Aaron Pope, Tyler Plantier (Poway/Del Norte HS) reached on an infield error, and Troy Cruz (Chula Vista/Bonita Vista HS) put down the successful sacrifice. Erik Lewis hit into a fielder's choice with the Red Storm second baseman playing in and Larsen dead at the plate, but senior catcher Brett Levy came through, dropping a two-strike RBI single in front of the leftfielder for a 1-0 lead.
Kolodin dodged a two-out double in the second, with Yuto Kata's looping fly ball being tracked nicely by a well-positioned Gradeigh Sanchez toward the left field line to keep it 1-0.
UCSD doubled its advantage with another clutch two-out hit in the third. Brandon Shirley walked to lead off, and with one away, was critically able to remain out of the double play as he was moving on a Michael Mann groundout to shortstop. Larsen then roped a single to right center, and Shirley was just too fast, beating the throw to the plate.
Kolodin plunked leadoff man Jacob Davison in the third, and threw an errant ball on his next toss to prompt an incredibly rare mound visit from Newman. That seemed to settle him down, as he followed it up with a foulout, flyout and groundout to keep the Dixie State runner stranded at first.
Shirley faced a 1-2 count to begin the fifth, before taking two balls and lacing a sharp single to right. Sanchez then took his base on a disputed hit-by-pitch, before Mann laid down the bunt. Larsen's sharp grounder was handled by third baseman Kata, but his throw home got away from the Red Storm catcher, going down as an RBI fielder's choice grounder for the Triton sophomore. The play left runners at the corners with just one away, and triggered a pitching change.
New pitcher Jeremy Alderman got pinch-hitting Andrew Hobson to slap a ball to first base, but Kevin Kline made a move toward the bag and almost inexplicably decided to throw to second, presumably in an attempt at an inning-ending double play. Instead, he wound up getting nobody out on the mental error, as his throw was late. Once again, it went down as an RBI fielder's choice, with Sanchez trotting home. Lewis drew his second walk in as many innings to load the bases. Levy, facing an 0-2 deficit, battled back to 2-2 and slid an RBI single through the left side for 5-0. A strikeout finally ended the big frame as UCSD batted around.
Around that frame, Kolodin evaded a two-out hit-by-pitch in the fourth and a one-out single in the fifth, with little difficulty.
Shirley led off his second straight inning with a single in the sixth, this one hitting off the third-base bag and bounding into left field. The redshirt sophomore was then moving as Justin Flatt, who replaced Sanchez defensively in left in the home fifth, blooped a single into center. He got a great read on it while arriving at second, and was able to take third. A fielder's choice knocked Shirley out, but still left two Tritons in scoring position as Dixie State made its second pitching change. UCSD would pick both runners up. Larsen lifted a fly ball to drive in Flatt. Mann, who had moved to third on the out, sprinted home on a wild pitch for a 7-0 bulge.
Shirley even managed to open the home sixth, perfectly positioned toward right center to make the nice sliding catch on a Drew McLaughlin looper. He made the next putout as well, before Kolodin fanned Kline.
Redshirt freshman right-hander John Erhardt needed 15 pitches to net two flyouts and a groundout in a 1-2-3 seventh. True freshman right-hander Jack Rupe, Jr., added a scoreless eighth, with Cruz knocking down and corralling a hard shot in front of him before throwing across the diamond just in time to end the inning.
Cruz in fact then moved to the mound to close it out, walking the bases full before inducing a game-ending popout as UCSD extended its program record to 13 shutouts on the year, third-most nationally in Division II behind only second-ranked St. Cloud State (15) and No. 1 Franklin Pierce (14).
Shirley finished 2-for-4 with a walk, two runs scored and five putouts. Larsen was 1-for-3 with a hit-by-pitch, run scored and three RBI. Levy went 3-for-4 with a 10-pitch walk in the ninth and two RBI.
Pope (4-4) gave up five runs, four of them earned, on three hits, two walks and two hit-by-pitches over 4.1 frames. He struck out two, the first one ending the perfect first after a pair of unassisted putouts by Kline. Rustin Sveum retired the Tritons in order in the eighth on seven pitches.
Triton Notes: In its eighth appearance at the NCAA Division II Championship, UCSD is 20-15, including 6-5 under Eric Newman ... The teams were meeting for just the third time, with Dixie State having won the two previous match-ups, both at the 2012 West Regional in Keizer, Ore., in Newman's first season in charge of the Tritons ... Dan Kolodin made his 23rd appearance of 2015, drawing his fifth starting assignment ... Kolodin's four strikeouts increased his career-best season total to 73, second on the squad ... Jack Larsen's three RBI gave him a team-leading 46 on the year ... Erik Lewis' walks in the fourth and fifth innings gave him a league-best 44 ... Andrew Hobson's sixth-inning stolen base was his first as a college player on his first attempt this year and third of his career ... Brett Levy's three hits were a season high and matched his single-game career best, while his two RBI equaled his high for 2015 ... Redshirt freshman Tim White's pinch-hit single to lead off the ninth made him 8-for-16 on the season at the plate ... Four strikeouts today by its pitching staff extended UCSD's league-best, program-record total to 453 ... With five more walks, UCSD increased its nation-leading and program-record season total to 299.
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