UC San Diego

IRVINE, Calif. — No. 3 UC San Diego baseball tallied wins against No. 1 UC Santa Barbara, 7-0, and No. 2 Cal Poly, 12-2, on Saturday to force a winner-take-all Big West Championship bout with Cal Poly on Sunday at noon. The Tritons (27-27) got two more masterful starts on the mound from Nathan Ries and Austin Bowker to survive the elimination bracket and play for their first Big West tournament title.
 
Nine Tritons recorded a hit on the day, tallying 19 total hits in two games. Alex Leopard led the Tritons offensively on the day, going 4-for-9 with a double, a triple, three runs and two RBI. Addison Klepsch finished 3-for-8 with three RBI and two runs scored and Trevian Martinez went 2-for-6 with three runs, two RBI and two walks.
 
GAME ONE | UC SAN DIEGO 7, UC SANTA BARBARA 0
Nathan Ries (3-3) delivered a standout performance for UC San Diego, pitching a complete game shutout against the No. 1-seeded Gauchos (. Ries allowed only four hits and issued two walks over 9 innings, holding the opposing team scoreless. He struck out four batters while throwing 105 pitches, 68 of which were strikes, effectively controlling the game from the mound.
 
Addison Klepsch contributed to the offense by driving in two runs and drawing a walk. Alex Leopard added to the scoring with two hits and one RBI. Trevian Martinez scored twice and reached base twice via walks. 
 
UC San Diego secured a decisive victory over UC Santa Barbara with a final score of 7-0. The game opened with a strong performance from the Tritons in the bottom of the first inning. Anthony Potestio was hit by a pitch, and Gabe Camacho followed with another hit by pitch to put two runners on base. J.C. Allen walked to load the bases, setting the stage for Alex Leopard, who singled down the left-field line to drive in Potestio. A throwing error during Trevian Martinez's at-bat allowed two more runs to score, including Camacho and Allen. Leopard and Martinez scored when Nick Costello grounded out to the pitcher and a throwing error to make it 5-0 in the first inning.
 
In the fourth inning, UC San Diego extended its lead. Martinez walked, and Costello was hit by a pitch, setting up Nathaniel Widelski's sacrifice that advanced the runners. Addison Klepsch then singled to center field, driving in Martinez and Costello, pushing the lead to 7-0 through four innings.
 
Ries pitched the second complete game of the tournament for the Tritons, facing the minimum over the final five innings. After a leadoff walk was erased by a double play in the top of the seventh, Ries and the Tritons retired the final eight batters in order. 
 
GAME TWO | UC SAN DIEGO 12, CAL POLY 2
In UC San Diego's second elimination game of the day, the Tritons' offense was bolstered by 11 hits, including three doubles and a triple, while its pitching staff limited Cal Poly to two runs over eight innings for a run-rule, 12-2, victory.
 
Five different Tritons recorded two hits in the contest, and all nine batters were responsible for at least one RBI or run scored. Gabe Camacho recorded two hits, two runs and two RBI, while Anthony Potestio added two hits, including one double, two RBI and a run scored. Addison Klepsch finished with two hits, two runs and an RBI. Trevian Martinez collected two hits and two RBI, and Alex Leopard tallied two hits, two runs and the winning walk off RBI double. 
 
On the mound, Austin Bowker secured the win, pitching 6.2 innings with three strikeouts and allowing only two earned runs. Bowker threw 96 pitches with 64 strikes, earning his fifth win of the season. Kayden Henson provided effective relief, securing his third save by pitching 1.1 innings, allowing just one hit and no runs, with one strikeout and one walk.
 
The Mustangs opened the scoring in the first inning with an RBI single. UC San Diego responded quickly in the second inning as Leopard tripled to right field, and Martinez drove him in with a single. Widelski followed with an RBI single, scoring Martinez. Potestio added to the lead with a sacrifice fly, and Widelski stole home, putting the Tritons ahead 4-1 after two innings.
 
In the fifth inning, the Tritons added a run when Potestio singled to drive in Thomas Maher, extending the lead to 5-1.
 
Cal Poly hit a solo home run in the seventh inning, but UC San Diego answered back in the bottom half. Maher walked and advanced on wild pitches, eventually scoring on Klepsch's RBI single. Camacho's RBI single and a bases-loaded walk to Widelski added to the tally, giving UC San Diego a 9-2 lead through seven innings.
 
The eighth inning saw the Tritons further extend their lead. Potestio was hit by a pitch and later scored on Camacho's double. J.C. Allen brought in Klepsch and Camacho crossed the plate on a double to the wall in left center by Leopard for the eight-inning walk off. 

POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE

 
TRITON TIDBITS

• Nathan Ries' complete game shutout is the first for the Tritons since 2020 and first of the program's Division I era. 
• The shutout marked the third time UCSB was blanked this season, the other two coming against No. 20 Oregon. 
• UC San Diego's defense did not commit an error in the double header, completing 51 putouts. 
• The Triton pitching staff has combined to allow just four runs in four games of the Big West Championship, with a team ERA of 1.06, 0.91 WHIP and .167 opponent batting average.

 
UP NEXT
No. 3-seed UC San Diego will face No. 2 Cal Poly in the Big West Championship title game on Sunday at 12 p.m. The conference tournament is being hosted at Anteater Ballpark in Irvine, Calif. with a live broadcast on ESPN+ and 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 in NCAA Division I. The 24-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 39 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 90 percent, the highest rate among institutions in NCAA Division I or II.