Coyotes stun UC San Diego 4-1

Junior right-hander Daniel Stenavich scattered seven hits and allowed one unearned run and Jesus Beltran drove in two runs Thursday as Cal State San Bernardino defeated No. 6-ranked UC San Diego, 4-1, in the opening game of their four-game CCAA baseball series.

        The victory improved the Coyotes to 19-20 on the season and 13-15 in the CCAA while UCSD, ranked No.1 in the West Region, is now 27-11 overall and 21-8 in the CCAA. The two teams meet at 3 p.m. Friday at Arrowhead Credit Union Park.

        Stenavich (4-1), a transfer from Southwestern College in Chula Vista, went the distance for his second complete game of the season, striking out five, walking none in a tidy 2 hours and 10 minutes. UCSD's ace      Tim Shibuya (6-3), who came into the game with a 1.53 ERA in 10 starts, yielded four runs, three earned, in eight innings and fanned five batters.

        Beltran and Cody Madison each had two hits for the Coyotes while Tim Mort, Matt Cantele and Evan Kehoe each had two hits for the Tritons, all singles. CSUSB's Chris Olsen had the game's only extra base hit, a double to drive in a run in the second.

        The win snapped a four-game Coyotes losing streak. CSUSB was 1-8 over its last nine games entering the contest.

        The Coyotes nicked Shibuya for a pair of runs in the second as Beltran led off with a single, was sacrificed to second and scored on a single to left center by Madison, who took second on the throw home.     Olsen then doubled to the wall in right to knock in Madison.

        CSUSB made it 3-0 in the third when Kyle Davis was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning then moved to second when Shibuya’s pickoff attempt sailed into foul territory. Brent Planck's single moved Davis to third and he scored on Beltran's sacrifice fly to right.

        The Tritons had their best shot at Stenavich in the fifth as Mort singled to center, Robert Sedin reached base on an error. With one out, Josh Tanner singled to right to load the bases then Vance Albitz brought Mort home with a sacrifice fly to center. Stenavich escaped further damage by getting Garrett Imeson to foul out to third.

        In the bottom of the fifth, Planck was hit by a pitch, took second on a groundout and scored on Beltran’s single through the left side, barely beating the throw home to make it 4-1.
        Stenavich allowed only three hits over the final four innings to collect the victory as the Tritons stranded seven runners.