On April the 6th to April the 8th, the UCSD Club Baseball team played a conference series on the road against Arizona State University, with temperatures reaching the mid-90s on Saturday.
In Game 1, UCSD had 8 hits but were only able to put up a single run. The first of two hits from Miguel Moreno supplied the Triton's only RBI. Runners left on base proved to be the difference in the game and UCSD struggled to match ASU’s offensive production. UCSD would fall by a score of 9-1.
As the heat intensified, the Tritons continued to fight into Game 2. UCSD managed to score a run in the top of the first and take an early lead. The Sun Devils immediately answered back by pushing across 6 runs in the bottom half of the inning. Catcher Ray Estrada provided crucial support all weekend, playing significantly more innings behind the plate than usual due to a lack of reserves. He grabbed 2 RBI’s in the 7th, but that would not be enough for UCSD to erase the deficit. Game 2 finished with a score of 10-3, ASU.
Starting pitcher Yousef Koutnik did his best to contain the Sun Devils in Game 3. The ASU offense was only able to score 2 runs in the first 4 innings of play and were slow to get to Koutnik. However, the Triton bats were unable to come through when needed. While ASU scraped across runs throughout the game, UCSD could not bring their runners home. The final score would read 9-0 in favor of ASU. One of the few highlights for the Tritons was rookie Brenden Volker’s breakout day (3-3, BB).
UCSD is scheduled to play the University of Arizona in Tucson on 4/21 and 4/22.
