LA JOLLA, Calif.—UC San Diego baseball defeated UC Irvine, 10-3, to open the three-game series on Friday evening at Anteater Ballpark. The Tritons (17-6, 7-0 Big West) won their 12th consecutive victory, taking the opener against the Anteaters (14-8, 2-5 Big West) to improve to 3-5 in the Division I series.
 
It was a huge game for freshman Brandon Larson who finished 3-for-4 with two home runs including a grand slam, drove in six RBI—a program Division I record—and added two runs scored. Matt Halbach finished 1-for-3 with three RBI and three runs scored, while Luke Saunders went 2-for-5 with two runs scored and Patrick Hackworth finished 2-for-5 with a run scored and an RBI.
 
Michael Mitchell (2-0) went 5.0 shutout innings, allowing two hits with three strikeouts. 
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
Both teams got off to a slow start offensively through the first two innings before the Tritons threatened in the top of the third. UC San Diego got runners on the corners with two outs for Halbach who sent a 2-0 pitch to over the left field fence to give the Tritons a 3-0 lead.
 
Mitchell kept the Anteaters hitless through the first 2.2 innings before a two-out single in the third and shut out UC Irvine in his five innings of work.
 
The Tritons threatened again with the bases loaded and two outs in the top of the fifth for Larson who hit a no-doubter to right field to make it 7-0.
 
UC Irvine finally broke through in the bottom of the sixth, scoring three runs on two hits with two outs to make it 7-3.
 
The Tritons loaded the bases again in the top of seventh with two outs for Emiliano Gonzalez who hit a fly ball to left field mere feet shy of the second grand slam of the game for the Tritons.
 
UC San Diego added an insurance run in the top of the eighth on an RBI single through the right side by Patrick Hackworth to bring in Luke Saunders from second and make it 8-3.
 
Larson capped off the night with a two-run homer in the top of the ninth—his second of the game—to make it 10-3 and secured the Tritons' 12-stright victory.
 
TRITON TIDBITS

• Brandon Larson's grand slam in the fifth was the first for the Tritons since their 2021 season finale. It was also the first collegiate grand slam for Larson.
• Larson set the program's Division I record for RBI in a contest with six.
• Larson tallied two home runs and Halbach recorded one in the contest.
• Hackworth, Larson and Saunders recorded multi-hit performances.
• Starter Michael Mitchell went 5.0 shutout innings, allowing two hits with three walks and three strikeouts.
• The contest marked the first true road game of the season for UC San Diego—that last team in the country to play its first road game.
• The 12-game winning streak is the longest for UC San Diego of the Division I era and longest since 2018.

 
UP NEXT
The Tritons will return to Anteater Ballpark for game two with UC Irvine on Saturday at 1 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.