LA JOLLA, Calif. – The UC San Diego baseball team will play their final scheduled nonconference series at home when they host Santa Clara. The Tritons are scheduled to play a four-game series with the Broncos over the course of four days.
 
DETAILS
Games 9-12
Santa Clara (4-7) at UC San Diego (1-7)
Thursday, March 11 at 5:00 pm
Friday, March 12 at 1:00 pm
Saturday, March 13 at 3:00 pm
Sunday, March 14 at 1:00 pm
Triton Ballpark, La Jolla, Calif.
Watch ESPN3 | BigWestTv (Game 10) | Live Stats
 
PROBABLE STARTING ROTATION
Thursday: Santa Clara LHP Russell Grant vs UCSD RHP Nic Gregson
Friday: Santa Clara RHP Freddie Erlandson vs UCSD RHP Cameron Leonard
Saturday: Santa Clara RHP Brandon Buckley vs UCSD RHP Brandon Weed
Sunday: TBA vs TBA 

ATTENDING THE GAMES
Per the current COVID-19 guidelines set by the state of California, the County of San Diego and the Big West Conference, fans are not permitted to attend home games at Triton Ballpark. For more information on UC San Diego ticket policies, visit UCSDTritons.com/tickets.
 
COVERING THE TRITONS
Media members wishing to cover a UC San Diego game in-person at Triton Ballpark this season must notify a member of the Athletics Communication staff no later than 24 hours before the first pitch. All media members will need to complete a UC San Diego symptom screening form on the day of game prior to arriving on campus.
 
Following the conclusion of home events, a video highlight melt and video postgame interviews will be made available for media members to download.

LAST TIME OUT
UC San Diego dropped all four games in its series to University of San Diego. The offense struggled against the Toreros, scoring only two runs in both of the final two games of the series.
 
USE CREDIT UNION ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Anthony Lucchetti was named Triton Student-Athlete of the Week on March 1 after going 7-for-17 from the plate and adding four RBIs and three runs. He hit the Tritons' first homerun of the season in game one of the Tritons' series with SDSU. In the Triton's victory over the Aztecs, Lucchetti went 1-for-3 with and RBI and a run. He was also walked twice in the game.
 
PATIENCE IS A VIRTUE
The Tritons have shown good patience at the plate and have been walked 43 times. Marc Filia and Tate Soderstrom have each been walked five times. The Tritons were highly successful with this in 2020 and finished 3^rd in the nation in Division II with 146 walks.
 
FIXING THE LITTLE THINGS
The Tritons will look to fine tune the defense in their series against Santa Clara. In eight games so far, the Tritons have registered 17 errors. In the last two games, the Tritons only recorded one error.
 
SCOUTING SANTA CLARA
Santa Clara is 4-7 on the season and split their last series with Sacramento State. For a second week in a row, the Tritons will play a team from the WCC. The Broncos were selected in the preseason poll to finish eighth in the conference. This will be the first meeting between the two teams.
 
TRITON TIES
 Santa Clara's Coleman and Dawson Brigman are the brothers of former Triton Keenan Brigman. Both Brigman brothers have played in all 11 games for the Broncos this season with Cole hitting .243 and Dawson hitting .306.

ON THE MOVE
After 20 seasons playing as an NCAA Division II team, the entire athletics program has begun a four-year transition to NCAA Division I, culminating in full DI status as a member of the Big West Conference for the 2024-25 academic year. At that time, all sports will be eligible for conference and NCAA postseason play.
 
RECORD WATCH
Several Tritons will look to break into the career top ten or improve upon their standings in the record book. Here's a rundown:

• Blake Baumgartner sits in tenth in career home runs with 21. Two more will put him in a tie for ninth with Chris Franco.
• Aaron Kim is not too far behind Baumgartner with 17 career home runs.
• Brandon Stewart has 31 stolen bases and will need 11 to crack the top ten. He had 14 in 2020.
• Michael Mitchell proved to be one of the best closer options for the Tritons a season ago and finished with four saves, giving him a total of five career saves. Five more will crack the top ten.

