LA JOLLA, Calif. – Bouncing back after a close defeat yesterday on their home diamond, the UC San Diego softball team swept the CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners in a doubleheader on Thursday afternoon. The Tritons picked up a 5-1 victory to start the day, and wrapped it up with a close 8-7 victory to secure a series win in their first conference games.

The Tritons improved to 9-18, 2-0 overall and CSU Bakersfield fell to 2-19, 0-2 to start Big West play.
 
Tossing 9 2/3 innings while allowing just a pair of earned runs, India Caldwell came up huge for her team as she threw a complete game and to earn the victory in game one and got the save to help UC San Diego earn the afternoon sweep.
 
At the dish the Tritons scored 13 runs across 12 innings at the plate as Brooklyn Lee turned in a 4-for-7 day at the plate with three RBI and a walk drawn against the Roadrunners. Continuing her strong season at the plate, Hailey Mulligan also went 4-for-7 at the dish with a double and three runs driven in.

UC SAN DIEGO 5, CSU BAKERSFIELD 1
After India Caldwell tossed a scoreless top of the first, the Triton bats didn't wait around to get their bats going in their first conference game of the season as Morgan Eng led off the Triton first with a four pitch walk and Deena Pederson was hit by a pitch to get the rally started.
 
Hailey Mulligan would deliver UC San Diego's first run of the game on a sacrifice fly to center to make it 1-0 Tritons. Brooklyn Lee would then deliver an RBI single to right field and Teegan Dobson would come through with a sacrifice fly of her own to make it 3-0 UC San Diego after one inning of play.
 
The next three innings of play would remain scoreless as both pitching staffs settled into the game. Caldwell was able to excel as she struck out the side of the first and didn't allow her first run of the game until the top of the fifth on a Roadrunners' RBI single.
 
UC San Diego would tack on a run in the bottom of the fifth as Hailey Mulligan led off the inning with a single and came around to score on a Zoe Richards sacrifice fly to right field to make it 4-1 Tritons through five.

The Tritons would tack on one more insurance run in the bottom of the sixth as Morgan Eng again earned a lead-off walk, and Hailey Mulligan delivered an RBI infield single to make it 5-1 UC San Diego. Caldwell slammed the door in the seventh to earn her sixth complete game of the season and the Tritons' first conference win.
 
UC SAN DIEGO 8, CSU BAKERSFIELD 7
Continuing their strong offensive start to games, Morgan Eng was hit by a pitch and Deena Pederson singled to put the first two runners on for the Tritons. Hailey Mulligan would then deliver an RBI single up the middle to plate Pederson and give UC San Diego the early 1-0 lead.
The visiting Roadrunners would then score a single run in the second and third to take a 2-1 lead that wouldn't last long.
 
UC San Diego turned in a five-run bottom of the third to grab control of the game as Lexi O'Gorman got the rally started with a lead-off single and would tie the game on Teagan Dobson's RBI single. One batter later, Alexa DeMarse would help the Tritons re-gain the lead with an RBI single to plate Marissa Hassis before Zoe Richards delivered a back-breaking two-run triple to left center that plated Alexa DeMarse and Teagan Dobson to make it 5-2. Hailey Mulligan would once again drive in a run on a groundout to third that plated Zoe Richards as UC San Diego held onto a 6-2 lead through three innings of play.
 
The Tritons would then tack on a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth as Lexi O'Gorman was hit by a pitch and Hailey Mulligan doubled to put runners at second and third. Brooklyn Lee would then deliver a two-run single back up the box to plate both runners and give UC San Diego an 8-2 lead.
 
Cal State Bakersfield wouldn't go away quietly as they scored four times in the fifth and added one more run in the seventh to make it an 8-7 UC San Diego lead. Bringing the tying run to the plate, India Caldwell was able to slam the door as she induced a fly out to right field as the Tritons earned the doubleheader sweep on Thursday afternoon.
 
TRITON TIDBITS

• With a pair of hits on Thursday, Hailey Mulligan has recorded multi-hit games in four of her last five games while raising her season batting average to .338.
• Shelby Thompson picked up her first victory of the season and improved her overall record as a Triton to 3-17 for her career.
• Getting on base in a variety of ways, the Tritons drew six walks and were hit by four pitches to help kickstart rallies throughout both games.
• UC San Diego's defense continued its strong week of fielding as they committed just one error throughout both games of the doubleheader.

UP NEXT
UC San Diego will now look ahead to their series finale against CSU Bakersfield on Friday, March 15 at 1:00 p.m. from Triton Softball Field. Live stats and broadcast information can be found at 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.