GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Fourth-ranked University of California San Diego needed its biggest comeback of the season, to keep its season alive.
It got it, overturning a 7-1 deficit in the fourth inning to defeat No. 14 Quincy University, 10-8, in an elimination game of the 2017 NCAA Division II Championship Tuesday afternoon at AirHogs Stadium.
UC San Diego, the designated home team, moved to 41-18 on the season. Quincy (IL), the Midwest Region champion, saw its year and first NCAA finals run ended at 37-23. The programs were meeting for the first time.
UCSD survives and advances into another elimination game at 1 p.m. PT on Wednesday, May 31, against No. 20 Lindenwood (40-19), which lost 5-2 to No. 6 West Chester on Monday night after blanking No. 1 Delta State, 4-0, on Saturday. The Tritons dropped a difficult 6-5 decision in 12 innings to No. 16 STAC on Sunday.
Quincy drew first blood with an unearned run in the opening frame, loading the bases on two singles and a two-out hit-by-pitch before a passed ball allowed All-American second baseman Jake Walters to score. Redshirt senior right-hander Adrian Orozco (Chula Vista/Otay Ranch HS) curbed the damage with a flyout.
UCSD got that run right back as Jack Larsen worked a leadoff walk, took second on a Brandon Shirley groundout, and after a four-pitch walk with two away to Alex Eliopulos (La Jolla/La Jolla HS), sprinted around third on fellow senior JD Hearn's RBI single up the middle. A hit-by-pitch to Keenan Brigman loaded the bases, but a groundout left it a 1-1 game.
Nick Kitzmann took four pitches outside the zone to begin the home second, and was immediately sacrificed over by senior shortstop Tyler Howsley. Back-to-back swinging strikeouts kept the redshirt freshman catcher at second.
The third started with three successive singles, all to right, from the top of Quincy's order, with the latter two of them of the opposite-field variety. A five-pitch walk to the cleanup man, Troy Wehde, put the Hawks back on top, 2-1. A two-run single through the left side by Nolan Snyder narrowly eluded Howsley's dive into the hole. A strikeout and another single to right chased Orozco in favor of Preston Mott. His first toss eluded the grasp of Kitzmann for a second run-scoring passed ball, and then a sacrifice fly made it 6-1 before the sophomore left-hander stopped the bleeding with a swinging strikeout. Quincy had sent 10 men to the plate.
The Hawks added a seventh run in the fourth on an RBI fielder's choice groundout, with UCSD just unable to turn the inning-ending double play.
After head coach Eric Newman talked to his club in the in-between, Brigman ignited the charge to begin the home fourth, looping one over the shortstop and hustling around first for a leadoff double. Fellow freshman Chad Crosbie then fouled off two tosses and expertly worked a seven-pitch walk. That's when it briefly started to look as if it just wasn't going to be UCSD's day, as Michael Palos and Howsley made solid contact for back-to-back outs, the first to center field and the latter requiring a tough, leaping grab by Hawk shortstop Brynn Martinez. To the top of the order with two away, however, is when the fireworks began. Larsen walked to load the bases. Then Shirley roped a two-run double just over the third-base bag and into the corner. It was a real close play, but was not able to be reviewed under the first-year existence of replay at the NCAA Division II Baseball Championship. Tyler Durna followed that up by dumping a two-run single in front of centerfielder Dominic Miles. Then Eliopulos slapped a single to right, and Quincy went to the bullpen.
After the change, Hearn hit a ground ball relatively deep into the shortstop hole, and just barely beat out Martinez's throw, enabling Durna to come home. Coming back up a second time, Brigman poked an opposite-field looper that second baseman Walters dropped on the run, with Eliopulos tying the game at 7-7. With Tritons at second and third, Crosbie finally struck out swinging, and though the ball initially got away from the catcher, Jack Klages was ultimately able to get the out at first.
Unfortunately for UCSD, after striking out the leadoff man, Mott walked the bases full, with an RBI groundout regaining an 8-7 edge for Quincy. A flyout ended it.
Palos and Howsley gave the Tritons back-to-back singles from the bottom of the order to lead off the fifth, but Tommy Hager, who became Quincy's fourth pitcher at the start of the inning, fanned Larsen and Shirley. Durna then put a charge into one, but right into rightfielder J.C. DeMuri's glove.
UCSD finally grabbed its first lead in the sixth. Between flyouts to left, Hearn reached first on an infield throwing error. With J.T. Williams pinch-hitting, Hearn swiped second for his 10th steal on 12 tries this year. Moments later, his junior teammate served an RBI double over the third baseman's head to level the score once more at 8-8. Quincy again went to the bullpen, and on William Sanchez's second pitch, Palos lined an RBI single right up the middle for a 9-8 edge.
Palos' sacrifice fly in the eighth provided an insurance run, with the Tritons unable to add any more despite loading the bases still with just one away. Hearn had roped a double into the right field corner to lead off and taken third as DeMuri couldn't pick it up from there cleanly.
