MORAGA, CALIF. — San Diego baseball (13-4, 2-1 WCC) won its first West Coast Conference series of the season on Sunday afternoon, hanging on for a 5-4 victory against Saint Mary's College (11-9, 1-2 WCC) at Louis Guisto Field. The Toreros took two out of three from the Gaels after winning game one by a 7-0 margin and overcoming a 4-3 loss on Saturday.

San Diego wasted no time in getting the scoring started, with graduate student Paul Kunst leading the way. Kunst began the top of the first with a leadoff single, and was followed by a double from Shane McGuire, singles from Adam Lopez and Jack Costello, and another double from Thomas Luevano to give the Toreros a 3-0 lead.

Luevano added his second double of the game in the third inning, giving him a team-high two RBIs on the day when Jack Costello came around to score.  A batter later, Will Worthington singled to plate Luevano to move the USD lead to 5-0.

Kunst, McGuire, Costello, Luevano, and Tora Otsuka all finished the day with at least two hits.

The Gaels answered back with two runs in the fourth inning off an RBI double from Nick Mistone and two more runs in the bottom of the ninth via a single from Ryan Ellis and a hit by pitch with the bases loaded, but they would get no closer.

Freshman left-hander Brycen Mautz (Westview High School) started the game on the mound for the Toreros and went 3.2 innings, scattering three hits against five strikeouts and two walks to surrender two earned runs.

Mautz was relieved by redshirt sophomore Ryan Robinson, who threw 1.1 scoreless innings with a single hit allowed. He received the win for Sunday's contest, moving his record to 1-0.

Freshman Jack Hyde (Grossmont High School) was next out of the bullpen for USD, tossing 2.0 scoreless frames of his own with three strikeouts, also allowing just one hit.

Graduate student Kieran Shaw entered the game in the eighth inning to replace Hyde and pitched a run-free frame before he was touched up for two earned runs in the bottom of the ninth.

True freshman Ivran Romero (Poway High School) was brought in with one out and the bases loaded and successfully quelled the Gaels' last-chance rally to finalize the 5-4 win for the Toreros, finishing the game by getting a strikeout and a pop fly to center field to earn his second save of the year.  Romero has now thrown 16.1 scoreless innings to begin his college career.

Fellow true freshman Jack Costello also added to an impressive streak in Sunday's contest, stretching his hit streak to 11 games — a span that includes nine multi-hit performances and streaks of five (3/6-3/13) and four (3/14-present) consecutive contests with more than one hit.

San Diego returns to action this upcoming Tuesday when it travels to Los Angeles, California to take on USC. First pitch against the Trojans is set for 6 p.m.