LA JOLLA, Calif.—UC San Diego baseball took the series finale over No. 12 UC Irvine in dramatic fashion on Sunday afternoon in Triton Ballpark. The Tritons (23-11, 10-5 Big West) gave up a three-run lead in the ninth to the Anteaters (25-7, 11-4 Big West) before scoring two runs in the bottom of the inning for the walk off victory. With the win, the Tritons take two out of three with UCI for the program's first series win over the Anteaters.
 
Emiliano Gonzalez finished 3-for-3 with two RBI and a run scored, while Brock Kleszcz finished 2-for-5 with a triple, two RBI and two runs scored including the game-winner. Nick Costello went 1-for-3 with two walks, two runs scored and the game-winning RBI in the ninth.
 
Starter Matthew Dalquist pitched 3.0 innings, allowing two runs on three hits with one walk and four strikeouts. Izaak Martinez (3-1) was credited with the victory, pitching the final 3.0 innings.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
UC Irvine struck first for the third consecutive game, scoring two runs on two hits in the top of the first. The Tritons answered right away, scoring two runs of their own in the bottom of the inning. With two on and one out, Bradlee Preap and Gonzalez knocked back-to-back RBI singles to tie the game 2-2. 
 
Dalquist and the Tritons kept UCI in check in both the second and third innings, including a 1-2-3 second inning to keep the game knotted. Landon Marchetti gave up a leadoff home run after coming in for the top of the fourth and the Anteaters retook the lead, 3-2. 
 
UC San Diego was quick to respond once again, scoring five runs on three hits and one error in the bottom of the fourth. The Tritons loaded the bases with no outs with a Gonzalez single, a UCI fielding error and a hit batter to bring Kleszcz to the plate. The senior singled through the left side to bring in the first run of the inning and tie the game once again, 3-3. A sac-fly by Noah Sudyka gave UC San Diego the lead and Costello drew a one-out walk to load the bases once again. Crossland singled through the left side to bring in two more runs and add to the lead, 6-3. The Tritons loaded the bases one more time and Gonzalez drew a walk to force in the fifth run of the inning. A pop-up ended the inning with the bases still loaded but UC San Diego held a commanding 7-3 lead.
 
The Tritons added to their lead an inning later with an RBI single up the middle for Sudyka—bringing in his second run of the day—to make it 8-3. However, UC Irvine got two runs back in the top of the sixth with a two-run homer to cut the lead to three, 8-5.
 
Martinez entered in the seventh and after giving up a leadoff single, he retired the next three Anteaters in order, throwing just seven pitches in the inning. He followed it up with eight pitches in a 1-2-3 eighth inning, including a three-pitch strikeout to end the frame.
 
The Tritons advanced a runner to third with one out in the top of the seventh, but a double-play ended the inning without a run. UC San Diego threatened again with two on and two outs, but came up empty once again.
 
In the top of the ninth, UC Irvine scored four runs on three hits to retake the lead, 9-8. With runners on the corners and two outs, Martinez forced a pop-up to first base to end the inning and keep it a one-run ballgame.
 
Hackworth knocked a one-out single and Kane advanced him to second on a sac-bunt to put the tying run in scoring position. Kleszcz hit a booming fly ball to the wall in dead center that dropped out of the diving center fielder's glove for an RBI triple, tying the game 9-9. On a 1-2 count with two outs, Costello hit a bloop single over the third baseman that landed inches into fair territory to score Kleszcz from third and secure the walkoff victory.
 

TRITONS WIN TRITONS WIN!!#GoTritons pic.twitter.com/OSkfpAAbBY

— UC San Diego Baseball (@UCSDbsb) April 14, 2024

QUOTABLE
"I'm really proud of the way the guys fought all series long," said UC San Diego head coach Eric Newman. "It was a tough series. Friday and Saturday were kind of one-sided games and you kind of had the feeling that today was going to be that game where two of the better teams were going to go at it and it lived up to the expectations. 
 
A lot of early offense and back-and-forth, it definitely had that feel to it. I'm super proud of the way the guys just battled their way through it. Loved the way Izaak [Martinez] responded to the adversity. It wasn't easy but keeping that score at nine was huge, knowing we were only down one run. It could have been more but he was able to keep that at nine. The at-bat by [Patrick] Hackworth in the ninth was a huge at-bat—we give up an out, he's down 0-2 and he fights his way back for a hit. That gave us the thought that we had a shot. Then a great swing by Brock [Kleszcz] and a good battle by [Nick] Costello. 
 
Anybody that has watched this team knows that there's no quit. They're never out of the fight. They understand they've got to stay in it. We knew we had to stay in it even at 8-5 and after we gave up the lead late, the talk in the dugout was still really positive. 'Here we go, its our turn, let's go respond.' And they did it."
 
TRITON TIDBITS

• Nick Costello capped a monster weekend with the walkoff RBI, finishing 7-for-12 with six RBI, seven runs scored, a double, four walks, a hit-by-pitch and two home runs. He slashed .583/1.167/.706 in the series. 
• Emiliano Gonzalez's 3-for-3 performance was his eighth multi-hit game and fourth three-hit performance of the season.
  • Playing through an injury suffered in the series opener, Gonzalez went 4-for-5 (.800) with a home run, four RBI, three runs scored and three walks in the series. He slashed .800/1.400/.875 with no strikeouts for the weekend.
• UC San Diego is now 6-5 in one-run games this season. It was the second walkoff victory for the Tritons this season (W, 4-3 vs Pacific; March 8).
• The Tritons moved to 5-10 in the all-time series with UC Irvine, 5-8 in Division I and 2-1 in the weekend series. It is the first series victory over for UC San Diego over the Anteaters.

 
UP NEXT
UC San Diego will hit the road for a three-game series at Cal State Bakersfield beginning Friday at 6 p.m. The games will be broadcast on ESPN+ with live statistics 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.