LA JOLLA, Calif. - UC San Diego used five freshmen arms and produced four triples to sweep a non-conference baseball doubleheader from visiting Concordia Irvine, 7-2 and 3-2 in seven innings, at Triton Ballpark on Saturday.
The two wins moved UCSD to 9-2 on the year, while CUI dropped to 4-7. The Eagles had blanked the Tritons in Friday night's series opener, 5-0.
UCSD will go for the series win against Concordia on Sunday, Feb. 21. First pitch at Triton Ballpark is set for 12 p.m.
Game One
Three true freshmen combined to three-hit the Eagles in Saturday's first game, with the Tritons producing three triples in a single contest for the first time since an 11-6 home win over Sonoma State on April 5, 2012.
The Tritons put the leadoff man on base in the first, second and fourth frames, with all three coming around to score for a 3-0 advantage. Though the Eagles pulled two back in the fifth, UCSD answered right back with a three-run sixth.
Gradeigh Sanchez opened the game with an infield single, and after Justin Flatt dropped an opposite-field double down the line in left, came home on Tyler Plantier's (Poway/Del Norte HS) RBI groundout.
Freshman first baseman Tyler Durna led off the third by lacing a triple into the right field corner for his first career extra-base hit, and scored as Tyler Howsley hit into a double play. Christian Leung's opposite-field single started things off in the fourth, with the junior advancing to second on Durna's second hit. Michael Palos bunted his teammates over, and Howsley slid an RBI single through the left side just beyond the reach of Eagle shortstop Spencer Nielsen.
The big sixth began with a one-out single by Howsley. Sanchez pushed a single through the right side off the new pitcher, and Flatt roped a triple into the right field corner to send them in. With two away, a wild pitch plated Flatt for a 6-2 cushion.
UCSD rounded out the scoring in the eighth. Sanchez reached on a one-out infield error and moved to second on a failed pickoff by the CUI pitcher. Now at third after a Flatt groundout, the senior leftfielder could have walked home on Jack Larsen's triple down the right field line.
All three triples in the game came from Triton left-handed bats into the right field corner.
Meanwhile, left-handed starter Brent Bell threw 4.1 effective frames in his second starting assignment, allowing both runs on two hits and three walks. He struck out one. The walks and a hit-by-pitch were all the first on the season for the Fullerton product. Fellow true freshmen Tim Nelson and Kyle Mora took it from there.
Nelson entered in the two-run fifth with runners at the corners and one away in a 3-1 game. He got the ground ball he needed, which became an RBI groundout, but would have been an inning-ending double play had the Eagle runners not been in motion. A flyout got Nelson out of it with the Tritons still in the ascendancy.
Mora, like Nelson a right-hander, then tossed four shutout frames with just an eighth-inning walk and a ninth-inning single against him. He retired the first seven he faced ahead of the free pass, with four groundouts, a popout, a called third strike and a flyout. He cleaned up that walk by dialing up a lined double play to his second baseman, Vince Mori (Oceanside/Palomar College/Westview HS). Two flyouts and a swinging strikeout got him through the ninth after a leadoff single.
For their efforts, Nelson (1-1) picked up his first collegiate win and Mora his first save. CUI starter Jose Cardona (1-2) took the loss.
Six Tritons had two hits apiece in Sanchez, Flatt, Larsen, Leung, Durna and Howsley, accounting for their 12. Sanchez scored three runs and Flatt knocked in a pair.
Game Two
Redshirt sophomore catcher Steven Coe (Valley Center/Valley Center HS) hit his first college triple to lead off the second and scored the game-tying run as UCSD tallied single runs in each of the first three frames to overturn a 2-0 deficit after CUI's initial turn at-bat.
Freshman right-hander Kyle Lucke (2-0) went 5.2 innings, allowing the two Eagle runs on five hits and one walk. The El Dorado Hills product struck out three. CUI's two runs in the first came on three of those hits, including back-to-back singles to open that left Eagles at second and third straight away. An RBI groundout and a wild pitch accounted for the scores, but Lucke put up four zeroes from there.
In the third, Concordia again had men at second and third, this time with one away after a leadoff walk, single, and sacrifice. Lucke induced a hard ground ball right to Mori at third base, however, with the junior coming home to get the lead runner, before combining with Tim White to double up the other base-runner.
Lucke ultimately retired eight straight from the fourth until a two-out single in the sixth ended his outing. He got back-to-back called third strikes to begin the fifth.
Redshirt freshman right-hander Cameron Kurz (Encinitas/La Costa Canyon HS) registered the final four outs and protected the one-run edge in earning his third save of the season. He walked his first batter after replacing Lucke to put Eagles at first and second, but fanned Nick Daley.
In the ninth, pinch-hitter Kellen Richards hit a grounder relatively deep in the hole to lead things off that would have bothered most, but not Howsley, who made the strong throw in time. Kurz walked the next batter to make for a nervous finish, but managed a strikeout from Tino Leite and a comebacker out of Hunter Holland.
UCSD pulled its first run back in the first as Sanchez singled through the left side, advanced to second on a Larsen single, and to third on a Plantier walk to load the bases. After Mori's fly ball was too shallow in right to score the run, Sanchez sprinted home on the wild pitch by Spencer Moran (0-2).
Coe came home in the next frame on Howsley's RBI groundout, before the Tritons grabbed what proved to be the game-winner in the third. Larsen drew a five-pitch walk to start it off and went to third on a groundout and a walk. Coe then worked a six-pitch base on balls to force Larsen in.
Still, with just one away, UCSD could not scratch across any insurance, managing an infield fly and a groundout in that third before also leaving the bases loaded in the fifth. The Tritons had men in scoring position in each of the first five innings.
Coe wound up 1-for-1 with his triple, two walks, a run scored and an RBI. Larsen went 2-for-2 with a walk and a run. White drew a career-high two walks.
Triton Notes: Tyler Howsley has started 68 straight games, all at shortstop, dating back to the 2015 opener ... Howsley handled his first 52 defensive chances cleanly prior to committing his second error of 2016, in the first inning of the nightcap ... The triples by Justin Flatt and Jack Larsen in game one were the second and third of their careers, respectively ... Larsen already has a career-high two triples in just nine games ... The Tritons have a league-leading seven triples in nine games after producing 10 in 57 contests a season ago ... UCSD has left 32 runners on base in this series after nine more in Saturday's first game and 11 in the nightcap ... The Tritons are off to their best 11-game start since beginning the 2011 campaign 9-2.
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