SAN DIEGO – A battle between two top 30 ranked teams goes to the Tritons. The No. 29 preseason ranked Point Loma Sea Lions were unable to get a clutch hit when needed and fell to No. 2 UC San Diego Tritons, 4-3, on Monday, Feb. 3.
The Sea Lions got out to an early lead thanks to
Otto Kemp who hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the first to give PLNU a 2-0 lead.
Andrew Amato held the Tritons in check through three innings not allowing a run and getting out of a jam that saw the Tritons threatening with runners at first and third with two outs. UCSD would get to him in the top of the fourth as they pushed three runs across on three hits, one walk, and one hit by pitch.
The Tritons would then tag on another run in the seventh inning. The inning started with a two-error play when the ball scooted under Kemp's glove, trickling into left field.
Brett O'Toole would then bobble the ball allowing the Triton hitter to advance to second. The next UCSD hitter would single to centerfield, but the third base coach would hold the runner at third. The following hitter would hit a sac fly to left-center allowing the runner to score from third and extending the lead to 4-2.
In the bottom half of the seventh PLNU took advantage of two UC San Diego errors. The first two Sea Lion hitters reached base on fielding errors by the Triton shortstop and first basemen, and with runners on the corners Point Loma was looking to get right back in the game. Kemp would dig in at the plate looking to cut the Triton lead down. He was able to do just that when he would hit a sacrifice fly to right field that scored Takata. Point Loma could not scrape across another run in the inning and after seven complete innings trailed 4-3.
In the eighth UCSD would threaten to score again but
Steven Elliott came up big and got a strikeout and a groundout to end the inning and leave the Triton runners stranded at second and third. PLNU looked to gain some momentum after leaving the two UC San Diego baserunners stranded, but could not get much going offensively. Point Loma went three up, three down in the eighth and ninth, unable to knock off the number two team in the country.
Andrew Amato (0-1) received the loss despite keeping the Sea Lions in the ball game for the five innings he pitched. Izaak Martinez received the win for the Tritons and Michael Mitchell would record his first save of the season.
Team Records
Point Loma (1-3, 0-0 PacWest), UC San Diego (4-0, 0-0 CCAA)
News and Notes
>
Travis Takata extended his on-base streak to four games.
> Four of the last seven games between PLNU and UCSD have been decided by one run.
>
Otto Kemp has two home runs in his last two games played.
> This is the first time the teams have met in the regular season since 2015.
Up Next
The Sea Lions will take to the road Thursday, Feb. 6 when they travel to La Jolla, Calif. to take on UC San Diego. The first pitch is scheduled for 5:00 p.m.
