LA JOLLA, Calif.—For the second straight game, UC San Diego baseball battled back from an early deficit but could not complete the comeback in a 11-9 loss to UC Irvine on Saturday afternoon at Triton Ballpark.
 
The Tritons (11-19, 3-5 Big West) were paced by Marc Filia, who finished 3-for-5 with two doubles, an RBI and a run scored. Jalen Smith went 2-for-5 with a three-RBI double and a run scored, while Ryan McNally and Noah Sudyka both knocked two-run homers for UC San Diego.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
Once again, the Anteaters (19-10, 8-3 Big West) got off to a hot start, tallying five runs on six hits in the first inning and forcing the Tritons to play catch-up the rest of the contest.
 
UC San Diego got on the board in the bottom of the second with a sac-fly by Michael Fuhrman to score Filia after he knocked a leadoff double. 
 
The Tritons held the UCI offense in check, holding the Anteaters hitless through the second, third and fourth innings. The fifth inning proved to be a different story, as UCI rallied to hang four more runs in the frame to take a 9-1 lead.
 
UC San Diego would not give up easily, continuing to chip away at the deficit by scoring at least one run in the next four innings. Sudyka knocked a two-run homer in the fifth, followed by a two-run homer for McNally in the sixth—both coming with two outs. Filia got an RBI single in the bottom of the seventh to make it 9-6. 
 
UC Irvine stalled the momentum in the eighth with a two-run homerun to make it 11-6, but the Tritons weren't done yet. 
 
In the bottom of the inning, UC San Diego loaded the bases with two outs for Jalen Smith who sent a fly ball that bounced high off the wall in left-center for a bases-clearing double to pull the Tritons within two. A walk put two runners on base and brought the go-ahead run to the plate, but a strikeout ended the rally—and ultimately the comeback—for the Tritons.
 
TRITON TIDBITS

• Starting pitcher Noah Conlon (3-5) pitched 5.0 innings, allowing nine runs on 11 hits with two walks and six strikeouts.
• Marc Filia, Michael Fuhrman, Ryan McNally, Jalen Smith and Noah Sudyka all recorded RBI. McNally and Sudyka both knocked a homerun in the contest.
• Marc Filia and Jalen Smith recorded multi-hit games for the Tritons.
• Austin Smith extended his 26-game streak of reaching base for the Tritons, reaching on a walk and on an error.
• With the loss, the Tritons fall to 1-5 in the Division I series with UC Irvine and drop the season series 0-2.

UP NEXT
UC San Diego will wrap up the Blue & Gold series with UC Irvine on Saturday at 1 p.m. PT. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ and live statistics will be available via UCSDTritons.com.
 
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 has begun a new era 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 II and III 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 garnered 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 90 percent, the highest rate among public institutions in Division I or II. For more information on the Tritons, visit UCSDtritons.com or follow UC San Diego Athletics on social media @UCSDtritons.