Tritons Topple Jacks, Win Series in Flagstaff

This past weekend, April 1st and 2nd, UC San Diego Club Baseball traveled up to Flagstaff, AZ to take on the Northern Arizona University Lumberjacks. Snow on Friday put the weekend series in question but the sun melted away the snow as well as the Triton’s ice cold bats as the offense finally woke up this weekend allowing the Tritons to win 2 of 3 games. In game 1, Shane Aldas took to the mound and fired 5 strong innings and helped himself at the plate by hitting a home run and a double, totalling 4 RBIs in the game. More offense came from home runs by Bobby Young and Shane Sudsbury as well as a 4-4 performance by Hunter Woodruff to help the Tritons score 12 runs in the ballgame. NAU made the game interesting late, but Yousef Koutnik was able to shut the door on the Jacks and secure a 12-10 victory for the Tritons. In game 2, Yousef Koutnik started for the Tritons and was able to throw a complete game against NAU and pick up the win. Koutnik was aided by another very strong offensive performance from the Tritons highlighted by another home run from Shane Aldas as well as long balls off the bats of Seamus Beyerle and Alec Lopez. Shaky defense in the late innings helped NAU scratch their way back once more, but again they would fall short as UC San Diego held on to win 9-6. In game 3, the Tritons sent Yuki Komine to the mound looking to sweep the 3 game series. Things were looking good early on for the Tritons as they scored 2 runs in the first inning off of an Alec Lopez double, but NAU would fight back to tie the game at 2 after one inning of play. NAU’s offense kept at it in this game, giving themselves an 8-2 lead heading into the last inning. The Tritons did their best to come back, scoring 3 runs and bringing the tying run to the plate, but NAU would end up winning the game 8-5. UC San Diego Club Baseball now moves to 3-9 in conference play and will end their conference season by hosting the USD Toreros on April 22nd and 23rd at Bonita Vista High School.