LA JOLLA, Calif.—UC San Diego baseball fell to Hawai'i, 14-6, on Saturday afternoon in Triton Ballpark. With the loss, the Tritons (26-13, 13-7 Big West) moved to 0-2 in the weekend series with the Rainbow Warriors (24-15, 8-9 Big West) and dropped just their second series of the season.
 
Nick Costello went 3-for-4 with four RBI, while Michael Crossland and Delshaun Lanier knocked a pair of solo home runs. It was the first collegiate homer for Lanier, who finished the day 2-for-4.
 
Starter Matthew Dalquist (5-1) pitched 5.0 innings, giving up five runs on seven hits with three walks and five strikeouts. 
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
Crossland got the Tritons on the board with a solo home run that traveled 467 feet over the wall in left field in the bottom of the first. Lanier followed with a solo shot to straight away centerfield in the bottom of the second to give UC San Diego a 2-0 lead. 
 
After two quiet innings to start the contest, the Rainbow Warriors broke through for a run in the top of third on an RBI single to left field. UH threatened for more with the bases loaded and two outs but a strikeout from Dalquist limited the damage.
 
Hawai'i tied the game an inning later getting runners on the corners with nobody out and scoring on a sac-fly to make it 3-2. The Tritons caught a runner stealing and Dalquist got another strikeout to hold UH to one run in the inning.
 
An inning later, Hawai'i added to its lead, scoring three runs on three hits and added two more runs on four hits in the sixth to lead, 7-2.
 
The Tritons loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the seventh before Costello knocked single just inside the left field line to score two and make it, 7-4. 
 
The comeback stalled however, when UH responded in the top of the eighth with seven runs on seven hits to extend its lead, 14-4.
 
Cooper Thacker and Lanier hit back-to-back singles to lead off the bottom of the ninth and the Tritons advanced two runners into scoring position with two outs. Costello knocked a single up the middle to bring in both runs to make it, 14-6, but UC San Diego was unable to cut into the deficit any further.
 
TRITON TIDBITS

• Delshaun Lanier got his first collegiate home run—a 428 foot knock to dead center field.
• Michael Crossland recorded his third home run of the season in the contest.
• Nick Costello matched the season-high with four RBI for the Tritons.
• The Tritons moved to 4-8 in the all-time series with Hawai'i and 0-2 in the weekend series, marking just the second series loss of the season.

UP NEXT
UC San Diego will wrap up the weekend series with Hawai'i on Sunday at 1 p.m. in Triton Ballpark. 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.