IRVINE, Calif.—UC San Diego baseball earned the series victory over No. 8 UC Irvine, 4-0, on Saturday afternoon at Anteater Ballpark. The Tritons (24-20, 13-10 Big West) blanked a team for the third time this season, handing the Anteaters (33-11, 19-4 Big West) their first shutout of the season.
 
Starter Nic Gregson (2-1) earned the victory, allowing four hits over 5.1 innings and retiring 10 batters in a row. Spencer Seid earned his third save of the season, pitching the final 3.2 innings and allowing two hits with eight strikeouts—including the final four batters faced.
 
Anthony Potestio and Emiliano Gonzalez both finished 2-for-4 with a run scored, with Potestio knocking his second triple of the season. J.C. Allen continued a productive weekend, going 1-for-2 with a walk, a double, a sac-fly and the team's only two RBI. 
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Tritons threatened early with back-to-back singles from Potestio and Michael Crossland to open the first, but a fly-out and a double play ended the inning without a run. UC San Diego got two runners on with one out in the top of the second but came up empty once again. 

After allowing a leadoff triple to start the first, Allen fielded a grounder and made a perfect throw home to get the lead runner. A double play ended the inning and Gregson faced the minimum through the next three frames and retired 10 Anteaters in order. 
 
UC San Diego finally broke through in the top of the fourth after Gonzalez drew a two-out walk and Allen brought him home with a double to the wall in left center. The Tritons added another run in the fifth and sixth innings after a triple by Potestio—who scored on a wild pitch—and sac-fly by Allen to make it 3-0.

UC Irvine got two runners on with two outs in the bottom of the fifth but the Tritons held the Anteaters off the board once again. A walk and a single put two on with one out in the sixth for UCI before Seid came in to force an infield fly and a strikeout to end the inning. Another two batters reached in the seventh and one more in the eighth but both times Seid ended the inning with a strikeout to maintain the shutout.
 
Thomas Maher doubled to right center to leadoff the ninth and came around to score after a throwing error by UCI to give the Tritons a cushion, 4-0. With two outs, UC San Diego loaded the bases but were unable to add to the lead.
 
It would not matter though, as Seid struck out the side in the ninth—including two strike outs looking—to secure the shutout and the series victory for the Tritons.
 
TRITON TIDBITS

• It is the third shutout recorded for the Tritons this season and first allowed for UCI.
• The Tritons have not allowed a run in 17 innings after shutting out the Anteaters in the final eight innings of Friday's contest as well.
• The Tritons are 7-10 in the all-time series (7-8 in D-I) with UC Irvine and 2-0 in the weekend series.

UP NEXT
The Tritons will wrap up the weekend series with No. 8 UC Irvine 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.