Redshirt junior right-hander Kyle Goodbrand, normally UCSD's No. 3 starter, was called upon to close it out with no tomorrow. He registered the final six outs to notch his third save and make a winner of Mott (8-4) for his huge relief appearance of 4.2 innings.
The last half was still not without some drama after UCSD's travails in Sunday's opener, with Goodbrand walking a pair around two flyouts to put the tying run at first, before getting a third flyout, to Larsen, to cap it off. Goodbrand had erased a two-out DeMuri single in the seventh.
Orozco went 2.1 innings and allowed six runs, four of them earned, on seven hits, one walk and a hit-by-pitch, striking out three. He registered a 1-2-3 second on a flyout, swinging strikeout and bunt down the first base line that Orozco himself had to make a tough play on.
Mott set the Hawks down in order in the sixth on a flyout and two swinging strikeouts. He duplicated that effort with a groundout and two flyouts, needing just six throws, in the seventh. Indeed he earned the win in relief and moved to 8-4.
Hearn finished 3-for-5 with a double, two runs, two RBI and a stolen base. Palos, who only entered the contest defensively in the fourth, was 2-for-3 with a sacrifice fly and two RBI. Durna went 2-for-5 with a run and two RBI, while Brigman was 1-for-3 with his double, run and two hit-by-pitches. Williams stuffed the box score at 1-for-1 with a walk, double, run, RBI and steal. Larsen walked twice and scored twice, though he and Shirley uncharacteristically combined to strike out seven times. Shirley had the one two-run double and run scored in his six trips to the plate.
Freshman left-hander Riley Martin gave up one run on one hit, three walks and a hit-by-pitch over 2.0 innings. He struck out two. Senior right-hander Mark Niebrugge took over and notched the 1-2-3 shutdown third on two flyouts and a called third strike. Among seven pitchers QU used in all, Hager (1-3) took the loss.
Triton Notes: UCSD is 26-17 over nine NCAA Division II Championship appearances, including 12-7 in its fourth trip under head coach Eric Newman ... The Tritons are 6-4 at the D-II finals ... Tyler Howsley, celebrating his birthday, extended his consecutive games played streak to 168 dating back to the 2015 opener ... Jack Larsen has appeared in 123 straight games, all of them starts ... JD Hearn has appeared in 90 games in a row, all of them starts ... Hearn, Howsley and Larsen are the only Tritons to appear in all 59 games this season, with only Hearn and Larsen starting each ... Adrian Orozco drew his team-leading 15th start of the season and 16th of his Triton career ... Troy Cruz started in the designated hitter spot for the first time this season, but was hit for by Jesse Moore in the first ... Larsen's leadoff walk in the first extended his reached-base streak to 41 games, which now matches the program record for the NCAA Division II era (since 2001), a mark shared by Jeff Riddle (2004) and current teammate Tyler Durna from earlier this season ... Larsen's two walks gave him 138 for his career, second all-time at UCSD behind only Matt Cantele (142) ... Howsley's second-inning sacrifice was his team-best 14th of the season and 35th of his career, a record for the program's Division II era ... Orozco had gone at least 5.0 innings in each of his previous 14 starts in 2017 ... Keenan Brigman's leadoff double in the fourth was his fifth ... Brandon Shirley's double later that same inning was his career-best 10th ... The pinch-hit double by J.T. Williams in the sixth was his fourth, and his eighth-inning steal his second in two tries ... Hearn's eighth-inning leadoff double was his 12th ... Brigman's two hit-by-pitches give him six ... Michael Palos' eighth-inning sacrifice fly was his first ... The two-RBI game was Palos' second, the other May 12 in Stockton ... The Tritons have played nine consecutive games against nationally-ranked opponents (7-2), including six in the top 10 (5-1), and are 9-4 against ranked foes in 2017 ... UCSD is 4-1 in elimination games this postseason ... The Tritons reached double figures in runs for the 15th time in 2017 ... Tuesday's result marked career win No. 300 for head coach Eric Newman, who is 300-196 for his nine years overall and 205-124 at UCSD.
2017 NCAA Division II Baseball Championship Results/Schedule
Saturday, May 27
Game 1 - West Chester 9, North Georgia 4
Game 2 - Lindenwood 4, Delta State 0
Sunday, May 28
Game 3 - St. Thomas Aquinas 6, UC San Diego 5 (12)
Game 4 - Colorado Mesa 10, Quincy 3
Monday, May 29
Game 5 - Delta State 4, North Georgia 0 (UNG eliminated)
Game 6 - West Chester 5, Lindenwood 2
Tuesday, May 30
Game 7 - UC San Diego 10, Quincy 8 (QU eliminated)
Game 8 - St. Thomas Aquinas 3, Colorado Mesa 2 (10)
Wednesday, May 31
Game 9 - Lindenwood vs. UC San Diego (elimination game), 1 p.m. PT
Game 10 - Colorado Mesa vs. Delta State (elimination game), 5 p.m. PT
Thursday, June 1
Game 11 - St. Thomas Aquinas vs. Winner Game 9, 1 p.m. PT
Game 12 - West Chester vs. Winner Game 10, 5 p.m. PT
Friday, June 2
TBD
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