UC San Diego Rallies to Earn Place in West Super Regional

May 19, 2019

LA JOLLA, Calif. - It took two on Saturday, but the UC San Diego Tritons are moving on after splitting the day and winning West Regional #2 after a best-of-three series against city rival Point Loma at Triton Ballpark.

Second-seeded UC San Diego will now travel to face top seed Azusa Pacific in a best-of-three NCAA Super Regional, with Game 1 on Friday, May 24, at 1 p.m., Game 2 on Saturday, May 25, at noon, and an if-necessary Game 3 slated for a 3:30 p.m. start on Saturday. 2019 marks the first year of Super Regional play in NCAA Division II.

In the first game of the day, the Sea Lions were the ones overturning a deficit powered by a four-run seventh inning to claim the lead which they would never relinquish. In that frame, Point Loma started with a single and a walk before Micah Pries was able to knock in Travis Takata. Then, the visiting team took the lead off of back-to-back scores on wild pitches by UC San Diego. The fourth run came off another single, this time off the batt of Justin Ledgerwood, to set the score at 7-5.

The Sea Lions added an insurance run in the top of the ninth, which proved to be necessary for extending the day after UC San Diego staged a comeback in the bottom of the ninth. After an early out, back to back singles and a walk for Steven Schuknecht loaded the bases. The inning’s second out came with a swing and a miss at the plate, but Jerry Quemada walked in a run after Alex Athanacio’s five-pitch at bat. A fielding error at short, his second of the game allowed the Tritons to pull within one and keep the bases loaded with two outs.

Head coach Eric Newman turned to the bat of Logan White in a pinch-hitting situation, but this time shortstop Miguel Cazares was able to secure the out and force an “if necessary” scenario in the bracket.

In the second game, UC San Diego got off to a hot start, plating three in the first half of action, playing as the designated visitors. Blake Baumgartner’s two-out double to score R.J. Prince was followed by a two-run blast over the centerfield wall for Aaron Kim. The homer out to straightaway center is the second long ball to find its way over the wall this season, and just the second for a Triton in the memory banks for Newman during his eight-year tenure.

Point Loma again battled with a four-run inning, this time coming in the fifth after doubles for Takata and Pries again started off the scoring. A throwing error for UC San Diego second baseman Keenan Brigman allowed two more across for Point Loma to make the score 5-3 in favor of the Sea Lions and forced the Tritons to rally yet again.

The sixth saw Brigman lay down a sacrifice bunt to pull UC San Diego to within one, and after the seventh inning started with a Point Loma pitching change, Whitcomb roped a homerun over the fence to knot the game at five. The Tritons worked to load the bases and force a second pitching switch in the inning before the Sea Lions got the first out of the inning. Brigman was able to put bat to ball to give UC San Diego the lead and another run was recorded after Brandon Stewart worked the count to walk in a run.

The score going remain at 7-5 in favor of the Tritons for the duration, and Kyle Lucke came in to pitch the ninth and propel UC San Diego forward in the bracket after Cazares flied out to right center and Pries struck out swinging. The last batter of the night, pinch hitter Jarret Linsday saw three pitches from the senior righty, with two called strikes followed by a swing and a miss to start the celebration.
The Triton now advance to take on No. 1 seed Azusa Pacific in the West Super Regional after the Cougars dispatched Cal Poly Pomona 19-2 Saturday to win the best-of-three with the Broncos in two games.

Cal Poly Pomona, the CCAA Tournament Champion and league’s automatic qualifier into the NCAA brackets have now wrapped up their sixth-straight 30-plus win season.

Drew Cowley got the Broncos off to a hot start after Cal Poly Pomona loaded the bases, bringing Patrick Vizcaino and Nick Peifer home to score for the 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning. However, Cowley's RBI single would be the last Broncos hit until the ninth inning. Meanwhile, the Cougars batters were ablaze, including a four-run first inning to reclaim the lead and a nine-run sixth to put the game well out of reach.

Now, the two-time reigning West Region champion Tritons get to continue in their quest to defend their back-to-back titles. They will head to Azusa this week for the best-of-three West Super Regional on Friday and Saturday after the No. 1 and 2 seeds and Regional hosts both were able to capitalize on home field advantage to advance in the brackets.

This will mark a third straight year that UC San Diego's run to the NCAA Championship has taken it through Azusa. The Tritons swept the previous incarnation of the six-team West Regional there in each of the past two seasons, including three victories over the host Cougars.

UC San Diego is making a sixth NCAA appearance in eight seasons under head coach Eric Newman. Remarkably, Newman’s Tritons are one of the last two teams left standing in the West for the fifth straight time that they have participated, with runner-up efforts in 2014 and 2015, ahead of the last two West Region crowns.

Thursday, May 16
Game 1 (APU regional): No. 5 Cal Poly Pomona 11, No. 4 Cal State Monterey Bay 6 | box score | CPP postgame | CSUMB postgame
Game 1 (UCSD regional): No. 3 Point Loma 3, No. 6 MSU Billings 2

Friday, May 17
Game 2 (APU regional): No. 1 Azusa Pacific 4, No. 4 Cal State Monterey Bay 3 | box score | CSUMB postgame
Game 2 (UCSD regional): No. 2 UC San Diego 7, No. 6 MSU Billings 5 | box score
Game 3 (APU regional): No. 1 Azusa Pacific 15, No. 5 Cal Poly Pomona 3 | box score | CPP postgame
Game 3 (UCSD regional): No. 2 UC San Diego 11, No. 3 Point Loma 4 | box score | UCSD postgame

Saturday, May 18
Game 4 (APU regional): No. 1 Azusa Pacific 19 No. 5 Cal Poly Pomona 2 | box score | CPP postgame
Game 4 (UCSD regional): No. 3 Point Loma 8, No. 2 UC San Diego 7 | box score
Game 5 (UCSD regional): If necessary, No. 2 UC San Diego 7, No. 3 Point Loma 5 | box score | UCSD postgame