CHICO, Calif. - The 23rd-ranked UC San Diego baseball team suffered a three-hit shutout against No. 27 Chico State, 7-0, in the opener of a three-game California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) series Friday night at Nettleton Stadium.
UCSD fell to 20-9 overall and 10-7 in the CCAA. Chico State won its fourth straight in moving to 18-6 overall and 8-4 in the CCAA. It marked the Tritons' first game in Chico since the 2013 regular season, and began a stretch for them of six straight weekends of three-gamers against the CCAA North Division. Combined with Cal Poly Pomona's 5-0 win at Cal State East Bay earlier in the day, the Tritons dropped to second place in the CCAA South behind the Broncos. The Wildcats had already moved atop the North standings as Cal State Monterey Bay was swept in a twin bill.
Chico State jumped on the scoreboard with a pair of runs in the first, and added four in the fifth and a final tally in the sixth. The 'Cats out-hit the visitors, 10-3. UCSD's first hit came from JD Hearn with one gone in the second, with subsequent singles off the bench by junior Christian Leung and senior Zach Friedman.
Sophomore right-hander Jack Rupe, Jr. (3-2) allowed six runs on eight hits and two walks, striking out one. Trey Ferketic made his Triton debut after having missed the first 28 games due to injury. The Long Beach State transfer issued a one-out walk in the eighth before inducing a 4-6-3 double play.
Junior right-hander Clayton Gelfand (5-2) tossed 8.0 shutout frames and gave up two of UCSD's three hits. He walked three and struck out eight, combining on the shutout with Noah Villegas, who worked around a one-out single in the ninth.
Senior leftfielder Gradeigh Sanchez drew a walk to begin the game and stole his second base of the season, but was stranded at second before the Wildcats struck twice in the home half. Rupe walked the leadoff man and hit the next batter. Ben Gamba's single loaded the bases, with a right-sided RBI groundout opening the scoring. A Cody Snider single made it 2-0 before Rupe got a flyout and groundout.
Already down 7-0, freshman right-hander Jonah Dipoto limited the damage to a single run in the sixth by getting a 1-2-3 twin killing and striking out Dillon Kelley.
UCSD and Chico State will conclude their series with a doubleheader at 12 p.m. at Nettleton Stadium on Saturday, March 26. Both games will go nine innings.
Triton Notes: UCSD moved to 1-8 this season when scoring less than three runs in a game, and has been shut out three times ... The Tritons had won four straight against the Wildcats, having swept the four-game set in La Jolla in 2015 ... Tyler Howsley has started 86 straight games, all at shortstop, dating back to the 2015 opener ... Howsley and Jack Larsen are the only Tritons to start all 29 games in 2016 ... Jack Rupe, Jr. drew his fifth collegiate start, fourth this year, and second in a row to open a CCAA series ... With one more tonight, Steven Coe has thrown out 13 would-be base-stealers this season, the most by a Triton since Michael Benton threw out 18 in 2008 ... UCSD is 5-4 on the road, and has lost back-to-back games for just the second time in 2016 ... The Tritons' three hits were a season low.
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