SANTA BARBARA, Calif.—UC San Diego baseball fell to UC Santa Barbara, 6-3, on Saturday afternoon in Caesar Uyesaka Stadium. The Tritons (26-18, 13-10 Big West) were robbed of a go-ahead grand slam in the eighth with an impressive catch in left field by the Gauchos (30-12, 15-4 Big West), eventually dropping to 0-2 in the weekend series.
 
Michael Crossland finished 2-for-5 with a double and two RBI, while Anthony Potestio went 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored. Emiliano Gonzalez was responsible for the other RBI, finishing 1-for-3 with a double and a walk.
 
Starter Matthew Dalquist (5-2) was credited with the loss, pitching 6.0 innings and giving up six runs—five earned—on nine hits with one walk and five strikeouts.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
UC San Diego was first to strike, scoring in the third with a two-out RBI single to center field by Crossland. UCSB responded in the bottom of the inning, scoring two runs on two hits to take the lead, 2-1.
 
Dalquist retired the Gauchos in order in the first, fourth and the fifth before UCSB's offense rallied for four runs on five hits in the sixth.
 
The Tritons got a run back in the top of the seventh with an RBI double by Gonzalez. 
 
UC San Diego got its best opportunity of the day in the top of the eighth, scoring on an RBI double for Crossland, 6-3, and threatening for more. The Tritons loaded the bases with two outs before Gonzalez sent a towering ball to left that was caught over the fence to rob the senior of a go-ahead grand slam. 
 
The Tritons loaded the bases again with two outs in the ninth, but a fly-out ended the inning without a run once again.
 
TRITON TIDBITS

• It was the 17th multi-hit game for Michael Crossland—who leads the team—and sixth multi-hit game for Anthony Potestio. 
• It was also Crossland's eighth multi-RBI performance.
• UC San Diego moved to 1-15 in the all-time series (1-13 in D-I) with UC Santa Barbara and 0-2 in the weekend series.

UP NEXT
UC San Diego will wrap up the weekend series at UC Santa Barbara 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.