LA JOLLA, Calif. - The UC San Diego baseball team did its best to overturn an early 10-0 deficit, but came up a little short in falling 11-8 in the finale of a three-game California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) series at Triton Ballpark Sunday.
With the defeat, UCSD is now 22-12 overall and 12-10 in the CCAA. The Tritons stay second behind Cal Poly Pomona in the South. Stanislaus State improves to 16-14 overall and 8-11 in league play. The Tritons had clinched the series victory with a doubleheader sweep on Saturday, by final scores of 11-10 in 10 innings and 10-2.
UCSD, which had not allowed double-digit runs to anyone over its first 31 contests, did so for the second time on the weekend to the Warriors. Unlike Saturday's thrilling walk-off triumph, however, they were unable to match that offensive output. The Tritons posted a pair of three-run frames in the fourth and seventh, and added single tallies in the eighth and ninth. They even put the tying run on deck in the last half, but ultimately to no avail.
Back-to-back one-out doubles on successive pitches by Patrick Mulry and Michael Chavarria opened the scoring, with Stan State adding a second run in its initial turn via two-out RBI Aldo Koutsoyanopulos single. The Tritons then suffered a nightmare six-run third in which 12 Warriors came to the plate, generating five hits. Mulry walked twice, including one of the leadoff variety to get things going.
In between, UCSD starter Jack Rupe, Jr. (3-3) wriggled out of a jam in the second. Following a leadoff single and sacrifice bunt, redshirt sophomore catcher Steven Coe (Valley Center/Valley Center HS) fired to third baseman Vince Mori (Oceanside/Palomar College/Westview HS) to cut down Gino Franceschetti trying to steal, and on the very next pitch, Rupe (San Marcos/Mission Hills HS) got Scott Stetson swinging to end the frame. It was Coe's 15th caught stealing this season.
Offensively, a first-pitch Tyler Plantier (Poway/Del Norte HS) single began the three-run home fourth. UCSD loaded the bases with no outs through a Mori single and walk to Justin Flatt, and finally got on the scoreboard on Coe's sacrifice fly. A Tyler Howsley groundout made it 10-2, and Brandon Shirley sent an opposite-field RBI double down the right field line to cap the inning.
Mulry led off the fifth by launching his team-best sixth home run of the season deep over the right field wall. The Tritons got something brewing in the home half as JD Hearn drew a four-pitch walk and Jack Larsen single down the third base line, but a flyout and around-the-horn double play put an end to that threat.
The Tritons scored three more in the seventh on an RBI single by Hearn and a two-out, two-run single by Mori. The singletons in the final two frames came courtesy of a Shirley groundout and Plantier sacrifice fly. The ninth started with Hearn's single up the middle, and Larsen roped a double into the gap in right center, but after Plantier's at-bat, Mori went from a 3-0 count to a strikeout, and Stan State reliever Ryan Paramo then induced the game-ending flyout.
Senior Troy Cruz (Chula Vista/Bonita Vista HS) tossed two shutout frames for UCSD with one hit against and two singles. He navigated around a leadoff infield single in the seventh with a strikeout and two groundouts to Howsley at shortstop, and then turned in a perfect eighth. Freshman Tim Nelson fired a perfect ninth with a swinging strikeout, comebacker and groundout. Senior Alon Leichman had earlier thrown a 1-2-3 sixth, with two strikeouts around a groundout, to end just his second relief outing in a Triton uniform.
Hearn, Larsen, Mori and Shirley collected two hits apiece, with Mori and Shirley each knocking in a pair and Hearn scoring twice. UCSD walked four times in the game to increase its total for the three-game series to a whopping 23.
Starter Robbie Devries (2-1) picked up the win for Stanislaus State. Micah Hall replaced him and began his stint by turning in a 1-2-3 sixth. Mulry finished 2-for-3 with the home run, double, two walks, three runs scored and one RBI. Franceschetti was 3-for-5 with two runs and one RBI. Three more teammates had multiple hits.
UCSD heads back on the road this week for another three-gamer with a North Division opponent. The Tritons are in Rohnert Park against Sonoma State, beginning Saturday, April 9, with a doubleheader at 11 a.m.
Triton Notes: UCSD is 21-3 in 2016 when it scores three runs or more and 17-6 at home ... Tyler Howsley has started 91 straight games, all at shortstop, dating back to the 2015 opener ... Howsley and Jack Larsen are the only Tritons to start all 34 games in 2016 ... Gradeigh Sanchez is the only other Triton to appear in all 34 games, with 32 starts ... Jack Rupe, Jr. earned his fifth start of the year and sixth of his career ... The Tritons allowed a season-high 11 runs.
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