BAKERSFIELD, Calif.—UC San Diego baseball defeated Cal State Bakersfield, 6-5, on Saturday evening at Hardt Field. After falling behind 5-0 in the first inning, the Tritons (25-11, 12-5 Big West) battled back to take the lead in the eighth and secure the series victory over the Roadrunners (11-26, 6-11 Big West).
 
Patrick Hackworth finished 2-for-4 with three RBI, a run scored on a two-run homerun. Brock Kleszcz also went 2-for-4 with two RBI, a run scored with two-run homerun, while Emiliano Gonzalez finished 2-for-3 with two runs scored, a walk and a double. Five Tritons recorded two hits in the contest.
 
Starter Matthew Dalquist pitched 6.2 innings, allowing five runs on five hits—all in the first inning—with one walk and three strikeouts. Spencer Seid (4-1) earned the victory facing one batter in the seventh before the Tritons took the lead. Izaak Martinez earned his eighth save of the season, pitching the final 2.0 shutout innings without allowing a hit and collecting one strikeout.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
Cal State Bakersfield jumped out to an early lead in the bottom of the first inning, scoring five runs on five hits to lead, 5-0. The Tritons got on the board an inning later, 5-1, after Gonzalez hit a leadoff double. A single by Kleszcz and ground-out advanced Gonzalez home for the first run of the evening for UC San Diego.
 
UC San Diego continued to chip away at the deficit, scoring a run in the top of the fourth on a two-out RBI single to left field by Hackworth, 5-2. The Tritons pulled within one run in the sixth when Hackworth launched a two-run homerun over the right field wall to make it 5-4. 
 
Gonzalez hit a leadoff single in the top of the eighth and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Kleszcz brought them both home with a homer to left field to give UC San Diego the lead, 6-5.
 
The Tritons got the leadoff man aboard in the second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth innings and had a runner reach base in every inning. 
 
After allowing a two-out walk in the second, Dalquist retired the next 15 batters in order through his final out in the seventh. Seid entered with two outs and retired the only batter he faced to extend the streak to 16. 
 
UC San Diego looked for an insurance run in the ninth, advancing Crossland to third with one out but a ground-out and a strikeout kept the Tritons off the board. 
Martinez retired the Roadrunners in order in the bottom of the eighth and secured the first two outs of the ninth before allowing a walk to end the streak at 21. A ground out to Hackworth at second ended the game and secured the victory for the Tritons. 
 
TRITON TIDBITS

• The Triton pitching staff combined to retire 21 Roadrunners in order during the contest.
• Izaak Martinez earned his eighth save of the season and currently leads the Big West.
• Brock Kleszcz hit his fourth home run of the season—second on the team—and Patrick Hackworth recorded his third.
• UC San Diego is now 8-5 in one-run games this season. 
• It marked the third time the Tritons have come back from a deficit of five or more runs.
  • UC San Diego overcame a 11-run deficit vs San Jose State (Feb. 19) and six runs vs Cal State Fullerton (Mar. 16).
• The Tritons moved 8-4 in the all-time series with Cal State Bakersfield and 2-0 in the weekend matchup.

UP NEXT
UC San Diego will wrap up the three-game series at Cal State Bakersfield on Sunday at 1 p.m. The game 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.