WALNUT, Calif. - The 30th-ranked UC San Diego baseball team saw an incredible season and improbable run ended and its Cary dreams deferred another year in a tough 7-4 defeat to No. 13 Cal Poly Pomona in the title game of the 2015 NCAA Division II Championship West Regional Monday at Mazmanian Field. The six-team, double-elimination tournament was hosted by top-seeded CPP on the Mt. San Antonio College campus.
Fifth-seeded UCSD, which battled through the bracket after an opening loss on Thursday night with three consecutive wins in elimination games to reach the final, concluded the 2015 campaign at 36-21 overall. CPP improves to 43-15, and as the first West Regional host to win the tourney since Cal State L.A. in 2007, advances to the finals of the NCAA Championship in Cary, N.C., May 23-30. Representing the West Region and the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA), the Broncos will begin against South Region champion Tampa on Sunday, May 24, at 4 p.m. PT.
UCSD started the day by sending second-seeded Azusa Pacific (34-20) out of the tournament with a 5-3 triumph. The teams were meeting for the second time at this West Regional, the Cougars having defeated the Tritons in that opener, 17-11. Since APU is unable to play on Sundays, the regional had been pushed into Monday, with the remaining seven sites around the country having already been completed.
The 2015 West Regional had begun with two CCAA teams among the six participants. Those two squads, UCSD and CPP, were the two sides left at the end. The Tritons were the designated home team against APU, but moved to the visitor role against CPP after losing the coin flip following their first game of the day.
The defeat to Cal Poly Pomona marked the end of the Triton careers of eight valuable seniors in Javier Carrillo, Jr., Brian Choi, Dan Kolodin, Brett Levy, Erik Lewis, Michael Mann, Chad Rieser and Trevor Scott. It also may have meant the end of staff ace Justin Donatella's time in UCSD colors, as the draft-eligible junior standout who has won every major award thus far this postseason, will certainly be selected in next month's Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft, and will have a decision to make. Finally, it was the last game for third-year assistant and third-base coach Cory Burleson, who will begin law school in the fall after getting married next month.
Troy Cruz (Chula Vista/Bonita Vista HS), Jack Larsen and Brandon Shirley were voted to the All-Tournament Team. CPP shortstop Ryan Webberley was the MVP.
Elimination Game
Senior second baseman Blake James sent the first pitch he saw over the wall in left field for his fourth home run of the season. Triton starter Alon Leichman had little trouble otherwise in the opening half, getting two swinging strikeouts around the solo shot, and a soft comebacker for the third out.
UCSD had a chance to get that run right back in its first turn at-bat, putting men at first and second through a leadoff single up the middle by Shirley and a five-pitch walk to Mann, but a strike-him-out, throw-him-out double play ended that threat.
Back-to-back one-out, full-count walks put Tritons at first and second again in the second, with Lewis taking a very close ball three before accepting his league-best 45th free pass. Levy was plunked by Wyatt Wood's first offering to him to load the bases. Tyler Howsley, UCSD's No. 9 hitter, then also worked the count full and walked to force Lewis in with the tying run as APU went to the bullpen. Back to the top of the order, Shirley poked an RBI single through the left side for a 2-1 lead. An infield popout and sharp lineout by Mann to right curbed the damage for APU.
The Tritons got a big defensive play to end the third, as shortstop Howsley corralled James' ground ball behind the second-base bag and flipped to Lewis, who completed the relay just in time for the 6-4-3 twin killing. Cougars had moved to the corners on an error and a chopped single through the right side, both with one away.
UCSD doubled its lead in the fifth. Shirley wore a 1-1 pitch from Mike Fairchild to lead off and end a string of eight straight retired for the sophomore right-hander since Shirley's RBI single in the second. Gradeigh Sanchez put down the sacrifice, and Mann stroked an opposite-field RBI single through the right side for 3-1.
