Baseball Team Headed to College Division II World Series for First Time

May 18, 2009

UCSD's baseball team celebrates after winning the NCAA West Regionals by defeating Sonoma State Sunday. (Photo / Naomi Stukey)

UC San Diego’s baseball team will make its first-ever appearance in the Division II World Series this weekend after capturing the NCAA West Regional Title Sunday.

The Tritons, second-ranked in the nation for Division II, defeated Sonoma State 12-4 in Keizer, Ore. Victory came in a dramatic fashion, after UCSD broke open a tied game in the top of the ninth with eight runs.

“This team is playing the best baseball of the year at the right time,” said Head Coach Dan O’Brien after the game.

The game brought back memories for O’Brien, who was the captain of UCSD’s team back in 1994, when the Tritons finished third in the NCAA Division III World Series. “Some of the feelings came back as we made the final out,” he said.  “This is different. It is all about the guys on the field who made this happen.”

The Tritons are now 6-1 in the postseason, going 3-0 at the CCAA tournament and 3-1 at the NCAA West Regional. UC San Diego’s first match-up in the World Series will take place Sunday, May 24 when it takes on the East Regional Champion. The game is slated to begin at 1 p.m. Eastern Time at the USA Baseball National Training Complex in Cary, N.C.

Team members celebrate their victory on the field.
(Photo / Naomi Stukey)

The Tritons sent 13 batters to the plate in the ninth inning. Robert Sedin’s double gave his team the lead and Tim Mort added a bases-loaded double to break open the game.  Tim Shibuya earned the win out of the bullpen and Vance Albitz was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player.

Shibuya pitched 2.2 innings of relief to earn the win.  Kirby St. John was the starting pitcher, going 5.0 innings and allowing three runs while Ryland MacFadyen also saw action pitching 1.1 innings allowing one run. Shibuya improves to 8-4 on the season.

Tim Shibuya pitching last weekend in Oregon. (Photo / Naomi Stukey)

Offensively, Brandon Gregorich and Matt Cantele homered, each giving the Tritons the lead. UCSD did most of its damage in the ninth inning, scoring eight runs on eight hits.
Albitz led a trio of Tritons with three hits as Gregorich and Cantele had three hits as well.  “We always have guys on this team stepping up,” said Albitz, the tournament MVP.

In the first inning, Albitz led off with a double off the right field wall and advanced to third on Josh Tanner’s ground out. Garrett Imeson followed with an RBI groundout to shortstop and the Tritons scored the first run of the game. In the bottom of the first, Ryan Stevens hit an RBI single up the middle with two outs to tie the game at 1-1.

With two outs in the UCSD fourth, Gregorich hit a 3-2 pitch over the left field wall and the Tritons grabbed a 2-1 lead. The homerun was Gregorich’s seventh homerun of the season. In the fourth, the Seawolves answered with a two-out solo homerun by Brian Wright to tie the game at 2-2. In the sixth, Ian Bridges hit an RBI fielders’ choice to put Sonoma State up 3-2.

Josh Tanner and the Tritons entered the NCAA Postseason as the No. 1 team in the region.
(Photo / Jimmy Gekas)

In the top of the seventh, Gregorich singled and Cantele hit a two-run homerun to right field, giving the Tritons a 4-3 lead. The homerun was Cantele’s eighth of the year and 56th of his UCSD career.

With runners on the corners and one out, Joe Slater singled through the right side for an RBI to tie the game at 4-4. Mort threw a strike from right field to get the trail runner trying to advance to third for the second out. Shibuya got the next batter to line out to shortstop and the game remained tied.

In the UCSD ninth, Gregorich led off with a single to left and Sedin doubled to left center for the go-ahead run at 5-4 UCSD. Cantele followed with a single to center to put runners on the corners with no outs and Kellen Lee was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Mort found the left center gap for a bases clearing double and the Tritons went ahead 8-4. Albitz followed with a double to left to put runners in scoring position.  Tanner picked up two RBI on a single up the middle and UCSD went ahead 10-4. With one out, Sedin singled through the left side for two RBI and UCSD had 12 runs.