RIVERSIDE, Calif.—UC San Diego baseball fell in the series finale with UC Riverside, 7-6, on Saturday afternoon at Riverside Sports Complex. The Tritons (19-19, 9-9 Big West) gave up a two-run lead to the Highlanders (13-24, 4-16 Big West) in the eighth inning to drop to 2-1 in the weekend series.
 
Starter Steele Murdock pitched 4.0 innings, allowing one run on five hits with three walks and eight strikeouts. Sam Hasegawa (2-3) was credited with the loss, pitching 2.1 innings and giving up two earned runs on three hits with two walks and two strikeouts. 
 
Gabe Camacho finished 3-for-4 with a triple, a home run, two RBI and two runs scored. J.C. Allen went 1-for-2 with a home run, a walk, two RBI and two runs scored, while Anthony Potestio finished 2-for-5 with an RBI.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
For the third straight game, the Tritons were first to strike, scoring on an RBI triple by Camacho and a sac-fly by J.C. Allen to take the early, 2-0, lead.
 
UC Riverside got one run back in the bottom of the third, scoring on an RBI single to make it 2-1. Murdock struck out the side in the third and the fourth inning on his way to a career mark.
 
In the top of the fifth, Potestio singled through the right side to score Allen and put UC San Diego up by two once again, 3-1. The Tritons added a run when Crossland reached on a fielding error to score Patrick Hackworth from third.
 
UC San Diego tacked on two more runs in the sixth by way of back-to-back solo home runs by Camacho and Allen. 
 
The Highlanders responded with three runs on four hits and one error to make it 6-4 in the sixth and took the lead in the bottom of the eighth with three runs on two hits and one error to pull in front, 7-6.
 
TRITON TIDBITS

• The Tritons now have 61 home runs this season and are 17 away from the program's all-time single season record (78 in 2018). 
• UC San Diego used four pitchers in the contest, Steele Murdock, Julian Cazares, Sam Hasegawa and Devon King.
• Steele Murdock collected a career-high eight strikeouts in the contest.
• UC San Diego is now 14-3 in the Division I series with UC Riverside and 2-1 in the weekend series.

UP NEXT
The Tritons will return home to Triton Ballpark to play host to Loyola Marymount on Monday at 6 p.m. with the first 400 fans receiving a free t-shirt. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ and live statistics will be 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 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 84 Tritons have earned Academic All-America honors, while 38 have earned 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.