The Tritons got out of another error-caused situation in the sixth. Leichman needed three tosses to get the first two outs, before an infield miscue prolonged the frame. Jordan Brower pulled a single through the right side, with Daniel Martin barely beating Larsen's strong through from right, at third. Rieser took over for Leichman to face the left-hander Ryan Santana, and one pitch after a check-swing call didn't go UCSD's way, got the APU senior leftfielder swinging anyway at a high fastball to maintain the 3-1 edge.
UCSD added to its advantage in the very next frame, as Justin Flatt pulled a one-out home run out to right for his fourth of 2015 and first since back on March 1. A solid opposite-field single by Levy and Howsley sacrifice followed but a flyout ended it.
Scott, on just two days' rest following a Friday start, set the Cougars down in order in the seventh on successive swinging strikeouts and a groundout to short. Howsley's low throw was picked nicely by Mann on the short hop at first. The fourth-year senior left-hander had done the same during the 2014 West Regional in La Jolla, starting Thursday's opener and coming back for a second stint that Sunday.
The Tritons threatened in the seventh but couldn't score. Mann was hit with one gone, and after a lengthy battle with several two-strike tosses fouled off, Larsen, who had gone down on strikes in his first three at-bats, slid an opposite-field single through the left side. A flyout and a fielder's choice groundout capped that frame.
Scott completed a second straight 1-2-3 frame in the eighth with two called third strikes around a routine groundout to Howsley at short. Triton pitchers had retired seven straight at that point between Rieser and Scott, with five on strikes.
Flatt worked the count full and found a hole up the middle for a leadoff single in the eighth. Levy put the down bunt and reached himself on a fielding error. After a strikeout, a wild pitch put both Tritons in scoring position. On Josh Grajeda's very next offering, Shirley punched a sacrifice fly out to deep right for a 5-1 score.
Despite two runs coming across in the last half, Scott got a game-ending groundout to Cruz at third base for his first career save.
Leichman (7-2) went 5.2 innings and allowed one run on five hits and no walks. He struck out four, including Ryan Santana swinging for the second out of the fourth on a high fastball en route to getting around a leadoff infield single. Leichman needed just six pitches during a 1-2-3 fifth with two easy groundouts following a flyout.
Shirley was on base in each of his first three plate appearances, going 2-for-3 with a hit-by-pitch, run scored and an RBI. Flatt was 2-for-3 with a walk, his home run, one RBI and three runs.
Wood (4-4) gave up two runs on one hit, four walks and a hit-by-pitch over 1.1 frames. The sophomore right-hander struck out one. Fairchild retired the Tritons in order in the third on two called strikeouts around a groundout, and again in the fourth through another strikeout looking in between two more groundouts.
Championship Game
Shirley fisted a 3-2 pitch from CPP ace Ryan Olson up the middle to begin the title tilt. With one away, he swiped his 12th base of the year to tie him for the team lead, and with two gone, Larsen worked the count full after going up 3-0, and sent an RBI single through the right side to put the Tritons on the board.
It took three pitches for CPP to tie the game, as Kyle Garlick took two called strikes from Justin Donatella, and deposited an 0-2 offering over the wall in left for his league-best 15th home run of 2015, and second off of Donatella for the only two long balls the junior right-hander had surrendered. The Saugus product then bounded off the mound to handle Christian Kelley's nice bunt and fired just in time to Mann for the first out. Following a single over second baseman Lewis by Nick Cooksey, Donatella bounced back for two strikeouts, the first one marking the 110th of his career, breaking Tim Shibuya's Division II-era program record from 2011.
Mike Philp hit what appeared to be a wind-aided triple up against the wall in right center with one away in the second. On a softly-hit ball back to him, Donatella tried to catch Philp off third, but was late, with both Broncos safe on the fielder's choice. Jacob Bernardy then put down the successful squeeze play for a 2-1 edge. Garlick drew a walk, and Kelley roped an RBI single to left for 3-1.
