IRVINE, Calif. –UC San Diego baseball earned a resounding 19-4 victory in the series opener with No. 8 UC Irvine on Friday night at Anteater Ballpark. The Tritons (23-20, 12-10 Big West) recorded 20 hits to tally their fourth victory over a ranked opponent this season. UC San Diego's victory snapped an 8-game winning streak for the Anteaters (33-10, 19-3 Big West).
 
Michael Crossland and JC Allen both finished 4-for-5 with a home run. Crossland recorded two doubles, a walk, five runs scored and three RBI, while Allen tallied a double, a walk, two runs scored and two RBI. Gabe Camacho and Colton Lomanto both drove in five runs with multi-hit performances and Anthony Potestio reached base in all six at-bats, finishing 3-for-3 with three walks, five runs scored and one RBI.
 
Starter Matthew Dalquist (6-4) earned the victory, pitching 7.0 innings and allowing four runs on six hits with no walks and five strikeouts. Nathan Ries and Ethan Remmers both pitched an inning in relief without allowing a hit, while Ries collected one strikeout and Remmers finished with two.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED 
UC San Diego was aggressive early to start the contest, with Potestio earning a leadoff walk in the first and Crossland bringing him in to score on an RBI double. Camacho followed with an RBI double to score Crossland and make it 2-0, Tritons, with the first three batters.
 
The Anteaters responded quickly in the bottom of the inning, scoring four runs on four hits including a three-run homer to pull in front, 4-2. The lead was short lived, as the Tritons answered back in the top of the second. Allen hit a home run to center field and Potestio knocked an RBI single to tie the game, 4-all. Crossland then knocked a two-run homer down the left field line to reclaim the two-run advantage for the Tritons.
 
UC San Diego piled on four more runs in the fourth via an inside-the-park grand slam by Lomanto to make it 10-4.
 
The Tritons did the most damage in the top of the fifth, scoring nine runs on eight hits and one error to lead 19-4. Camacho got the scoring started with an RBI single and capped the scoring with a bases-loaded double to drive in four runs in the inning. Lomanto was credited with a sac-fly, while Emiliano Gonzalez knocked in two runs via a single that went through the right fielder's legs to the wall. Allen doubled to the wall in center field to score Gonzalez from third and Thomas Maher brought in Allen with a single up the middle. 
 
After a leadoff single by UC Irvine in the top of the second, Dalquist and the Tritons retired 17 Anteaters in order—no allowing a base runner into the seventh inning before another two-out single. Ries picked up where Dalquist left off and retired the side in order in the eighth. Remmers issued a one-out walk in the ninth but responded with a strikeout and a line-out to end the contest.
 
TRITON TIDBITS 

• The win over No. 8 UC Irvine marked the program's highest-ranked victory in the Division I era. The previous mark was two wins in 2024 vs No. 12 UC Irvine.
  • UC San Diego is 4-1 against opponents in the top 25 this season.
• The Tritons knocked three home runs in the contest and now have 68 this season. They are 10 away from tying the all-time record (78; 2018).
• Michael Crossland's 12 home run puts him back in a tie for first place in the Big West.
• Six Tritons turned in multi-hit performances.
• UC San Diego recorded a season-high 20 hits in the contest and were four runs shy of the team's D-I record (23 vs CSUN; April 13).
• Colton Lomanto's grand slam was the second in three games for the redshirt senior and second inside-the-park home run for the Tritons. Patrick Hackworth accomplished the same feat vs Loyola Marymount (April 21).
• The Tritons are 6-10 in the all-time series (6-8 in D-I) with UC Irvine and 1-0 in the weekend series.

UP NEXT 
The Tritons will remain on the road for game two of the weekend series with No. 8 UC Irvine on Saturday 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.