LA JOLLA, Calif.—UC San Diego baseball earned its third consecutive sweep, taking the series finale over CSU Bakersfield, 6-4, on Sunday afternoon in Triton Ballpark. The Tritons (15-6, 6-0 Big West) defeated the Roadrunners (8-14, 0-6 Big West) for their tenth consecutive victory and currently sit alone in first place in Big West.
 
It was another strong day at the plate for Matt Halbach, who finished 3-for-4 with two RBI and a run scored. Doyle Kane went 2-for-4 with a run scored and Crew Robinson finished 2-for-4.
 
Donovan Chriss (1-1) recorded his first collegiate victory, pitching 1.1 innings out of the bullpen and retiring all four batters he faced including one strikeout. Izaak Martinez was credited with his first save of the season, shutting out the Roadrunners in the final two innings, allowing two hits, no walks and striking out four.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
For the second game in a row, the Roadrunners jumped out to the early lead with three runs in the first and another run in the top of the second for the 4-0 lead.
 
UC San Diego responded quickly in the bottom of the third, scoring four runs on three hits to tie the game, 4-4. The Tritons loaded the bases with no outs for Brandon Larson who knocked an RBI single through the left side. Emiliano Gonzalez brought in another run on a sac-fly and Brock Kleszcz pulled UC San Diego within one with another RBI single to right field. Noah Sudyka brought in the tying run with another sac-fly to make it 4-4.
 
The Triton bullpen limited CSUB to just four base runners through the final 6.1 innings and faced just three batters over the minimum to shutout the Roadrunners down the stretch.
 
UC San Diego took the lead in the bottom of the fifth, loading the bases with two outs. Halbach knocked in two runs with an infield single to make it 6-4.
 
After allowing a lead-off double in the top of the ninth, Martinez and the Tritons retired the next three batters in order including back-to-back strikeouts to close out the game and secure the sweep.
 
QUOTABLE
"I thought our team did a nice job of staying with it this weekend when we didn't play our best, and found our way back to playing well. Our bullpen was really strong all weekend and we got some great performances from Matt Halbach, Michael Fuhrman and Doyle Kane at the plate."

"I still think this group has another level they can get to and we are striving to play our best in the second half. We will need to keep working towards playing our best as the schedule only keeps getting tougher."

TRITON TIDBITS

• Halbach turned in his tenth multi-hit game of the season, Kane recorded his ninth.
• Doyle Kane extended a 13-game hitting streak.
• The combination of Ethan Holt, Donovan Chriss, Spencer Seid, Seth Sumner and Izaak Martinez out of the bullpen shut out CSUB in 6.1 innings of work.
• The Tritons stranded two runners on base in every inning, totaling 16 runners stranded compared to three for CSUB.
• UC San Diego sits alone in first place in the Big West as the only remaining undefeated team in conference play. 
• The Tritons improved to 6-4 in the all-time series with CSU Bakersfield.

 
UP NEXT
The Tritons will conclude their 18-game homestand on Tuesday when UC San Diego hosts crosstown foe San Diego State at 6 p.m. in Triton Ballpark. 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.