March 19, 2017
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SAN DIEGO, Calif. -- Roman Garcia and Riley Adams each hit two home runs to lift the No. 25 Torero baseball team (13-4, 3-0) to an 8-2 win over Portland. Paul Richan pitched 7.2 strong innings, allowing just two runs and five hits and striking out eight to help the Toreros sweep the Pilots in their first WCC series.
Roman Garcia gave the Toreros an early 1-0 lead with solo home run to deep left center in the bottom of the second.
Riley Adams then hit a solo home run in the bottom of the fourth inning, an opposite field shot to right. Portland scored their first run in the top of the fifth on a Mike Hicks pinch-hit RBI groundout.
The Toreros added two more runs in the bottom of the fifth on a rare two-RBI sacrifice bunt from Paul Kunst. With runners on second and third, Kunst laid down a perfect suicide squeeze to score Roman Garcia, who was running on the pitch. Aidan Stinnett never slowed down and caught the Pilots napping and scored from second on a nice head first slide at home, giving USD a 4-1 lead.
USD added to their total in the bottom of the sixth when Garcia hit a double to the right center gap to score Jay Schuyler, who reached on a single.
Richan retired the first two Pilots in the eighth inning, but was pulled for Louis Crow after giving up a single and a walk. Crow gave up a RBI double to the first batter he faced, Kevin Wade, bringing the score to 5-2 USD.
Adams and Garcia struck again in the bottom of the eighth inning. After the first two batters were retired, Adams hit another opposite field solo homer, his fourth home run of the week. Jay Schuyler then singled to set up Roman Garcia's second dinger, this one went to left field. Adams and Garcia are tied for the team-lead with six home runs; Garcia finished the game going 3-for-3 with four RBI and three runs scored.
Richan (2-0) earned his second win of the season. He went 7.2 innings and gave up two runs on five hits, while striking out eight and walking one. Crow earned his first career save, allowing one hit in 1.1 innings with two strikeouts.
Portland's Jordan Horak (0-4) took the loss after allowing four runs in 5.1 innings. Marty Luckenbach pitched the final 2.2 innings and gave up four runs.
The Toreros host No. 7/11 Cal State Fullerton Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. and then head to Santa Clara over the weekend for their first WCC road series of the year.