The third began with Shirley drawing a narrow walk off a 3-2 count, and Sanchez lacing an opposite-field single toward left center to put Tritons at the corners. Mann's hard grounder was knocked down by Olson on the mound, with second baseman Nick Cooksey picking it up and firing it home, where the out call was made by the plate umpire on Shirley. That decision was a point of major contention from the UCSD side, and ultimately resulted in head coach Eric Newman's ejection.
After a break from play to sort things out and a pitching change from Olson to Chris Powell, Larsen promptly worked a full count and deposited a two-run double into the right field corner. Powell then hit Cruz, and left in place of Max Bethell. Lewis snuck an RBI single up the middle as Larsen sprinted around third and scored to give UCSD back a 4-3 edge. Flatt then drew a five-pitch walk to load the bases, but Levy's hard shot was caught by a jumping Cooksey, who then dove and tapped the bag with his glove ahead of Lewis' slide back, ending the frame with no more damage.
Donatella surrendered a one-out walk and two-out single in the home third, giving way to Carrillo, Jr., (1-2) with the right-hander getting the inning-ending flyout to notch the shutdown frame.
UCSD attempted a two-out rally in the fourth, loading the bases on singles by Sanchez and Mann, and a five-pitch walk to Larsen, but a flyout left them there.
CPP opened the home fourth with successive singles by Bernardy and Garlick, with Kelley's bunt moving them both into scoring position. Cooksey sent a two-run single straight back up the box to regain a 5-4 lead for the Broncos. Cruz then started the inning-ending, around-the-horn 5-4-3 double play.
Lewis walked to open the fifth, but a 4-3 double play started again by Cooksey on a chopper by Flatt, and another groundout, got new pitcher Zach Williams out of it.
A leadoff walk to Howsley and one-out single by Sanchez made for a promising start to the sixth, but a third double play turned by CPP, this one 5-4-3, killed that rally.
Redshirt freshman right-hander John Erhardt posted a perfect sixth with two swinging strikeouts, the second one on Garlick, and a flyout to Shirley, who made a nice, running grab in the gap in right center.
Larsen battled back from an 0-2 hole to slide another single through the middle to begin the seventh. Lewis took a one-out walk, but a strikeout and comebacker left UCSD behind a run still at 5-4.
With a runner at second after a one-out single and outfield error in the home seventh, Shirley made a diving catch in the gap in left center to certainly save an insurance run, before Cruz replaced Rieser on the hill. Ryan Webberley still picked up that run, however, with an RBI single back up the middle.
Austin Boyle struck out the first two Triton batters in the eighth, ahead of a flyout. Garlick belted his second solo home run of the game to straightaway center with two gone in the bottom half to add one more run. Cody Ponce, CPP's No. 2 starter, took the hill in the ninth to register his first save, allowing just a two-out Cruz single.
On three days' rest following his previous start in Thursday night's regional opener, Donatella went 2.2 innings and allowed three runs on five hits and two walks. He struck out two. Olson, on just two days' rest after throwing 95 pitches on Friday afternoon, gave up one run on four hits and one walk over 2.1 frames. He struck out one. Neither ace figured in the decision.
Triton Notes: Following its eighth appearance at the NCAA Division II Championship, UCSD is 21-16, including 7-6 under Eric Newman ... UCSD is an even 1-1 against APU in NCAA postseason play ... Alon Leichman made his 13th appearance and 12th start, marking his first outing since May 2 ... Brett Levy threw out his sixth would-be base-stealer of the year for the first out in the second in game one ... Tyler Howsley's sixth-inning sacrifice against APU was his team-best 10th, with Levy's eighth-inning sacrifice his seventh ... Twelve strikeouts today by its pitching staff extended UCSD's league-best, program-record total to 465 ... With 11 more walks, UCSD increased its nation-leading and program-record season total to 310 ... Michael Mann's first-inning walk in game one was the Tritons' 300th of 2015 ... Justin Donatella allowed runs in consecutive games for the first time this season ... Jack Larsen's third-inning double in the CPP game was his team-best 13th ... Erik Lewis had three more walks on the day to give him a league-high 47.
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