LA JOLLA, Calif. - The 26th-ranked UC San Diego baseball team rallied from a deficit four times to tie it before finally pushing across what proved to be the deciding run in the eighth and hung on to defeat UT-Permian Basin, 7-6, in the opener of a three-game non-conference series at Triton Ballpark on Thursday night.
With a third straight one-run victory to begin the new season, UCSD stayed perfect at 3-0 overall. UTPB, out of Odessa, Texas, and the Heartland Conference, fell to 4-1 in kicking off a six-game California trip this week. The Tritons had also handed The Master's College, previously 5-0, it's first loss in their opener last Saturday.
UCSD matched UTPB's runs in four separate innings, in the third, fourth, fifth and seventh, before taking the only lead it would need in the eighth on junior third baseman JD Hearn's sharply-hit RBI single to left. In knotting the score four times, the Tritons produced three monster game-tying home runs. Junior rightfielder Jack Larsen accounted for two, both pulled deep into the La Jolla night out to right, with a two-out, two-run shot in the third and another two-out solo effort in the seventh. Sophomore designated hitter Tyler Plantier (Poway/Del Norte HS) had the other, a two-run bomb also with two away, to left in the fifth. They were the first home runs of the year for both players.
Encinitas product Cameron Kurz, out of La Costa Canyon High School, worked his way through the ninth after issuing a four-pitch leadoff walk, to earn his second save already of the season. He handled a sacrifice bunt, struck out Jordan Zazulak and walked Kevin Barnes before getting pinch-hitter Alfred Iturralde to pop out harmlessly to junior second baseman Vince Mori (Oceanside/Palomar College/Westview HS). Fellow redshirt freshman Erik Amundson threw the eighth and picked up his first collegiate win, notching his first career strikeout in between a one-out single and a popout.
Mori began the eighth by drawing a four-pitch walk, moved to second on a perfect sacrifice by pinch-hitter Tim White, trotted to third on a second UTPB balk for the game, and came home on Hearn's single.
Earlier in the seventh, true freshman right-hander Tim Nelson made his debut, got himself in trouble, and wriggled out of it relatively unscathed with just a single run of damage, which ultimately proved crucial. The first four Falcons he faced all reached safely, with a walk loading the bases following successive singles, and a third single then giving the visitors their fourth lead at 6-5. Nelson kept the Tritons alive by fanning Barnes and inducing a 6-4-3 inning-ending double play. Shortstop Tyler Howsley flipped to Mori, who fired waste-high just in time to Tyler Durna. Durna, teammates with Nelson at Chino Hills' Ruben S. Ayala High School, was also making his first college appearance as UCSD's starting first baseman.
Earning his first college start in his second appearance, true freshman right-hander Kyle Mora allowed three runs, two earned, on three hits and three walks over four frames, striking out five. He put up two zeroes to begin his night, navigating through a tough first after a leadoff single and stolen base. A groundout, strikeout, and his own throwing error on a pickoff attempt, put the UTPB runner at third. Mora walked the next batter, and then got Zazulak to hit a grounder to Howsley, who unsurprisingly completed his strong throw from deep in the hole. A 1-2-3 second ended with a grounder clicking off the glove of a diving Hearn, with Howsley picking the ball up and Durna corralling the high throw and landing on the bag.
Senior leftfielder Gradeigh Sanchez looped a seemingly innocuous single to center on a 1-2 pitch with two gone in the third, which became significant moments later when Larsen put UCSD on the board with the first of his two moonshots.
UCSD continues a 13-game season-opening homestand and an unprecedented six-games-in-72-hours stretch with a doubleheader against UTPB on Friday afternoon, Feb. 12. First pitch at Triton Ballpark is set for 2 p.m.
Triton Notes: Tonight's game marked the first-ever meeting between UCSD and UTPB ... It also meant Triton junior Tyler Howsley's 60th consecutive start, all at shortstop, dating back to the 2015 opener ... Jack Larsen produced his first career two-home-run game, and now has eight long balls for his career ... Tyler Plantier's home run was his second as a college player, and first at home at Triton Ballpark ... The Tritons twice in 2015 teamed up for three home runs in a single contest, once at home and once on the road ... All five Triton pitchers Thursday had at least one strikeout, with a career-high three for redshirt sophomore Travis Roberts ... Four of the five arms UCSD used Thursday night were redshirt or true freshmen, and all three home runs the Tritons hit came with two outs ... UCSD is off to a 3-0 start for just the fourth time in its Division II history (since 2001), with the others in 2004, 2011 and 2015, and first with three consecutive one-run wins.
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