Baseball 5/7/2016 5:00:00 PM UCSD

Leichman, Fellow Seniors Lead Tritons to Split of Doubleheader With Cal State San Marcos on Senior Day

LA JOLLA, Calif. - Alon Leichman's complete-game performance led UC San Diego to a 7-2 victory in the seven-inning nightcap of a California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) baseball doubleheader with Cal State San Marcos on Senior Day Saturday at Triton Ballpark.

The Tritons were blanked, 4-0, in game one as the crosstown foes split the twin bill.

By day's end, UCSD had earned its 30th overall win and 20th CCAA success, moving to 30-18 overall and 20-16 in the CCAA. CSUSM is left at 22-25 overall and 14-21 in league play. The Cougars had dropped four straight, surrendering double-digit run totals in each, heading into Saturday, including Friday's 11-2 defeat in their series opener against the Tritons.

Leichman was pitching in front of parents David and Marilyn, who had flown in from his native Israel on Thursday, for the first time as a Triton. The senior right-hander proceeded to toss his second seven-inning complete game of 2016, now accounting for both of UCSD's complete games this season. He struck out the side swinging in order in the seventh, giving him seven on the afternoon, a new high for his Triton career. The seven innings also matched the longest of his days in a UCSD uniform, having extended to seven full frames a total of four times in his final go-around.

All four active Triton seniors made contributions Saturday. Leichman, Zach Friedman, Eric Moersen and Gradeigh Sanchez, along with Trey Ferketic, unable to participate due to injury, were recognized in between contests.

UCSD and Cal State San Marcos conclude their series with a meeting slated for a 12 p.m. start at CSUSM Baseball Field in San Marcos on Sunday. It will be Senior Day for the Cougars, with retiring head coach Dennis Pugh also honored in pregame ceremonies beginning at 11:30 a.m. The game will mark CSUSM's 2016 finale.

The Tritons, however, will be on the road Monday evening, bound for Stockton and the CCAA Championship, which begins on Wednesday, May 11. They are likely to open the six-team, double-elimination tournament in primetime at 7 p.m. that night.

Game One - CSUSM 4, UCSD 0
UCSD was blanked for the fifth time this season in the opener, falling victim to a five-hit shutout by redshirt junior right-hander Hayden Weir (8-2).

The Cougars did all the scoring they would need in a three-run second. A double, walk and single, all with one out, loaded the bases, before another walk by freshman left-handed starter Preston Mott (2-3) forced in the afternoon's initial tally. A fielder's choice grounder and an infield error gave the visitors a 3-0 advantage.

CSUSM added an insurance score in the eighth without benefit of a hit, via three walks, one of them intentional, and a hit-by-pitch.

Moersen entered the fray in that frame with the bags still full and one away. The senior left-hander fanned Ross Lemmel before handling the putout on a right-sided groundout, to keep UCSD's deficit manageable. He needed to make just five pitches.

Offensively, UCSD put a pair of runners on in the second and third, but hit into 4-6-3 double plays to end both rallies. The Cougars turned three twin killings in all, adding one of the 6-4-3 variety to end the game after a one-out walk. They continue to lead the CCAA with 48 double plays.

JD Hearn tripled into the right field corner with two gone in the sixth, but Weir kept him there.

Mott largely settled down after the second, cruising through a perfect fourth, sixth and seventh on eight, nine and five pitches, respectively. He ultimately matched his season long at 7.0 frames despite taking the loss. Mott allowed the four runs, three of them earned, on six hits and three walks. He struck out one, and retired nine straight after a leadoff bunt single in the fifth.

Travis Roberts saw Cougars advance to second and third on him in the ninth, but got out of the jam through two groundouts. The redshirt sophomore also struck out one.

Hearn made a spectacular play to end the visitor second, going full-stretch over the railing down the left field line to snatch a pop fly by CSUSM senior Brandon Bentson. The Triton junior finished 2-for-2 at the dish with a walk, triple and stolen base.

Game Two - UCSD 7, CSUSM 2 (7)
UCSD struck for all seven of its runs between the second and fifth innings to back Leichman's strong outing. Fellow senior Sanchez pushed a two-run single to the opposite field through the left side with two gone to cap a three-run fourth that gave the hosts a 6-0 cushion. He saw eight pitches in the at-bat, fouling off six and also taking a ball, before his clutch hit.

The Tritons finally touched the plate after 10 straight scoreless innings against CSUSM, grabbing a pair in the second largely through Friedman's heroics. Up with men at second and third with one out after the first of four Cougar errors, a single and sacrifice, the senior first baseman fouled off a 1-2 pitch, took two close offerings for a full count, and chopped a two-run double over Bentson's head and just inside the right field line for 2-0. It marked Friedman's first extra-base hit of 2016.

Friedman later also made a tough pick-up on a low relay from Hearn at second base, on a 5-4-3 double play that cleaned up Bentson's leadoff single.

The Tritons added a single run in the third as Jack Larsen reached on another error while Hearn scored from third following his first-pitch leadoff double which sailed over the head of rightfielder Clinton Perez. Hearn had advanced to third on a productive right-sided groundout by Sanchez, paving the way for Larsen's 30th RBI. The junior rightfielder knocked in 22 runs in February alone before a lull.

Hearn's RBI infield single in the fourth knocked in Tyler Howsley, who then drove in a run of his own with a sharp two-out single to left in the fifth to cap UCSD's scoring.

Leichman (3-4) gave up two runs on five hits and a rare two walks. He had entered the weekend as the CCAA leader in strikeout-to-walk ratio, at 5.13 (41-8). He seemed to get agitated and energized after a four-pitch free pass to Bentson in the first, getting out of that frame before breezing through the second and third, the latter on just seven tosses.

Hearn went 2-for-4 with a double, two runs and an RBI. Howsley was 2-for-3 with a run and one RBI. Sanchez and Friedman provided one hit and two RBI apiece, while the latter also walked once.

Emilio Esquibel (2-7) took the loss, allowing all seven Triton runs, five of them earned, over 4.1 innings. Tyler Place lifted his second home run to begin the sixth.

Triton Notes: UCSD is 29-4 when it scores three runs or more in 2016, and 1-14 when managing less ... The Tritons finished 22-9 at home ... Tyler Howsley has started 105 straight games, all at shortstop, dating back to the 2015 opener ... Howsley and Jack Larsen are the only Tritons to start or even appear in all 48 games in 2016 ... Brandon Shirley swiped one base in each game, to increase his team-leading total to 10, on 10 attempts ... Game One: Preston Mott earned his team-leading 13th start ... Gradeigh Sanchez made his 100th career start ... JD Hearn's second-inning stolen base was his ninth in nine tries, with his sixth-inning triple his fourth, moving him into a three-way tie for first on the team with Larsen and Shirley ... Game Two: Alon Leichman drew his ninth start, and first since March 26 ... The game marked the 150th appearance in a Triton uniform for Sanchez ... Hearn's third-inning double was his fifth ... Tyler Plantier's sixth-inning triple was his second, and the Tritons' 22nd of 2016, matching the single-season program record from both 2010 and 1984 ... UCSD has 30 overall wins for a third straight season and 20 CCAA victories for a fifth in a row under fifth-year head coach Eric Newman ... The Tritons have reached the 30-win plateau four times with Newman at the helm ... They have won 20-plus CCAA games in 13 consecutive seasons.