Box Score

La Jolla, CA – Stepping up against the 16th best NCAA Division II team in the country in UC San Diego, the Academy of Art University baseball team held its own early on Friday night. UCSD, however, put together rallies in the middle portion of the game to eventually earn a 15-1 victory over the Urban Knights at Triton Ballpark. Senior infielder Darnell Quinney went 1-for-3 with a stolen base and a run scored while junior infielder Spencer Roland notched his first run batted in of the season during a fifth-inning ART U push.

“[UCSD] definitely has a solid team,” Head Coach Brian Guinn said. “Their pitcher tonight threw strikes and when you play catch and do fundamental things correctly, you'll be one of the top teams around. When you give a team more than three outs, they're going to capitalize and that was apparent tonight.”

Though the Tritons picked up a pair of runs in the first inning, junior outfielder Niko Leite made a stellar defensive play to get the final out. His throw from centerfield nailed the UCSD runner at third base and effectively prevented an additional score. Another nice play in the field would then end a Triton threat in the second inning when Quinney caught a foul ball alongside the wall. It was a 2-0 lead for UC San Diego through the first three innings.

Freshman righty Wade Broadstreet (0-7) pitched well in his seventh start of the season and had some tough luck in the fourth inning. He had blanked the Triton offense in the second and third innings, before encountering trouble in the frame that followed. A pair of flare singles came early on and then one run was scored on a throwing error before a three-hit rally ensued where UCSD plated four more.

“I thought Wade threw the ball well again tonight,” Coach Guinn said. “He had everything going and settled down after that first inning. We made a few mistakes in the fourth then one thing led to another and suddenly we were down 7-0. Wade threw the ball well again; we just have to play better behind him.”

The Triton's starting pitcher, Tim Shibuya (8-3), appeared to be rolling, but Quinney helped ART U start making things happen against him in the fifth. After hitting a line-drive single to right field, Quinney proceeded to steal second and soon reached third on a groundout. Junior infielder Spencer Roland then brought Quinney home on a single to second base to get ART U on the board, 7-1.

“We just have to put the ball in play,” Coach Guinn said. “We're capable of scoring a lot of runs in an inning, but once we got down 7-0, I think it deflated us a little bit. The difference between a ranked team and a non-ranked ream is defense and not making mistakes. Then throwing strikes is important as well and tonight we were just on the back end of that.”

From that point in the game, the West Region's #2 team kept the pressure on at the plate. The Triton offense steadily built upon its lead over the innings that followed and eventually came away with a 15-1 victory.

Quinney finished the game 1-for-3 with a stolen base as well as a run scored. Assisting with that run, Roland notched his first RBI of the year, going 1-for-3, while freshman outfielder Michael Reyes was 1-for-2. Broadstreet, who pitched a solid first three frames, allowed seven runs on nine hits with two strikeouts in his 4.0 innings on the mound. Academy of Art drops to 6-34 overall and remains 6-18 in PacWest play.

The UCSD combination of K.C. Rentfrow and Nick La Face went 6-for-9 with two home runs, six RBIs, and five runs scored. Shibuya picked up the victory on the mound after lasting 5.0 innings with one run allowed on two hits with four strikeouts. The Tritons improve to 29-12 with the win.

Academy of Art and UC San Diego will play one more game in this series tomorrow, Apr. 23, beginning at 12:00 PM.