April 26, 2009
Box Score
SAN DIEGO, Calif. - The University of San Diego baseball team recorded 12 extra base hits en route to a 17-7 win over the University of Portland in a rubber game at USD's Cunningham Stadium Sunday afternoon.
With the win, the Toreros improve to 27-17 overall, move to 10-5 in the West Coast Conference and have claimed the three-game WCC series with the Pilots. With the loss, the Pilots fall to 21-20 overall and 5-10 in the WCC.
Sean Nicol led the USD offense as he went an impressive 4-for-5 with three doubles, one home run and five RBI. Austin Green also looked impressive as he went 2-for-2 with two home runs and three RBI, while Zach Walters, Chris Engell, Tony Strazzara and James Meador all recorded multiple hits on the day.
The Pilots got on the scoreboard first as they scored one run on a Craig Smith solo home run to give Portland an early 1-0 lead.
That lead was short lived, as USD would scored a pair of runs in their half of the inning on a Nicol run-scoring double and a Meador sacrifice fly to centerfield to give USD a 2-1 lead.
The Pilots then scored three runs in the top of the second inning to regain the lead at 4-2. The Portland runs came on Kris Kauppila run-scoring double, a Riley Henricks RBI single and a Bryant Krause run-scoring double.
The Toreros would then score a run in each of the second and third innings to tie the game at 4-4, before a big five-run fourth inning put USD ahead for good. Nick McCoy got things started in the fourth with a high hopping infield single and moved to second on a Bryan Haar ground out to the second baseman. After Michael Lugo drew a walk, Engell drove in McCoy with a single up the middle. Strazzara then reached on a fielding error by the Portland shortstop, which allowed Lugo to score from second, and moved Engell to third and Strazzara to second. Nicol then doubled in the next two runs and Meador capped the scoring for the inning on a RBI single through the left side to give USD a 9-4 lead.
The Pilots then made the game interesting in the top of the fifth as they took back three runs on Kauppila three-run homer to move the score to 9-7. But that is as close as the Pilots would come, as the Toreros went on to score eight unanswered runs to claim the 17-7 win.
Matt Hauser (4-1) was credited with the win on the mound for the Toreros, as he allowed four runs on six hits in 3.2 innings of work. Scott Denault picked up his second save of the season as he allowed no runs on three hits, while striking out a career-high seven batters in 4.0 innings of work. Portland starter Zach Varce (2-5) was saddled with the loss for the Pilots, as he allowed nine runs, four earned, on eight hits in 3.2 innings of work.
The Toreros will return to action on Tuesday, as they host UC Riverside in a 3 p.m. non-conference game at Cunningham Stadium.
