April 5, 2008
Box Score
SAN DIEGO, Calif. - Logan Gelbrich goes yard twice and both James Meador and Jose Valerio tally their first collegiate home runs as the 17th-ranked University of San Diego baseball team cruised their way to a 7-4 win over Gonzaga University Saturday afternoon at Cunningham Stadium in a West Coast Conference game.
Meador, Gelbrich and Valerio all went 3-for-4 with Meador driving in three runs and both Valerio and Gelbrich driving in two runs to lead the Toreros offense as the only three players to record multiple hits.
In the early part of the game it was an I can do what you can do type game as the Toreros were matching the Zags run-for-run over the first four innings. The Zags got on the boards first as they pushed across one run in the first inning when Ryan Wiegand reached on an error by USD, which allowed Evan Wells, who had singled to lead off the inning.
San Diego then responded with a run of their own in their half of the inning. Kevin Muno got things started with a single and moved to second on a Josh Romanski ground out to the second baseman. Meador then doubled in Muno to tie the score at 1-1.
Gonzaga again scored one run in the top of the second inning as Jason Chatwood hit a sacrifice fly to centerfield, which scored Bryan Winston, who had singled to lead off the inning, to give GU a 2-1 advantage.
The Toreros again matched the Bulldogs as in their half of the inning USD scored one run on two hits. Gelbrich led off the inning with a stand-up double to right center and moved to third on a Kevin Hansen sacrifice bunt. Valerio then drove in Gelbrich with a single to left field to again tie things up at 2-2.
In the top of the fourth inning, the Zags again scored one run to take a 3-2 lead on a Wells sacrifice fly to centerfield, which scored Winston, who had singled.
The Toreros again matched the run as Gelbrich launched his first home run of the game, a solo shot over the left field fence.
After GU scored one run in the top of the fifth inning, the Toreros finally did one better by scoring two runs to take the lead. The two runs came when Meador launched his first collegiate home run over the left field fence, which scored Romanski, who had singled to lead off the inning, giving USD their first lead of the game at 5-4.
The final two USD runs came on solo home runs by Valerio in the sixth inning and Gelbrich in the eighth inning to put the game at its final of 7-4.
Romanski (5-0) picked up the win on the mound for the Toreros as he allowed four runs on nine hits in 5.1 innings of work. Matt Fields (4-2) was saddled with the loss for the Zags as he allowed six runs on 10 hits in 6.0 innings of work.
The Toreros and Bulldogs will conclude their three-game series on Sunday with a 1 p.m. game at USD's Cunningham Stadium.
