SAN DIEGO — San Diego baseball (17-4, 5-1 WCC) earned its third sweep of the 2021 season on Sunday afternoon, beating conference opponent Pacific (7-14, 0-6 WCC) by a score of 5-1 at Fowler Park.

"That's a great start against quality programs," USD head coach Rich Hill said of the Toreros' 5-1 record in WCC play so far. "Winning on the road at Saint Mary's is very difficult with their pitching staff, and that's a scrappy Pacific team that we played here."

San Diego was able to overcome an early deficit in Sunday afternoon's contest, rallying back after the Tigers scored a run in the top of the first. Senior third baseman Adam Lopez continued to be productive at the plate, driving in two runs with an RBI double in the bottom of the third that put the Toreros back on top by a 2-1 margin. Lopez led all Torero hitters on Sunday with three hits, two RBIs, and a run scored.

True freshman Dustin Allen helped add to that San Diego advantage in the fifth, hustling home on a Paul Kunst sacrifice fly to score USD's third run of the game after deftly avoiding the tag at home plate. 

Junior catcher Shane McGuire came home on a wild pitch a batter later, then sophomore shortstop Cody Jefferis notched an RBI single to make it a 5-1 Torero lead.

"There's confidence playing while facing a deficit," Hill said of his team's performance at the plate. "We put up so many runs throughout the year, we just feel like we're never out of a game. There's no flinch in this team."

Freshman Carter Rustad, redshirt sophomore Ryan Robinson, true freshman Ivran Romero, and graduate student Kieran Shaw teamed up to pitch the game's final 7.1 innings, allowing zero runs while scattering six total hits. Rustad earned the win to move to 2-0 on the year, and Shaw notched his fourth save of the season. 

"We have a saying: 'Pass the torch, next man up,'" Hill said of his team's performance on the mound. "We're pretty deep in our pitching staff. That means guys can go one time through the order and we can do some matchups, and guys have been ready for that."

The Toreros have now won 17 of their last 20 games, are on a five-game win streak, and have prevailed in each of their last five series.

"The Friday night game here was a battle, and so was today," Hill added. "I'm proud of our guys to have stuck with it."

USD returns to action this upcoming Tuesday with a non-conference matchup against NAIA opponent Vanguard University. First pitch against the Lions is set for 5 p.m.