Box Score

LA JOLLA -- Cal State L.A.'s baseball team opened its four-game California Collegiate Athletic Association series against No. 3 UC San Diego with one of its cleanest wins of the season.

Three Golden Eagle pitchers combined to hold the Tritons to eight hits and a single run and Cal State L.A. got just enough offense to post a 2-1 victory Thursday at Triton Field. Cal State L.A. (17-21, 15-14 CCAA) did not commit an error and its three pitchers issued only one walk to the CCAA leaders.

Freshman Matt Clark was outstanding in his first start for the Golden Eagles. He went 5 1/3 innings and gave up only six hits and one run. He did not walk a batter and the only run scored on a UC San Diego double steal after he had left the game with one out and runners on first and third. The Golden Eagles got the runner on first out while the run scored for the second out of the inning and Cliff Quick got the last out of the inning to preserve the 2-1 lead.

Quick carried the game into the ninth inning when Matt Stropoli came on and retired all three batters he faced -- two by strikeout -- to pick up his third save of the season.

Cal State L.A. picked up nine hits -- eight of them singles -- but did its only scoring in the first two innings of the game. The Golden Eagles got single runs in the first and second innings and Clark, Quick and Stropoli made them stand up.

Sam Wiley was 3-for-4 with one RBI for the Golden Eagles, while Jesus Campos was 2-4. 

Tim Shibuya pitched a complete game for the Tritons (34-6, 24-5 CCAA), allowing the nine hits and walking two while striking out three. UC San Diego leads the conference and is ranked third in the country.

Brandon Gregorich had two hits for the Tritons, while Aaron Bauman had one hit and scored the lone UC San Diego run.

Cal State L.A. took a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Chris Matzner singled with one out and Mario Ramirez drew a walk. Wiley followed with a run-scoring single to drive in Matzner with the game's first run.

The Golden Eagles struck again in the second. Joe Park doubled down the left-field line with two outs and scored on a single up the middle by Matt Miraldi.

Clark blanked the Tritons over the first five innings before leaving with one out in the sixth after giving up a double to Bauman and a single to Brandon Gregorich. Quick entered the game and the Golden Eagles promptly got Gregorich in a run-down between first and second. Ramirez, the catcher, threw to Campos, who tossed the ball to first baseman Wiley for the out. While that was going on, Bauman scored from third.

Quick allowed a one-out single to Robert Sedin in the seventh, but Ramirez threw him out trying to steal second. Quick then worked around a two-out walk in the eighth before turning things over to Stropoli.

The Golden Eagles had their best chance of extending their lead when they loaded the bases in the seventh with one out but didn't score. They also left two runners on base in the ninth.

For the game, Cal State L.A. stranded nine runners, while UC San Diego left on six.

Cal State L.A. will return to action on Friday with a single game at UC San Diego beginning at 3 p.m.