April 24, 2005
Box Score
(Portland, OR) - Nik Kosach hit a go-ahead solo homerun in the bottom of the eighth inning as Portland rallied to defeat San Diego 4-3 Sunday afternoon at Joe Etzel Field. San Diego (25-21-1; 11-10 WCC) and Portland (14-25; 5-14 WCC) entered the eighth inning tied at three before Kosach's second homerun of the season allowed the Pilots to win the decisive game of the weekend series. Torero outfielder Shane Buschini went 4-for-4, extending his current hitting-streak to 11 games.
San Diego used the momentum of winning Game Two of the series earlier in the day by a score of 9-4 by jumping out to an early 2-0 lead in Sunday afternoon's series finale.
With USD still leading 2-0 in the sixth, Portland first baseman Matt Peters hit a two-run homer off Torero freshman starter Matt Couch to put the Pilots ahead 3-2. Matt Couch pitched six-plus innings of three-run baseball in his fifth consecutive weekend start.
San Diego immediately answered with a run in the top of the seventh on a two-out RBI-double off the bat of Steve Singleton. Singleton leads all USD players with 15 doubles.
The Pilots put runners at the corners with two-outs in the bottom of the seventh off Couch, prompting USD head coach Rich Hill to make a pitching change. Torero closer Matt Falk (3-3) came on and induced an inning-ending groundout to keep the score even at 3-3.
After Kosach homered off Falk an inning later, USD rallied to load up the bases in the top of the ninth. Randy Curtis led off the Torero ninth with a single and Buschini followed with his fourth hit. Jamie Hesselgesser was then hit by a pitch, putting the tying run 90-feet away.
Portland reliever Steven Ball (2-3) struck out USD freshman Logan Gelbrich to end the game and the series, giving Portland its second WCC series win of the season.
