HONOLULU–UC San Diego baseball dropped a 6-3 decision to Hawai'i on Thursday evening at Les Murakami Stadium. The Tritons (25-24, 14-14 Big West) stranded 10 base runners, while outhitting the Rainbow Warriors (32-18, 15-13 Big West) 11-8 in the series opener.
All nine Triton starters recorded a hit in the contest, led by
Anthony Potestio who was 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored.
Thomas Maher also went 2-for-4 and
Alex Leopard finished 1-for-3 with two RBI and a sac-fly.
J.C. Allen was responsible for driving in the only other run, finishing 1-for-3. The top of the order was responsible for all three runs scored, with one each for Potestio,
Emiliano Gonzalez and
Gabe Camacho.
Starter
Matthew Dalquist (6-5) pitched 6.2 innings, allowing four runs on six hits with one walk and six strikeouts.
Spencer Seid pitched 1.1 innings in relief, allowing two runs on two hits with one walk and two strikeouts.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Tritons threatened in the top of the first with two on and one out, but a double play ended the inning without a run. The Rainbow Warriors got on the board first, scoring on an RBI ground-out to take a 1-0 lead.
UC San Diego rallied in the top of the third inning, after singles by Potestio and Camacho put two runners on with two outs. Allen knocked a single to right field to score Potestio and Leopard following with a single up the middle to score Camacho and give the Tritons a 2-1 advantage.
It looked as if UC San Diego would rally again in the top of the fourth, loading the bases with one out but a double play ended the inning without a run once again. Hawai'i reclaimed the lead in the bottom of the fourth with three runs on three hits to make it 4-2.
The Tritons loaded the bases again with one out in the top of the seventh for Leopard, who hit a sac-fly to pull the team within one. However, UC San Diego was unable to cut into the deficit further, trailing 4-3.
UH added two insurance runs on two hits and one error in the bottom of the eighth before retiring the Tritons in order in the top of the ninth for the 6-3 victory.
TRITON TIDBITS
- All nine Triton starters recorded a hit in the contest.
- Anthony Potestio recorded his 15th multi-hit game of the season.
- It was the fourth straight game with 10+ hits for the Tritons.
- With the loss, UC San Diego moved to 4-10 in the all-time series with Hawai'i and 0-1 in the weekend series.
UP NEXT
The Tritons will face off with Hawai'i in game two of the weekend series on Friday at 9:30 p.m. PT. 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.
