SLOW-STARTING TRITONS BEGIN FIRST SEASON IN BIG WEST
UC San Diego dominated in Division II for so long the Tritons didn’t know what it was to stumble out of the gate.
Over the past 15 years, UCSD played its first dozen games each year and more often than not came away with at least a 9-3 record.
The Tritons come into this weekend’s Big West opener at Cal Poly with a 3-9 record.
Welcome to Division I baseball.
UCSD certainly has faced stiffer competition, but at times the Tritons have done as much to beat themselves as the opposition has. Their very first Division I game, which was at San Diego State, looked like it would be a memorable one when they jumped out to a 4-0 lead midway through the game. Six errors later and they were looking at a 10-4 loss.
UCSD lost seven of its first eight games — with three losses against SDSU and four more against USD — before gaining a split of its four-game series against Santa Clara.
“Some of our flaws from years past got covered up a little bit because the level we were at, we were so talented and dominant,” said UCSD head coach Eric Newman, who guided the Tritons to the NCAA Division II national championship series three straight years from 2017-19. “Now, our players are starting to realize that the things that we would talk to them about shoring up, whether it was ball security in the infield, being crisper with how we play catch or executing pitches better in clutch situations. You’re on a more level playing field and playing those games in tighter windows with less margin of error.”
The series split against Santa Clara allowed the Tritons to steady themselves. UCSD highlighted the series with a 10-9 win in the final game, rallying for seven runs over the final three innings and walking off on Blake Baumgartner’s three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning.
“We’re scoring enough
runs to win,” Newman said. “The problem is we’re not doing enough on the other side to keep the other team from scoring.”
UCSD’s pitchers have compiled a 7.32 ERA (opponents are batting .424) and with 26 errors in 12 games have fielded at a .946 clip (opponents have made 18 errors and are at .959). Clean up the pitching and defense and the Tritons expect to be fine.
How many victories that translates to remains to be seen in the challenging Big West, where a preseason coaches poll had UCSD picked for ninth place in the 10-team conference.
UC Santa Barbara, ranked in the top 25 to start the season, was picked for first place. Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State and UC Irvine are traditional powers in the conference. Cal Poly (11-6, 3-1 Big West), which opened conference play last week by winning three of four games against Cal State Northridge, was picked to be in the upper half of the standings as well.
How should UCSD measure success in its first season of Division I competition?
“We’re just trying to get better each week,” Newman said. “I think just playing a little bit better, and with the lessons learned, we could be a middle-of-the-pack team. I don’t think we’re going to finish first, second or third, but we could finish in that middle pack.”
This week: Today-Sunday at Cal Poly, 3 p.m./Noon (DH)/1 p.m.
Toreros update
USD (14-4, 2-1 WCC) resumes conference play following Tuesday’s 6-5 victory at USC that included a fiverun rally — including a pair of runs in the ninth — over the game’s final four innings. It was the 14th win in 16 games for the Toreros.
USD is tied for fourth place in the WCC after taking two of three games last week against Saint Mary’s. Gonzaga, Portland and BYU share the lead after opening conference play with three-game sweeps.
Pacific (7-11, 0-3) was swept by Portland, allowing 39 runs in three games.
This week: Today-Sunday vs. Pacific, 6 p.m./4 p.m./1 p.m.
Aztecs update
San Diego State (11-5, 6-3 Mountain West) hits the road for the first time this season when it travels to San Jose State, which is playing for the first time this season. While this is the sixth week of the season, the Spartans have been sidelined since late January because of COVID-19 concerns within the program.
The Aztecs come into the weekend tied atop the Mountain West standings with UNLV (8-4, 6-3), the only two teams in the MW who are playing better than .500 ball this season.
This week: SaturdaySunday at San Jose State, 1 p.m. (DH)/1 p.m.