AZUSA, Calif. - The 14th-ranked University of California San Diego scored in each of the first three frames and broke things open late in eliminating ninth-ranked host Azusa Pacific University, 11-3, on the third night of the 2017 NCAA Division II Championship West Regional at Cougar Baseball Complex on Saturday.
For the second straight night against the Cougars, fourth-seeded UC San Diego was the designated home team, and improved to 39-17 on the season. Second-seeded Pacific West Conference (PacWest) champion and automatic NCAA qualifier Azusa Pacific, had its 2017 campaign ended at 42-12. The Tritons had knocked off the Cougars in a winner's bracket meeting, 4-0, just 24 hours prior.
UCSD will next face 10th-ranked and third-seeded Dixie State on Monday, May 22, in a game that has now been changed from an earlier-reported 12 p.m. start time, to an 11 a.m. first pitch at Cougar Baseball Complex in Azusa. The Trailblazers, of St. George, Utah, and the PacWest, will need to beat the Tritons twice to advance to the NCAA Division II College World Series in Grand Prairie, Texas, May 27-June 3.
Dixie State survived a second straight elimination game just before UCSD took the field on Saturday night, rolling past fifth-seeded California Baptist, 14-5. The Tritons had defeated the Trailblazers, 5-2, in both teams' regional opener on Thursday night. Sixth-seeded Cal Poly Pomona, the West Region champion in each of the past two years, was ousted to begin the day, 10-1, by APU.
The game began with an infield error by the Tritons, with dangerous leadoff man Cam Bennett swiping his PacWest-best 33rd base after a first-pitch flyout by PacWest Player of the Year Pablo O'Connor. Kyle Goodbrand then got Justin Gomez swinging, but a passed ball moved Bennett to third. UCSD's redshirt junior right-hander fired a 3-2 offering past slugger Adrian Tovalin to leave him there.
In the bottom half, Jack Larsen worked a six-pitch walk, taking a close 3-2 throw from junior left-hander Kale Morton, and fellow senior outfielder Brandon Shirley then handled a 3-2 toss of his own to the opposite field through the right side for a single. Tyler Durna essentially accomplished the same, going opposite field through the left side on a two-strike count to load the bases. Alex Eliopulos (La Jolla/La Jolla HS) drew contact to force Larsen in with the game's first run, and JD Hearn lifted a sacrifice fly to right on the eighth pitch of his battle with Morton. A ground-ball double play prevented the bigger inning, leaving it 2-0 Tritons through one.
With one gone in the second, Mychael Goudreau fouled off four 3-2 pitches and earned a 10-pitch walk. Sean Aspinall then hit an opposite-field, two-run home run, his third of the year, to tie the game. Nick Estrella gave APU a third straight base-runner as he slapped a single up the middle to trigger a mound visit. Redshirt sophomore catcher Michael Palos then gunned him down trying to steal, and a groundout got Goodbrand out of the inning.
Palos ignited a huge two-run answer in the bottom half, taking two 2-2 pitches outside the zone from new pitcher Mitch Williams for a one-out walk. Tyler Howsley in the ninth spot, followed suit on five tosses. Larsen struck out swinging, but the ball got away from the Cougar catcher to advance both Tritons into scoring position. Shirley picked them both up by poking a two-out, two-run single up the middle to turn away the shutdown inning opportunity and regain a 4-2 advantage.
Goodbrand, on the other side, did convert his shutdown frame with success, in fact turning in his first of two 1-2-3 innings on a groundout, called third strike, and power swinging strikeout.
UCSD got another clutch effort in the third, scoring for the third successive frame. Eliopulos drew a five-pitch walk for starters and brought on a second pitching change for APU. New guy Layne Henderson got a strikeout and a foulout, but true freshman Chad Crosbie came on as a pinch-hitter and, unfazed by the moment and a 1-2 count, calmly found his spot in the gap in right center, sending Eliopulos sprinting around the bases. There was a close play at the plate, but Eliopulos' slide was just how you draw it up, to make it 5-2 in favor of the Tritons.
Goodbrand cleaned up a one-out single by dialing up a routine 4-6-3 double play courtesy of Goudreau's bat to end the visitor fourth. UCSD was held without a run for the first time on the evening in the home half, but Goodbrand came right back out and struck out the bottom of the order, in order, swinging, looking and swinging.
The Tritons then capitalized on back-to-back infield errors by the Cougars following a leadoff Durna walk in the fifth, to the tune of two unearned runs and a 7-2 lead.
