SEASIDE, Calif. - The UC San Diego baseball team struck for four runs in the opening inning and had five arms combine on a four-hitter to down Cal State Monterey Bay, 7-1, in the finale of a three-game California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) series at the Otter Sports Complex on Sunday afternoon.
UCSD improved to 27-15 overall and 17-13 in the CCAA. CSUMB fell to 28-14 overall and 17-13 in league play. The host Otters had already clinched the series victory with Saturday's doubleheader sweep by final scores of 4-3 and 8-2. The second-place Tritons sit two and a half games behind Cal Poly Pomona in the CCAA South.
UCSD sent eight batters to the plate in inning one, scoring four times on three hits, one walk and a hit-by-pitch. With one gone, that hit-by-pitch and four-pitch walk put JD Hearn and Jack Larsen, respectively, on base. Tyler Plantier (Poway/Del Norte HS) then pulled the first pitch he saw from Ryan Boydstun into the gap in left center to chase both runners home for the sophomore designated hitter's team-best 33rd and 34th RBI. Junior rightfielder Christian Leung followed by going opposite field with an 0-2 offering to basically the exact same spot as Plantier, as the two switched places on successive doubles. Following a strikeout, redshirt sophomore catcher Steven Coe singled up the middle for a 4-0 advantage.
Drew Kozain, on for Boydstun to begin the second on what was evidently a short leash for the senior right-hander in his team-best 12th start, was rudely greeted by Tim White's first-pitch double, again to left center. The redshirt sophomore second baseman advanced to second on a right-sided groundout. JD Hearn, however, the reigning CCAA and West Region Player of the Week, flew into an inning-ending double play, with centerfielder Will Rosado making the nice throw to the plate.
CSUMB pulled a single run back in the fourth as slugger Kevin Davidson was plunked to open and with one gone, sophomore catcher Hayden Duer doubled into the gap in right center. Garret Brown, like Hearn earlier, then flew into a double play, with Duer adjudged to have left second base early after Leung made the catch.
Leung opened the sixth by launching his second home run of the season and second of his career, over the fence in right, to restore a four-run cushion at 5-1. Back-to-back one-out singles by Coe and Tyler Howsley, plus a throwing miscue by Duer, put two Tritons in scoring position. White's opposite-field RBI single through the right side brought on another pitching change. Sanchez dropped a single into center to plate Howsley from third, before the Otters could stop the bleeding, down 7-1.
Jonah Dipoto (2-1), in just his second collegiate start, allowed one run on two hits and two walks over a season-high 5.0 innings. He struck out three. The true freshman right-hander navigated around a one-out walk in a shutdown first frame, getting Justin Flores swinging with the count full to end it. Dipoto then turned in a 1-2-3 frame in the third with a groundout, swinging strikeout, and called third strike.
Kyle Lucke, like Dipoto a true freshman right-hander, took over in the sixth and after issuing a four-pitch walk to Brian Bostjancic, caught Davidson looking and dialed up a 4-6-3 twin killing. He then worked around a one-out double and two-out walk in the seventh, notching two more strikeouts.
CSUMB tried to generate a rally in the eighth with a one-out single and ensuing walk. Senior left-hander Eric Moersen replaced Lucke to induce a flyout off of Flores' bat, though both Otters advanced a base. For the second straight day, redshirt freshman right-hander Erik Amundson came on for Moersen and got Duer to roll over to the left side, with first baseman Justin Flatt doing a fine job digging out Hearn's throw.
A third true freshman right-hander on the day, Tim Nelson, registered the final three outs in a non-save situation with a strikeout, groundout and flyout.
Leung wound up 2-for-4 with a double, home run, two RBI and a season-high two runs. Plantier went 1-for-5 with a double, run and two RBI. Coe, Howsley and White all went 2-for-4 at the bottom of the order. White had a double and RBI. Coe and Howsley each scored one, while Coe also drove in one.
Boydstun (4-4) gave up four runs on three hits, one walk and a hit-by-pitch in his only inning. He struck out two. Kozain posted a seven-pitch perfect third, and added a 1-2-3 fifth on two groundouts around a strikeout. The junior right-hander went 4.1 frames, with three runs, two of them earned, on six hits against, and one punchout.
UCSD returns home to wrap up a stretch of six consecutive weekends of three-game sets against the CCAA North Division. The Tritons play host to Cal State East Bay next Saturday and Sunday, April 30-May 1, at Triton Ballpark. First pitch for Saturday's doubleheader is set for 2 p.m.
Triton Notes: UCSD is 26-4 in 2016 when it scores three runs or more, and 7-9 on the road ... Tyler Howsley has started 99 straight games, all at shortstop, dating back to the 2015 opener ... Howsley and Jack Larsen are the only Tritons to start all 42 games in 2016 ... Gradeigh Sanchez was back atop the batting order for the first time since April 3 ... Jonah Dipoto drew his second start, and for the second straight weekend, UCSD went with three true freshman starting pitchers ... The early doubles by Tyler Plantier, Christian Leung and Tim White were their seventh, fourth and third, respectively ... The inning-ending double play in the fourth was UCSD's 40th, with the Tritons adding a 41st to get out of the sixth ... Both of Leung's home runs have come on the road, with the other at Chico State on March 26 ... White's sixth-inning steal was his second ... Larsen's ninth-inning double was his eighth to tie him with Sanchez for the team lead ... The Tritons' five extra-base hits and four doubles matched their single-game highs for 2016.
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