Toros Drop Pair at No. 3 UC San Diego to Split Series

Junior Ricky Vasquez notched four hits, a run and an RBI on the day

LA JOLLA -- With two victories in hand against the third ranked UC San Diego Tritons, the Cal State Dominguez Hills Toros were denied their first CCAA series victory after being swept by the Tritons in La Jolla. The Tritons staged a come-from-behind 10-8 victory in game one before leading wire-to-wire in a 7-0 game two win. Junior third baseman Ricky Vasquez had a team high four total hits on the day to go along with a run and an RBI.

Following a scoreless first inning in game one, the Tritons scored the first run of the game in the bottom of the second. However, it was the Toros who escaped the inning with momentum as UCSD loaded the bases with no out but had their rally killed by a double play followed by a runner being thrown out at home to end the inning. The Toros took the lead at 2-1 in the next half inning, highlighted by an RBI triple by Kevin Pillar.

It appeared that the UCSD pitching was solved again by the CSUDH hitters in the top of fourth as their lead grew from one to five runs. Three doubles were surrounded by two singles and led to four runs in what would prove to be the game deciding inning. In the bottom half of the frame, the Tritons swung the game over to their dugout by scoring six runs to take a one-run lead into the fifth.

A Vasquez sac fly scored Drew Rodela to knot the game at seven before UCSD once again took the lead in the bottom half, this time on a two out wild pitch. UC San Diego added two more two-out runs in the bottom of the seventh while a short-lived Toro rally in the top of the ninth resulted in only one run, setting game one's final in favor of the Tritons by a 10-8 count.

UC San Diego struck first in game two, scoring one run in the first two innings of play. The Toros notched a hit in each of the first four innings but stranded all five base runners it produced.

A four-run bottom of the fifth for the Tritons was highlighted by a two-run triple in the left center field gap. The final margin for game two was 7-0 UCSD to split the regular season series.

The Cal State Dominguez Hills Toros will return to action Thursday, March 17 on the road against CCAA foe Cal State San Bernardino, with first pitch set for 3:00pm.

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