LA JOLLA, Calif. - The UC San Diego baseball team won a pair of one-run contests to sweep a California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) doubleheader from visiting San Francisco State University at Triton Ballpark on Saturday.
UCSD took game one in walk-off fashion, 6-5, on an infield throwing error in the bottom of the 11th inning. The Tritons then scored in all but one frame of the nightcap, but still had to stave off a furious four-run Gator rally in the ninth to pull out an 8-7 decision.
With the two victories, UCSD improved to 25-13 overall and 15-11 in the CCAA. SF State dropped to an even 16-16 overall, and 9-12 in league play. The teams had started the day in second and fifth place in the CCAA's South and North divisions, respectively. Both stayed put, though the Tritons moved to within one game of first-place Cal Poly Pomona, which split two home games with North leader Chico State.
For the third straight doubleheader to begin a conference series, head coach Eric Newman sent a pair of true freshman starters to the hill in right-hander Kyle Mora in game one and left-hander Preston Mott in the nightcap.
Junior second baseman JD Hearn was the Tritons' offensive star, finishing 3-for-5 in each game for a 6-for-10 effort on the day, with two doubles and a triple, all in the first game. He scored three runs, drove in four, and stole two bases, while handling all 13 of his defensive chances cleanly.
Having already clinched the series win, UCSD goes for the sweep in Sunday's single finale. First pitch at Triton Ballpark is set for 11 a.m.
Game One - UCSD 6, SFSU 5 (11)
Junior shortstop Tyler Howsley opened the home half of the 11th with a single to center, and advanced to second on a wild pitch. With one away, Hearn was intentionally walked to bring up UCSD's leading hitter, Jack Larsen, who was 0-for-5 in the game to that point. The Gators had left-hander Shane Martin (0-1) on the hill, and wanted him to face the left-handed Larsen with an opportunity to induce an inning-ending double play.
They did come close.
With SFSU employing a shift, Larsen rolled one to third baseman Connor Fraser around what would normally be the shortstop's position, but it was hit too slow to turn the double play. Fraser fired to first base to get Larsen, but threw low and under the glove of his first baseman, Chris Nicholson. With the ball bounding into foul territory, Howsley sprinted around third and scored without a throw.
Mora went 4.0 innings and allowed a season-high four runs on four hits and one walk, striking out three. He needed just six pitches to get through a 1-2-3 first.
Alon Leichman provided 4.2 frames of effective relief, taking over for Mora to begin the fifth. The Gators got to him for one there on two hits, and the senior right-hander gave up two more hits in a scoreless sixth, with junior leftfielder Christian Leung providing his first career outfield assist on the inning-ending out at third, throwing to junior Vince Mori (Oceanside/Palomar College/Westview HS) on Alex Kotheimer's single down the line, to cut down Dalton Pizzuti trying for the extra base. Leichman proceeded to retire the next eighth Gators in order through perfect seventh and eighth innings, before a two-out walk in the ninth.
After a fifth single, freshman right-hander Tim Nelson took over and hit his first batter to load the bases ahead of a fielder's choice groundout. Leichman wound up with four strikeouts. Nelson went the rest of the way, tossing 2.1 shutout innings with one hit, one walk, one hit-by-pitch and a pair of punchouts. He set SFSU down in order in the 10th on two groundouts around a called third strike.
In the top of the 11th, Pizzuti led off with a single and was sacrificed to second. With two away, Nelson issued a walk to leadoff hitter Nick Jackson. Shortstop Bryce Brooks then grounded one to the right side that forced an exquisite play by first baseman Justin Flatt. The redshirt sophomore dove to his right toward the hole to snare the ball, and flipped in time from his knees to Nelson covering at the bag.
The walk-off in the next half gained Nelson (6-1) his sixth win in relief, tying him for the CCAA lead.
UCSD struck first with a pair in the third on a one-out opposite-field triple by Hearn to score Howsley, who had started the inning with an opposite-field single, like Hearn into right center. It was Hearn's second triple, and he then trotted home on Tyler Plantier's (Poway/Del Norte HS) single to center.
