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LA JOLLA, Calif. - The second day of competition at the 2012 California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) Baseball Tournament Friday saw UC San Diego and Sonoma State earn spots in the title game while Cal State San Bernardino and Chico State were eliminated from play. UCSD, the tourney's host and No. 1 seed, will be looking for its fourth straight crown Saturday at Triton Ballpark.
The day began with Sonoma State knocking Cal State San Bernardino out of the double elimination tournament with a 3-2 win. UC San Diego then topped Chico State, 9-1, to advance to Saturday's championship game and relegate the Wildcats to an elimination game against Sonoma State. The Seawolves again came up big and sent Chico packing by taking a 5-1 victory in the day's final match-up.
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Game Three (Sonoma State 3, Cal State San Bernardino 2): Friday's action kicked off with a bizarre victory for fourth-seeded Sonoma State, which defeated No. 3-seed Cal State San Bernardino, 3-2, in a fast-paced elimination game.
Down 2-1 heading into the bottom of the ninth inning, Sonoma's Steven Filippi led off with a single and took second on a sacrifice bunt. He then moved to third on a wild pitch by Coyote reliever Kerry Kelley. Filippi scored the tying run on a fielder's choice by Jeff Boulware, who reached second on the play due to an infield error. Josh Pond replaced Kelley on the mound and promptly struck out the first batter he faced for the second out. However, he unleashed a wild pitch that moved Boulware to third. Following an intentional walk, Pond balked, allowing Boulware to cross the plate for the game-winning run.
Taylor Herbert earned the win in a relief role and improved to 3-5 on the season. Kelley dropped to 4-2 with the loss.
The Coyotes out-hit the Seawolves, 9-7, as Brandon Day, Eric Dow and Matt Haney all had two hits apiece. Paul Eshleman tripled in the ninth to drive in a run.
For the Seawolves, Filippi and Marcus Kimura each had two hits.
Sonoma State took a 1-0 lead with a single run in the third inning. The scoreboard remained untouched until San Bernardino tallied two runs in the top of the ninth.
The Coyotes had several opportunities to put more runs up as they had runners in scoring position in seven of the nine innings. They had a player in scoring position with only one out in five of those seven innings. Prior to tying the game, the Coyotes were 0-for-11 with runners in scoring position and they left 11 stranded on base in the game.
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Game Four (UC San Diego 9, Chico State 1): UCSD (31-21) clinched a spot in Saturday's championship final with a convincing 9-1 win over 27th-ranked Chico State in a winner's bracket game.
The Tritons led 4-1 after four innings of play and broke it open in the seventh with five runs, four of those coming off a grand slam home run by Scott Liske. It was Liske's fourth long ball of the season, which is tied for the team lead.
Several other Tritons also had big days at the plate. Freshman catcher Brett Levy was 3-for-4 with two runs, an RBI, a double and a triple. First baseman Richard Seigel also had three hits, while Spencer Frazier, Nick La Face and Liske finished with two hits each. Seigel doubled and stole a pair of bases.
The Tritons out-hit the Wildcats 14-5.
UCSD starter Ryan Goodbrand shined on the mound as he went eight innings, giving up just the one run on five hits while striking out five and walking none.
Ryan O'Shea (3-2) took the loss, giving up four runs (three earned), seven hits and three walks while fanning four.
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Game Five (Sonoma State 5, Chico State 1): Concluding the second day of action, Sonoma State perservered with another victory in a must-win situation, topping Chico State 5-1.
Harmen Sidhu (7-1) was brilliant on the mound for the Seawolves, throwing a complete game in which he struck out eight while allowing five hits. Sidhu kept the Wildcats hitless through 3.2 innings.
"It was exactly what we needed," said Sonoma State head coach John Goelz about Sidhu. "He's a really competitive kid, he pitched well. At the end of the game, he threw a little change-up late in the game and kept them off-balance, so you have to tip your hat to him. He was really a good competitor, he hung in there and did a great job for us."
Hot bats were in abundance for SSU, which out-hit CSUC, 16-5. Jeff Johnson and Justin Serrao each totaled three hits, while Jeff Boulware, Steven Filippi and Joel Thys all had two each. Johnson tripled and Serrao drove in three runs.
Wildcat starter Luke Barker (5-3) took the loss. Over the course of 4.1 innings, he gave up three runs (two earned), nine hits and a walk and struck out five batters.
Sonoma State led 5-0 before Chico State scored its lone run in the bottom of the seventh. The Seawolves left 13 runners on base.
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Saturday's title game between UCSD and SSU gets underway at noon. If necessary, a second and final game will follow. For complete tournament information, please visit the CCAA's Tournament Central page.
- UCSDtritons.com -
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