 
HISTORY OF SUCCESS
During UC San Diego's Division II era, the Tritons were consistently one of the top teams in the nation. In their 20 year history of Division II baseball, the Tritons played post season baseball 11 times and made the World Series five times. They were back-to-back-to-back NCAA West Regional Champions from 2017-19 and finished runner-up at the World Series in 2010 and 2017. 

TRITONS IN THE PROS
In the 2020 MLB draft, the Tritons were one of three Division II teams with a player drafted when Shay Whitcomb was selected by the Houston Astros in the fifth round and 160th. The Tritons have had 23 former players drafted by the MLB and five sign free agent contracts.
 
BIG WEST PRESEASON COACHES POLL
1.             UC Santa Barbara – 119 (10)
2.             Long Beach State – 96
3.             UC Irvine – 95
4.             Cal Poly – 94
5.             Cal State Fullerton – 78
6.             CSUN – 64 (1)
7.             Hawai'i – 61
8.             UC Davis – 39
9.             UC San Diego – 33
10.           UC Riverside – 29
11.           CSU Bakersfield – 18
      () First place votes
 
UC SAN DIEGO ON THE WORLDWIDE LEADER
Most UC San Diego home baseball, softball, men's and women's basketball games and men's and women's volleyball matches are broadcast live on ESPN3. For more information on where to watch UC San Diego baseball, visit UCSDTritons.com/live.
 
UC SAN DIEGO ATHLETICS LAUNCHES WEEKLY PODCAST
As part of UC San Diego's transition to Division I, the Athletics Department launched a weekly podcast, Tritoncast. Produced by UC San Diego Athletics Communications, Tritoncast features in-depth interviews with UC San Diego personalities including scholar-athletes, alums, coaches, and administrators. Triton fans will get an inside look at the UC San Diego Athletics Department as the program transitions to NCAA Division I and the Big West Conference. New episodes of Tritoncast are available each week on the most popular podcasting apps, including Amazon Music, Apple Podcasts, Audible, iHeartRadio, Pandora, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, and Vurbl. In addition, each episode can be heard and downloaded on UCSDTritons.com. For individual show information and listen links, follow Tritoncast on Twitter @Tritoncast.
 
FOLLOW ON SOCIAL
You can follow the Tritons on Facebook, Twitter and Instragram. The team's handle is UCSDbsb.
 
FOR THE YOUNGER CROWD
Got some young Triton fans in your family? If they are eighth grade or under, check out the Junior Triton Club. Membership includes a free t-shirt, admission to over 100 UC San Diego home athletic events, and much more!
 
GEAR
For the latest Triton apparel and accessories, visit the official team store of the Tritons here.
 
UP NEXT
The Tritons will have the week off for finals. They will resume action when they travel to play Cal Poly March 26-28 to open Big West Conference action.

About UC San Diego Athletics
After two decades as one of the most successful programs in NCAA Division II, the UC San Diego intercollegiate athletics program began a new era in 2020 as a member of the Big West Conference in NCAA Division I. The 23-sport Tritons earned 30 team and nearly 150 individual national championships during its time in Divisions III and II and helped guide 1,400 scholar-athletes to All-America honors. A total of 83 Tritons have earned Academic All-America honors, while 38 have earned prestigious NCAA Post Graduate Scholarships. UC San Diego scholar-athletes exemplify the academic ideals of one of the world's preeminent institutions, graduating at an average rate of 91 percent, one of the highest rates among institutions at all divisions.

Return To Sport… Safely
In order for UC San Diego scholar-athletes to be permitted to return to training and competition safely and within federal, state, local, and university guidelines, the athletic department implemented a number of measures designed to complement and enhance the university's highly-successful Return To Learn program. Notable actions include being physically distanced when practical, including during out-of-season training sessions; wearing masks, except when undergoing physically strenuous exercise; and maintaining proper hygiene. Athletes, coaches, and staff are testing at a higher frequency than the campus population, teams adhere to CDC, NCAA, and Big West Conference guidelines, and department officials participate in regular meetings with conference and university-affiliated physicians and the UC San Diego emergency operations staff.