UCSD Takes 10-Inning Baseball Game from Toros
March 4, 2004

Courtesy UC San Diego Sports Information Office

Complete Box Score

UC San Diego came back from a 5-4 deficit late to defeat Cal State Dominguez Hills 6-5 in 10 innings in the opener of a four-game California Collegiate Athletic Association baseball series at UCSD's Triton Baseball Field on Thursday afternoon.

Junior centerfielder Brad Beltz, who had entered the game as a pinch-runner in the eighth inning, opened the 10th inning with a triple to left-center that just eluded senior Toro leftfielder Jason Flores as he made a diving attempt for it. Junior Alex Gascon then poked a base hit to right field to give the home side the victory.

Sophomore Ryan Leake, a transfer from the University of Nevada, earned the win in relief of starter Byron Grubman, throwing 2.2 innings of scoreless baseball to improve to a perfect 3-0. Grubman, coming off his second complete game this season, allowed 12 hits and five runs, all earned, in 7.1 innings of work. He walked one and struck out four. Leake also walked one, and fanned three Toro batters. Freshman James Dodson (1-2) took the loss for CSUDH in relief of freshman starter Gustavo Hernandez.

Gascon finished two-for-four with the game-winning RBI, a run and a sacrifice, in addition to several sparkling defensive plays at third base. Sophomore rightfielder Damian Fante was three-for-five while junior first baseman Brian Robinson also added a pair of hits, including an RBI single which plated Beltz to make it a 5-5 game in the eighth.

Senior rightfielder Zach Cort and junior first baseman Ian Corso each went two-for-five with two RBI for the Toros, while Flores, junior shortstop Chris Martinez and freshman second baseman Pedro Montero all had two hits. Martinez and sophomore centerfielder Fred Medina scored two runs apiece.hth.

UCSD had jumped out to a 3-0 lead with one run in the first and two more in the second, before Cal State Dominguez Hills inched back to tie it with one in the third and two in the fifth. The Tritons regained the advantage with a single run in their half of the fifth, on a sacrifice fly by senior leftfielder Josh Saunders, but the visitors struck for a pair in the seventh to take their first lead of the game before UCSD scored the final two runs of the contest.

With the win, the Tritons improve to 13-8 overall, 6-5 in the CCAA. Cal State Dominguez Hills drops to 6-16 overall, 2-11 in league play.

These two teams continue their four-game set with another single game at Triton Baseball Field at 2:30 PM on Friday afternoon. The series will then shift north to Carson for a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at 12:00 PM at Toro Field.