GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Fourth-ranked University of California San Diego surrendered three runs in the bottom of the 12th inning without benefit of a hit to drop an excruciating 6-5 decision to No. 16 St. Thomas Aquinas College in the opener for both teams at the 2017 NCAA Division II Championship at AirHogs Stadium on Sunday afternoon.
UC San Diego, the designated visitor, saw its four-game win streak snapped and went to 40-18 on the season. St. Thomas Aquinas, the East Region champion out of Sparkill, N.Y., improved to 43-15. It was the first meeting ever between the sides, and the Tritons' first game at the Division II finals since a 6-4 loss to Southern Indiana in the 2010 national title game on May 29, 2010.
UCSD falls into an elimination game at 1 p.m. PT on Tuesday, May 30, against No. 14 Quincy (IL), a 10-3 loser in Sunday's late game to No. 2 Colorado Mesa. STAC and CMU will then meet in the winner's bracket at 5 p.m. PT.
After getting a man to third base with less than two outs and failing to score in both the ninth and 10th frames, UCSD staged a two-run rally completely with two outs in the 12th, to have seemingly done enough to win a fifth game in as many NCAA Championship tilts this postseason. St. Thomas Aquinas, which also swept through four games at its regional last week, had other ideas. The Spartans drew a four-pitch walk to begin the home half, and when all was said and done, they had worked five free passes and benefited from an error and wild pitch to walk off a 6-5 winner via bases-loaded walk.
UCSD's rally in the top half was started by Jack Larsen, who roped his second double of the game into left center on a 3-0 count after a popout and groundout. Fellow senior Brandon Shirley took a called strike and then lifted a high foul ball down the right field line. Though three Spartans gave chase, with second baseman Nicholas Lucchese closest, the ball dropped for just a strike and 0-2 count. On the very next pitch, Shirley made STAC pay, dumping an opposite-field RBI single toward right center to score Larsen to finally break a 3-3 deadlock that had existed since the fifth. Successive singles pulled through the right side by left-handers Tyler Durna and Alex Eliopulos (La Jolla/La Jolla HS), made it 5-3. UCSD didn't know it at the time, but with men still at the corners, it could have used a couple more runs, but Anthony Morris (10-1) got a flyout to keep his squad's deficit at two.
Fifth-year senior right-hander Troy Cruz (Chula Vista/Bonita Vista HS) got help from his defense in his first frame. Senior second baseman JD Hearn dove to his right to corral a hot shot to lead off, with Durna able to keep his left foot on the bag on the high throw. On the next pitch, Lucchese dropped an opposite-field single inside the right field line, but made the grave error, having not seen him before, of running on Larsen. The senior rightfielder calmly picked the ball up with his bare left hand, and fired a one-hopper to senior shortstop Tyler Howsley, who applied the strong tag on Lucchese trying to extend to a double. A flyout got Cruz out of the inning.
Cruz quickly registered the first two outs in the second on a flyout to center and a nice pickup at third base by Eliopulos, but walked back-to-back Spartans around a stolen base. A fielder's choice groundout to third, with Eliopulos again cool with the gather and throw, ended that threat.
UCSD then found the scoreboard first in the third. With St. Thomas Aquinas junior All-American Frankie Moscatiello cruising to that point, having faced the minimum through seven batters with four strikeouts, redshirt freshman catcher Nick Kitzmann lined a one-out, two-strike single to center. After a flyout, Larsen found one in his wheelhouse, and didn't miss, launching it over the right field wall and out of AirHogs Stadium for a 2-0 lead. It was his league-best 15th of the season, and first after hitting a home run in each of the first five games of the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Championship, May 10-13.
St. Thomas Aquinas overturned that deficit in a hurry through a two-out rally. Cruz walked the leadoff man on four straight tosses, but Kitzmann fired to Howsley to get the runner, Cris Ruiz, trying to steal. After a flyout, successive singles by the No. 2 and No. 3 batters brought up the cleanup man, the dangerous Giovanni Dingcong. The junior sent an opposite-field, three-run home run just inside the right field line for a 3-2 edge. It was his school-record 19th.
Eliopulos doubled into the gap in right center with one away in the fourth, and after a sharp flyout to left by Hearn for the second out, Keenan Brigman sent a first-pitch single in front of the leftfielder. Eliopulos came charging around third, but the relay was good for the Spartans, and he was out at the plate. The play marked the first-ever use of instant replay at the NCAA Division II Baseball Championship, as this is the first year that it is available, and it was not needed on Saturday's first day.
Cruz hit the first batter in the home fourth. He moved to second as the next batter grounded one up the middle, with Hearn making the tough play on a rare 4-3 putout that started on the left side of second base. After a flyout and a wild pitch, Cruz got the strikeout to leave the runner stranded at third.
The Tritons pulled even in the fifth. With one away, Kitzmann was plunked by Moscatiello. Howsley flew out to bring up the top of the order and Larsen. The Spartans got together on the mound and put a shift on for Larsen, but Kitzmann keenly took second on a ball in the dirt. STAC sent its third baseman back to where he normally would be, but the second baseman was still playing quite close to the first baseman. It didn't matter, as Larsen still found the space between the two, for a two-out, game-tying RBI single as Kitzmann scored from second.
Cruz leapt up to make the stab of a Joseph Peña comebacker, with a popout and flyout completing a quick, much-needed first perfect frame for him in the fifth.
It was another quick inning for the Tritons in the sixth with more stellar defense. Eliopulos made a tremendous stop of a hard grounder down the left field line, but had no play when he got up, so did not throw. Still, it turned a likely double into an infield single. Kitzmann then fired to Howsley to gun down his second would-be base-stealer of the afternoon, before another groundout to Eliopulos ended it.
