HONOLULU – Behind a perfect day at the plate from
Aaron Kim, the UC San Diego baseball team took game one over Hawai'I 6-2 at Les Murakami Stadium on Friday night. Kim went 4-for-4 and was intentionally walked in his final at bat. The Tritons improve to 19-16 and 16-17 in the Big West while the Rainbow Warriors fall to 23-20 and 15-18 in conference games.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Kim hit a leadoff double in the second inning and took advantage of an error in center field to make it to third.
Jackson Kritsch drove Kim in to give the Tritons a 1-0 lead.
In the sixth, Kim registered his third hit of the night to drive in a runner in to increase the lead to 2-0.
Michael Fuhrman scored on a wild pitch and Kritsch hit a two-run double to complete the four-run inning.
Cameron Leonard had a strong outing on the mound and went scoreless through seven innings. He gave up three hits, one walk and added a strikeout.
Hawai'i's offense broke through in the eighth and scored two runs to cut the Triton's lead to 5-2.
The Tritons got one of those runs back in the ninth when
Blake Baumgartner hit a double to the center field wall to plate Fuhrman at home.
Hawai'i looked to rally with two outs in the bottom of the ninth and placed two runners on the bases off back-to-back hits but
Michael Mitchell delivered a strikeout for the final out of the night.
FROM THE COACH
"It was a good performance tonight by
Cameron Leonard and
Aaron Kim in the DH spot. Davenport is a very good arm with a plus change up and curveball and our guys really had to grind at bats out early," said Head Coach
Eric Newman. "Kritsch's at bat with two strikes and bases loaded was a really good job of grinding it out and that seemed to be the difference maker."
TRITON TIDBITS
- Kim's four hits was a season high and matched a career high.
- Leonard improves to 4-6 on the season.
- Kritsch matched his season high of three RBIs to lead the Tritons.
- Hawai'i's Aaron Davenport issued a season high four walks to the Tritons.
UP NEXT
The Tritons will play a double header on Saturday at Les Murakami Stadium. Game one will start at 4:05 p.m. PDT.
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.
