SAN DIEGO — San Diego baseball (18-4, 5-1 WCC) earned its sixth straight victory on Tuesday night, taking down NAIA opponent Vanguard University (25-8, 15-5 GSAC) by a score of 10-4 at Fowler Park.

"That's a scrappy Vanguard team," USD head coach Rich Hill said after the game. "I'm really proud of our effort, we came to play, and we competed. It wasn't pretty, but it was a good W at the end of the night."

The Toreros did their damage at the plate by way of a five-run second inning, a three-run fourth, and a two-run fifth. Graduate student Thomas Luevano paced the San Diego offense with two hits, two runs scored, and three RBIs, sending a booming triple to the deepest part of the park in the fifth inning to drive in two after he plated a run in the second with a single. Luevano now leads the West Coast Conference with 34 total RBIs this season.

Senior Adam Lopez drove in two runs of his own, putting him just four RBIs behind his teammate of the conference lead with 30.

San Diego added the remainder of its 10 runs via a walk, two hit by pitches, and three sacrifice flies. The team's 20 total sacrifice flies in 2021 leads the NCAA as of Tuesday evening.

Freshman Lucas Braun, true freshman Cole Colleran, sophomore Jake Reed, and redshirt freshman James Sashin all threw scoreless innings in relief to finalize the 10-4 USD victory. 

Braun turned in the most impressive pitching performance of the night, earning his first win of the year after going three shutout innings with three strikeouts while allowing only two hits.

The Toreros have now won 18 of their last 20 games.