PALM SPRINGS, CA–It’s not often, on a 103-degree day without a cloud in the sky, that you see a baseball game delayed, but that’s what happened here Thursday at Palm Springs Stadium. A pair of cherry-picker cranes that were in center field (presumably, to hang or drop an advertising banner) broke down prior to the CCAA Conference Tournament opener between top-seed UC San Diego and Cal State Dominguez Hills, leading to an hour delay as a flatbed tow truck was called to the scene. Once the action began, the Tritons started picking it on the field, making several dazzling defensive plays on route to a 2-1 victory which propelled them into the tournament semi-finals.
The game featured two all-CCAA starting pitchers in UCSD right-hander Tim Shibuya (6-4, 1.85 ERA) and CSUDH left-hander Kody Kurowski (7-3, 2.89). Shibuya showed why he is a promising sophomore staff ace, working quickly and using both sides of the plate effectively with a fastball, slider and change. He was helped out repeatedly by his defense, with shortstop Vance Albitz making several outstanding throws from deep short. Second baseman Garrett Imeson and right-fielder Tim Mort also made diving stops to prevent Toro hits.
Kurowski also pitched well, but was touched up for two soft runs in the 2nd inning. UCSD first baseman Brandon Gregorich led off with a flare single to right. Mort tried to bunt him to second, and Kurowski threw for the lead runner, but his throw to second was not in time (and skittered into center field). Tritons’ catcher Kellen Lee then laid down a perfect bunt inside the third-base line to load the bases with nobody out. A sac fly by #9 hitter Robert Sedin scored the game’s first run, and an Albitz RBI single made it 2-0 UCSD.
That was it for the Tritons’ offense, though, and UCSD stranded a runner at third base in each of the last four innings, keeping CSUDH in the game. Toros’ all-conference slugger Jon Alia then took advantage of the cozy conditions at scorching-hot Palm Springs Stadium to make it a one-run game. Alia, the conference Player Of The Year, lofted a lazy fly ball to center leading off the 6th, but with dead-center field pegged at just 375 feet away(!), that lazy fly ball floated over the fence for Alia’s 18th homerun of the season, making it 2-1.
Shibuya settled down after the homerun, and UCSD tried to answer back in the bottom of the 6th. Evan Kehoe led off with a double, but failed to get a good jump on Gregorich’s double to the right-field wall, and Toros’ outfielder Andrew Baslow threw out Kehoe at home from the base of the right-field fence to keep the game a one-run affair.
The final CSUDH threat came in the 8th, when Baslow led off with a single and was wild-pitched to second base. With the dangerous Alia at the plate, UCSD head coach Dan O’Brien called on his closer Guido Knudsen. The right-hander fell behind Alia 3-0 before coming back to strike him out on three straight fastballs. Knudsen allowed a single in the 9th but nothing else, recording six outs for his 9th save of the season.
The Tritons will now play Sonoma State at 3pm on Friday, with the winner advancing to Saturday’s CCAA Championship Game. The loser will have to play an elimination game at 7pm today, against the winner between the 11am loser’s bracket game between CSULA and CSUDH. You can follow the action with my live play-by-play call starting at 3pm today on ucsdtritons.com.
– Elsten
Craig Elsten -
Chris Ello -
Chainsaw -
