Box Score A first-inning triple play set the tone, and an eigth-inning
Scott Clement home run sealed a 4-3 home victory for Cougar baseball over Trinity International on Wednesday.
The highlight of the game was the triple play, the first in CSUSM baseball's three-year history. Cougar starter
Steve Triolo was in a bit of trouble early, allowing a leadoff walk and an infield single to put two on with no outs in the first. But he would get out of it in swift and unlikely fashion. Trinity's Scott Lawson hit a sharp grounder to Cougar third baseman
Austin Coleman, who stepped on the bag, pivoted and quickly fired a throw to second baseman
Louie Russo, who made an equally quick turn and throw to first baseman
Mike Pena, getting the runner by a couple steps and putting a quick end to the rally.
Triolo made a habit of working out of trouble on Wednesday, consistently making big pitches in big spots. He went 5 innings, scattering 5 hits and 3 walks while allowing just 1 earned run and striking out 2.
He left with a 3-2 lead, with CSUSM scoring a run in the second and a pair in the fourth on a two-out two-RBI single by Coleman. Trinity would tie it in the sixth off reliever Morgan Wynne, but Wynne turned in a solid outing overall, throwing three innings of one-run ball.
The game would remain tied until the eighth, when Cougar outfielder Scott Clement continued his hot hitting with a leadoff bomb to left. Clement, who hit a clutch three-run shot in yesterday's game at Biola, now has 5 home runs on the season.
And that run would prove to be the game winner, thanks to a dominant effort by Chris Skaalen in the ninth. The Cougar reliever didn't let Trinity entertain any thoughts of a comeback, striking out the side in order to close out the game. Wynne picked up the win and Skaalen tallied the well-deserved save.
The Cougars continue their busy schedule this week tomorrow at Mission Bay HS against La Sierra.