It was almost dueling 1-2-3 innings in the seventh, except for a two-out infield single for STAC, but Cruz got the called third strike on the next batter to keep it 3-3.
UCSD put two on with two outs in the eighth on a one-out Shirley single and two-out infield error, the first of the game by either side. After STAC's second pitching change of the frame, however, Hearn grounded into a fielder's choice.
Sophomore Kyle Lucke took over for Cruz to begin the home eighth. He got the first out thanks to a rangy play by Howsley, but walked the next hitter. A lengthy battle with Dingcong went to the Triton as he froze the Spartan slugger with his 13th pitch. Dingcong had fouled off seven two-strike offerings around ball three. The tall right-hander then also got Bobby Morse swinging to cap off the frame.
Brigman singled to lead off the ninth, was sacrificed over by pinch-hitter Tim White, and took third on a wild pitch still with one away, but the Tritons couldn't capitalize, as a groundout on the drawn-in infield and strikeout left him stranded there.
Lucke breezed through the bottom of the ninth. Brigman was in the right spot to handle a liner to leads things off, before Lucke got two more swinging strikeouts, the latter on a high fastball, to bring up the top of the Triton order in the 10th.
Larsen doubled into the left field corner for starters and scooted over to third as Shirley swung through the first pitch of his at-bat and the Spartan catcher couldn't squeeze it. Unfortunately, he would remain there. Shirley ultimately struck out, Durna was intentionally walked, and George Navadel induced the 4-3 double play off the bat of Eliopulos, controversial in that Durna did not think he was tagged. It was not, however, one of six reviewable situations under collegiate replay rules.
Lucke set the Spartans down in order in the 10th as well, on a strikeout, flyout and groundout. Hearn and Brigman both put charges into balls to the opposite field to begin the 11th, but both were caught.
Cruz allowed three runs on six hits, three walks and a hit-by-pitch over 7.0 innings, striking out three. Lucke turned away nine of the 10 batters he faced in a plus-plus effort, with solely a walk against him and a career-high-matching five strikeouts. In the 11th, redshirt freshman right-hander Blaine Jarvis (1-2) ducked around a one-out walk to Dingcong by getting a 6-4-3 twin killing from Morse. The drama then ramped up another notch for the 12th.
UCSD out-hit STAC, 13-6, but walked a season-high 10.
In addition to those by Cruz and Lucke, the difficult result also spoiled another outstanding display by Larsen, who finished 4-for-6 with two doubles, the home run, two runs scored and three RBI in his debut at the D-II game's biggest showcase. Shirley, Eliopulos and Brigman added two hits apiece. Kitzmann scored twice.
Moscatiello went 7.0 innings for STAC and gave up three runs on six hits, one walk and a hit-by-pitch. The right-hander struck out five. Moscatiello retired the Tritons in order in the first on a flyout and two strikeouts. He then cleaned up a one-out Hearn single up the middle in the second after a strikeout, by dialing up a 6-4-3 double play. A second perfect inning occurred in the seventh. The home run by Larsen was just the second given up by Moscatiello all year, now in 86.1 innings.
Triton Notes: UCSD is 25-17 over nine NCAA Division II Championship appearances, including 11-7 in its fourth trip under head coach Eric Newman ... The Tritons are 5-4 at the D-II finals ... Tyler Howsley extended his consecutive games played streak to 167 dating back to the 2015 opener ... Jack Larsen has appeared in 122 straight games, all of them starts ... JD Hearn has appeared in 89 games in a row, all of them starts ... Hearn, Howsley and Larsen are the only Tritons to appear in all 58 games this season, with only Hearn and Larsen starting each ... Troy Cruz drew his sixth start of the season, all coming over the last six weeks, and 36th of his career ... Larsen's first-inning outfield assist was his team-best seventh of the year and 20th of his career, adding to his program record for the Division II era (since 2001) ... Larsen's third-inning home run extended his reached-base streak to 40 games ... Larsen's two doubles give him a CCAA-best 21, and his four hits matched his career high ... Larsen has hit 14 doubles in the last 18 contests ... Alex Eliopulos' fourth-inning double was his 15th ... Nick Kitzmann has now thrown out nine of 18 runners trying to steal, with two in the same game for the second time after the Feb. 25 nightcap at CSUSM ... Tim White's pinch-hit sacrifice in the ninth was his 11th ... The Tritons have played eight consecutive games against nationally-ranked opponents (6-2), including six in the top 10 (5-1), and are 8-4 against ranked foes in 2017 ... UCSD is 2-4 in extra-inning games in 2017 ... The Tritons last walked 10 in a game on March 3, 2016, in a 3-2, walk-off, loss at Cal State LA in 11 innings ... Former Triton ace Byron Grubman (2003-06) and former associate head coach Rob Avila (2012-16) were among those in attendance.
2017 NCAA Division II Baseball Championship Results/Schedule
Saturday, May 27
Game 1 - West Chester 9, North Georgia 4
Game 2 - Lindenwood 4, Delta State 0
Sunday, May 28
Game 3 - St. Thomas Aquinas 6, UC San Diego 5 (12)
Game 4 - Colorado Mesa 10, Quincy 3
Monday, May 29
Game 5 - North Georgia vs. Delta State (elimination game), 1 p.m. PT
Game 6 - West Chester vs. Lindenwood, 5 p.m. PT
Tuesday, May 30
Game 7 - UC San Diego vs. Quincy (elimination game), 1 p.m. PT
Game 8 - St. Thomas Aquinas vs. Colorado Mesa, 5 p.m. PT
Wednesday, May 31
Game 9 - Loser Game 6 vs. Winner Game 7, 1 p.m. PT
Game 10 - Loser Game 8 vs. Winner Game 5, 5 p.m. PT
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