Big Seventh-Inning Uprising Brings Baseball Win Over Tritons
March 5, 2004

Courtesy UC San Diego Sports Information Office

Complete Box Score

A day after surrendering a late lead in a 6-5 loss, the Cal State Dominguez Hills baseball team turned a 7-2 deficit into a 12-9 come-from-behind victory of its own over host UC San Diego in the second game of a four-game California Collegiate Athletic Association series at UCSD’s Triton Baseball Field Friday.

The victory moves Cal State Dominguez Hills to 7-16 overall on the year, 3-11 in the CCAA. UCSD falls to 13-9 overall, 6-6 in league play.

The visiting Toros tallied single runs in the first and fourth innings off of junior Triton starter Logan Boutilier. The Tritons then surged ahead to a 7-2 advantage thanks to a three-run fourth and a four-run fifth. An RBI triple by senior catcher Jeff Riddle ignited the run in the fourth, with junior third baseman Alex Gascon providing a two-run double later in the inning.

Cal State Dominguez Hills put together a six-run rally in the seventh inning, however, bringing 11 men to the plate and notching four hits while capitalizing on a pair of Triton errors. For the game, UCSD made four errors. A two-run single by junior first baseman Ian Corso made it a 7-4 game and set up a three-run, game-tying home run by senior leftfielder Jason Flores which just snuck over the leftfield wall. It was his first home run of the year. The Toros added four more runs in the eighth, with two of them coming on bases-loaded walks.

UCSD got a two-run triple by junior second baseman Ricky Pinocchio in the bottom of the ninth inning, and actually brought the tying run to the plate following a walk, but could not get any closer.

Sophomore starter Ryan Owen stayed in the game long enough to pick up the win and improve to 2-3 on the year. He went eight innings, allowing 12 hits and eight runs, all earned. He walked three and struck out six. Freshman Ryan Smith got the final out of the game to earn his fourth save.

Boutilier went 6.1 innings before giving way to Tyler Smith, who allowed the Flores home run and was pinned with the loss to drop to 0-2.

Corso finished three-for-five with two RBI and three runs scored while Flores was three-for-five with four RBI and a pair of runs. Junior shortstop Chris Martinez was a third Toro to go three-for-five on the afternoon, adding an RBI and two runs. Junior rightfielder Jose Montes and junior DH Joey Caira each had two hits. Caira scored twice, and freshman second baseman Pedro Montero had two runs driven in.

For UCSD, Pinocchio wound up with three RBI. Riddle and junior shortstop Keith Hernandez did most of the damage offensively, combining to go seven-for-nine with two RBI and four runs scored. Gascon finished two-for-four with two RBI and a run.

UCSD and CSUDH will conclude their four-game set with a doubleheader at Toro Field in Carson on Saturday. There was a late change made to the start time of the doubleheader, and game one is now slated to begin at 11:00 AM, instead of 12:00 PM.