Spurred by a third APU miscue, UCSD tacked on four more in the eighth to put the result largely out of doubt. Howsley reached through that mistake with one gone, and Larsen smacked a 2-2 pitch into the gap in left center for an opposite-field, RBI double. Shirley's full-count single up the middle sent Larsen around third, and after a fifth pitching change, Durna and Eliopulos walked to fill the bags. Hearn singled through the left side and Brigman through the right as the Tritons went station to station to cap their scoring.
Around that frame, the UCSD bullpen finally made its 2017 NCAA West Regional debut after 24.2 innings handled by three starters. Goodbrand, who had ducked around a one-out walk in the sixth, plunked Goudreau with one away in the seventh. With two outs and a man at first, he gave way to Blaine Jarvis. The redshirt freshman right-hander threw two strikes and got Estrella to line out.
Jarvis returned for the eighth and walked No. 9 batter Michael Franco to bring up the top of the order, the lead still at just 7-2. He got Bennett to fly out to Shirley in center, and more impressively, went 2-0 to the formidable O'Connor before not just retiring him, but getting him to hit into a another 4-6-3 double play, UCSD's second.
Goodbrand (5-0) allowed two runs on three hits, two walks and a hit-by-pitch over his 6.2 innings, striking out a season-high seven.
Sophomore right-hander Kyle Lucke handled the ninth, getting a groundout and a pair of swinging strikeouts around Tovalin's 21st, and final, home run of 2017.
Each of the first four batters in the UCSD lineup, as well as Howsley in the nine hole, scored twice, including Shirley, who finished 3-for-4 with a walk and three RBI. Larsen was 1-for-4 with the double, a walk and an RBI. Hearn and Brigman drove in two apiece. The Tritons walked nine times, led by Eliopulos' season-best three and two by Durna, who went 1-for-3.
Morton lasted just one full inning and gave up two runs on two hits, one walk and one hit-by-pitch. Mitch Williams (0-2) took the loss. APU's three errors led to four unearned runs.
UCSD on the other hand, played stellar defense all night. Durna was playing close to the bag and dove to the line to snare Bennett's hard shot and stepped on the bag to begin the sixth. Hearn, playing the shift, negotiated the tough hop toward the hole to get the first batter in the seventh. Two hitters later, the senior second baseman leapt to glove a high chopper before finding his shortstop on the fielder's choice. Howsley showed his range behind second base on the initial out in the ninth.
Triton Notes: UCSD is 24-16 over nine NCAA Division II Championship appearances, including 10-6 in its fourth trip under head coach Eric Newman ... The Tritons are 14-22 against Azusa Pacific all-time, and 3-1 at the NCAA Championship, with three straight wins ... Tyler Howsley extended his consecutive games played streak to 165 dating back to the 2015 opener ... Jack Larsen has appeared in 120 straight games, all of them starts ... JD Hearn has appeared in 87 games in a row, all of them starts ... Hearn, Howsley and Larsen are the only Tritons to appear in all 56 games this season, with only Hearn and Larsen starting each ... Kyle Goodbrand drew his ninth start in a Triton uniform ... Fellow right-hander Adrian Orozco, who tossed a one-hit shutout against APU on Friday night, was penciled into the lineup in the designated hitter role for the first time, and was hit for by J.T. Williams to lead off the second ... Larsen's leadoff walk in the first extended his reached-base streak to 38 games ... Michael Palos threw out his sixth would-be base-stealer on his 12th attempt in the second ... Chad Crosbie's third-inning double was his 10th this season, out of 24 hits ... Keenan Brigman's fifth-inning steal was his ninth on 10 tries ... Larsen's eighth-inning double was his team-best 18th ... UCSD's starters' ERA this postseason is 2.32, with 16 earned runs over 62.0 innings during this nine-game stretch, and all but one outing going at least 6.0 frames ... Former Tritons Jack Heidelman, Nick La Face, Rick Nowak, Trevor Scott, Richard Seigel, Danny Susdorf and Ryan Goodbrand, the latter of course Kyle's older brother, were among those on hand in Azusa ... Larsen's leadoff walk indeed also gave him 135 for his career, passing the aforementioned La Face for sole possession of second in the UCSD record book, now just seven shy of matching Matt Cantele's mark (142) ... For the second straight night, the matchup featured UCSD assistant and first base coach Jeff Calhoon against his old college coach, Azusa Pacific head coach Paul Svagdis, as Calhoon redshirted at APU as a true freshman ... In two meetings in two nights against the PacWest champion and host Cougars who finished the season with 78 home runs, UCSD pitching handcuffed them to 5-for-57 (.088), with all three runs coming courtesy of two long balls ... The Tritons have played six consecutive games against nationally-ranked opponents (5-1), including five in a row in the top 10 (4-1), and are 7-3 against ranked foes in 2017.
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