Keizer, OR –They were the better team for seven innings, but the Cal State Dominguez Hills baseball team eventually felt the pressure as they fell 11-10 to a familiar foe in No. 2 UC San Diego in today's NCAA West Region opener. Paul-Michael Klingsberg fanned one batter in his 1.2 innings of duty to pick up the loss while Jon Alia belted a solo shot in the third for his 19th homer of the season.
On only the game’s first pitch, Carlos Leyva was one foot shy of a lead-off home run with his blast landing just shy of the top of the fence. Eying home plate from second base, eight pitches later Leyva gave CSUDH their first run with Andrew Baslow driving him in.
Starter Kody Kurowski gave up only four earned runs in his appearance, all scored on two outs, while fanning two of his batters.
In stark contrast to the two teams' last meeting, a 2-1 pitcher's duel in the opening game of the CCAA Tournament, the offenses combined for a total of 29 hits, 16 courtesy of the Toros.
Tied at 1-1 in the first, the Toros started to get hot, notching two more in the second due in whole to Derrek Duarte and John Skala, both leaders on the day.
Home run king Alia notched one more RBI, four more bases and his 19th homer of the season in the third inning to tie the CSUDH single-season record.
Though grabbing two more runs in the fifth inning, the Toros saw an important opportunity slip away with the bases juiced and one out, only to leave all runners aboard as the Tritons escaped by retiring the next two batters.
With the score close and the game putting fans on the edge of their seats, CSUDH rallied in a powerhouse seventh inning. Duarte, then Skala and finally Luis Perez belted a trio of doubles to lead off the inning and give way to four more on the board, increasing the lead to a healthy 10-6.
The Tritons, feeding off the same plate intensity that carried the Toros, used a timely Vance Albitz double to drive in two of their own before erasing CSUDH’s prior efforts and bringing the game to a 10-9 count.
With no runs on the board in the eighth for the Toros, CSUDH finally saw its game-long lead come to an end as UCSD took full advantage of two singles and a passed ball to grab two more runs and the lead at 11-10. Normally a one-inning closer, Klingsberg became the pitcher of record in his second inning of duty.
The Toros had no answer in the top of the ninth, closing out the game in three batters and taking their first loss in the West Region tournament.
Overall, two errors, two wild pitches and two passed balls were the Toros' downfall as the Tritons had no errors or passed balls, and just a single wild pitch to their credit.
CSUDH outhit UCSD 16-to-13 with seven doubles to clearly hold the plate advantage.
Hitting leaders on the day included Skala (2-of-4) and Duarte (2-of-5), both of whom tallied two RBIs.
From the mound, the Toros saw a total of four pitchers with starter Kurowski going 4.1 innings, fanning two batters and allowing four earned runs. Closing the game and taking the loss was Klingsberg who fanned a single batter and allowed only one run.
Now with a 34-22 overall record, the Toros will face off against another CCAA foe in No. 11 Sonoma State tomorrow at 2:00pm, in the first elimination contest of the West Region Tournament.