LA JOLLA, Calif. – UC San Diego senior outfielder
Brock Kleszcz mashed the program's first home run of the season and sophomore right-hander
Anthony Eyanson tossed four scoreless frames in relief as the team used an all-around effort to take Saturday afternoon's game over the San José State Spartans by a 15-0 final score.
The Tritons (2-0) scored in six of the eight innings they hit on Saturday as they plated three in the first, one in the second, six in the third and single runs in the fifth and sixth before scoring three additional runs in the bottom of the eighth. UC San Diego pitching has yet to allow an earned run this season as they've completely stymied the Spartan (0-2) bats while walking just one batter in their first 18 innings of play.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Following a spotless top of the first inning from starter junior lefty
Zack Ernisse, the Triton bats got going early as
Nick Costello reached on a hit by pitch before coming home to score on
Matt Halbach's RBI double.
The Tritons added another run in the second before breaking the game open for good with a six-run outburst that was headlined by Kleezcz's three-run shot to left that put UC San Diego ahead 8-0 in the third inning helped secure the route.
On the mound, UC San Diego's pitching faced exactly 27 hitters in the effort as Ernisse threw three scoreless innings allowing just one hit. Eyanson followed that up with four dominant innings as he struck out eight and only allowed one base runner to reach via a base on balls.
The Tritons would go on to tack on three more runs in the bottom of the eighth as the UC San Diego offense would plate 15 runners in the team's second victory of the season. With freshman left-hander
Nathan Huy on the mound looking to slam the door, the Triton defense picked him up one last time with a sweet double play to secure the victory.
TRITON TIDBITS
- In total, 22 Triton scholar-athletes participated in the 15-0 route of the Spartans.
- Dating back to the 2023 season, UC San Diego is currently riding a nine-game winning streak and have won three straight series.
- Delshaun Lanier recorded his first career collegiate hit on Saturday afternoon as he delivered a pinch hit RBI double against San José State.
- Saturday afternoon's attendance matched Friday's record crowd as 740 people packed into Triton Ballpark to see UC San Diego's win.
- Time of game was 2:25 on Saturday afternoon.
QUOTABLE
"Today Ernie and Anthony really attacked the strike zone and did a great job of putting quality pitches together over and over," said UC San Diego head coach
Eric Newman. "We played really good defense today with three double plays to help face the minimum, and that's the type of baseball that we talk about playing. We feed off of that offensively and we had a really good play today going against Thompson and we executed that plan and it helped put us in a good spot."
UP NEXT
UC San Diego and San José State will now wrap up their three game weekend series on Sunday afternoon with a 1:00 p.m. first pitch at Triton Ballpark. Tickets can be purchased through
Triton Box Office. The game can also be seen live on ESPN+ with live statistics on 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 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.
