Down by three in the bottom of the ninth, the UC San Diego Tritons stormed to a four-run bottom of the ninth for a 5-4 victory and took the first two games of the crosstown rivalry series with the San Diego State Aztecs.

It came after a weekend series sweep of Big West Conference foe UC Davis Aggies that included two walk-off wins at the Triton Ballpark.

Third baseman Matt Halbach, who was 0-for-3 before his final plate appearance, delivered the final blow with one out in the bottom of the ninth on a grounder that went over the glove of Aztecs’ second baseman Cade Martinez, sending Jalen Smith to score.

“It wasn’t the best day so far, but there’s no one else I want at the plate than me in that situation,” Halbach said.

The inning started with a leadoff single off the bat of right fielder Brock Kleszcz and a pitching change for the Aztecs, bringing in reliever Issac Araiza for Brian Leonhardt, who had worked five scoreless innings before the ninth.

A pair of pinch hitters followed, striking out and then walking each on five-pitch at bats. A wild pitch brought the two runners into scoring position, allowing Luke Glascoe to knock in a run after he worked the count full.

The Aztecs searched for the final two outs of the ballgame with Connor Abadie, who threw a four-pitch walk to the first batter he faced that forced the bases to load once again. He then hit Patrick Hackworth to bring in a run with the Aztecs' lead dwindling from a three-run lead to just one run.

San Diego State would bring in their fourth pitcher, Xavier Cardenas, who could not get the job done either, throwing a wild pitch that tied the game, allowing Halbach to knock in the game-winning run on the very next pitch.

“I thought we were really competitive … As the fog started coming in some weird stuff started happening, but we competed through it at the end and did a good job in the ninth inning,” head coach Eric Newman said. “This team likes to rally so they’re never out of a game.”

MORE FROM THE GAME:
• Both starting pitchers went three innings, each allowing one run during their respective starts. San Diego State’s Kelena Sauer struck out a season-high four batters while allowing four hits and three walks on 59 pitches.

After allowing a leadoff home run to the game's first batter, UC San Diego’s Zack Ernisse settled down and struck out three hitters over three frames while allowing just one run on 65 pitches.

• Aztecs’ Irvin Weems led off the game with a wall-scraping home run for his second leadoff homer of the season. He also hit a leadoff home run in the first inning of the Aztecs’ 10-2 loss to the UConn Huskies on March 16.

• Tritons’ second baseman Ryson Ujimori went 2-for-3 with a pair of singles. His single in the second inning gave him his first RBI of the year, sending center fielder Luke Saunders to score.

• The Aztecs rallied for a two-run eighth inning that gave them a 3-1 lead after TJ Fondtain and Poncho Ruiz hit back-to-back run-scoring doubles. SDSU added on another insurance run in the top of the ninth after Cole Carrigg hit a leadoff triple and scored on a throwing error by Tritons catcher Bradlee Preap during a rundown on an attempt to steal home.