LA JOLLA, Calif.—UC San Diego baseball scored four runs in the ninth inning for a comeback victory over Long Beach State, 6-5, on Friday night in Triton Ballpark. The Tritons (10-6, 1-0 Big West) opened the Big West season in dramatic fashion with their first walk-off of the season.
 
Doyle Kane went 2-for-5 with three RBI, including the game-winning run. Brock Kleszcz finished 2-for-2 with a run scored, while Matt Halbach and Crew Robinson were credited with the other two RBI in the contest.
 
Ethan Holt (2-0) earned the win by retiring all three batters he faced in the ninth, including two strikeouts.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
UC San Diego took the early lead, 2-0, with one run in the first and one in the second. Starting pitcher Michael Mitchell was brilliant in 4.0 scoreless innings, allowing three hits with no walks and three strikeouts.
 
The Dirtbags (10-6, 0-1 Big West) did most of their damage in the fifth inning, scoring four runs to take a 4-2 lead. LBSU added another run in the eighth inning to take a three-run lead into the ninth.
 
The Tritons began to mount their comeback in the bottom of the ninth, putting runners on second and third with no outs. Robinson got the first of the inning with a sac-fly and Halbach brought in another with a wild infield single that bounced off the pitcher to make it 4-5. 
 
With two-on and two outs, Kane hit a fly ball into shallow center field that dropped just out of reach of the second baseman. Both Jalen Smith and Halbach came home on the play to secure the walk-off victory for the Tritons.
 
TRITON TIDBITS

• On Saint Patrick's Day, the hero of the game was Doyle Kane—who has dual citizenship in Ireland and the United States—securing the winning run in the ninth.
• Ethan Holt (2-0) earned his second win of the season.
• Kane and Kleszcz turned in multi-hit performances and Kane, Halbach and Robinson were credited with RBI.
• The Tritons improved to 4-4 in the all-time series with Long Beach State.

UP NEXT
The Tritons will continue the weekend series with Long Beach State with game two on Saturday at 2 p.m. 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 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 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 91 percent, one of the highest rates among institutions at all divisions.