The Tritons then answered a four-run SF State fourth with a three-run bottom. Mori drew a leadoff walk, Flatt singled to right with the next pitch, and both moved into scoring position on a bunt by Steven Coe (Valley Center/Valley Center HS). Howsley's sacrifice fly cut the deficit to one at 4-3, and after Brandon Shirley accepted a four-pitch walk, Hearn's two-run double through the left side, with the outfield playing home toward right, regained a 5-4 edge for the home side.
The major damage in the big Gator inning had come in the form of Pizzuti's first collegiate home run, a three-run shot that cleared the scoreboard in right center. SFSU then knotted the score at 5-5 in the fifth, with no further scoring until the 11th.
Game Two - UCSD 8, SFSU 7
UCSD went into the ninth with a seemingly secure 8-3 advantage after tallying singletons in the first, second, third, fifth, sixth and even just moments prior in the eighth, with a two-spot squeezed in between in the seventh. After 19 innings of baseball, however, it was not to be so simple.
Redshirt freshman right-hander Cameron Kurz (Encinitas/La Costa Canyon HS), looking for his team-best sixth save, cruised to two outs by virtue of a first-pitch flyout and a swinging strikeout. The Gators proceeded to load the bases on two walks around a single. Designated hitter Ryan Burke then grounded the ball to Howsley. It would have been a tough play, but the sure-handed shortstop threw beyond the reach of Hearn, and into foul territory down the right field line, clearing the bases and leaving Burke on third. Fraser's single made it 8-7, with an ensuing single putting men at the corners and the tying run just 90 feet away. The Tritons went to senior left-hander Eric Moersen, with SFSU's counter bringing right-hander Carter Gambrell to the plate. Facing a 3-1 count, Moersen got a strike across, before getting the redshirt freshman to fly out to Larsen to end it, earning his first save of the season and second of his college days.
Kurz had entered with the bases full and two gone in the eighth, with the tying run on deck at that point in a 7-3 game, and produced a groundout that took a great play. As if his offensive heroics weren't enough, Hearn dove to his left, got up and flipped back-handedly just barely in time to kill the Gator threat.
Mott (2-1) went 7.0 innings and allowed three runs on a season-high nine hits and one walk, striking out four. He picked up just his third decision in his team-best 10th start. Senior Trey Ferketic registered the first two outs in the eighth, negating a five-pitch leadoff walk with a 4-6-3 double play before running into trouble.
UCSD made one other incredible play on defense. On the second of back-to-back singles to begin the seventh, Larsen threw an absolute hit-seeking missile from right to gun down Chad Thurston trying to go from first to third, on the fly to Mori. It was Larsen's team-best eighth outfield assist, and pretty clearly his best.
Moments later, Andrew Breen sliced a ball that squirted away from Larsen and got under the fence down the right field line. Breen never stopped, and was allowed to score behind Noeh Martinez on what was ruled an inside-the-park home run.
The Tritons' single run in the eighth proved crucial. Redshirt sophomore Tim White led off with a pinch-hit, four-pitch walk. With one away, he stole his first base of 2016 and the second of his career. White then moved to third on a right-sided groundout, and scored on the Hearn's single through the left side with the count full.
Triton Notes: UCSD is 24-3 in 2016 when it scores three runs or more, 10-5 in one-run games, and 19-6 at home ... The Tritons have played four straight one-run games, going 3-1 ... Out-hit in both ends of the twin bill, UCSD is now 8-11 in such contests ... Tyler Howsley has started 95 straight games, all at shortstop, dating back to the 2015 opener ... Howsley and Jack Larsen are the only Tritons to start all 38 games in 2016 ... Gradeigh Sanchez, the only other Triton to appear in each of the first 36 games, missed his first two contests of the year ... Game One: Kyle Mora drew his fourth start ... The result marked UCSD's fourth walk-off triumph of 2016, the first three coming on RBI singles ... The game matched the Tritons' longest of the season in terms of innings, having twice before gone 11 frames this year ... UCSD is 3-2 in extra-inning contests ... Game Two: Preston Mott earned his team-leading 10th start ... Larsen's third-inning steal was his sixth in six tries in 2016 and 20th without being caught, for his career ... UCSD turned a season-high three double plays for the third time this year ... Eric Moersen's other career save was also of the one-out variety at home, on April 26, 2014, against Azusa Pacific.
#TritonsRising
