SAN DIEGO — San Diego baseball (27-8, 13-4 WCC) earned its seventh consecutive WCC win and third straight conference series victory on Saturday night, beating Pepperdine (14-18, 6-8 WCC) by a 7-6 margin at Fowler Park to take at least two of three from the Waves.

Senior Adam Lopez got the scoring started for the Toreros in the bottom of the first, shooting an opposite-field single to right to plate sophomore Cody Jefferis before graduate student Thomas Luevano ripped a two-RBI double to deep right-center to notch his conference-leading 50th and 51st runs batted in of 2021. San Diego added two more in the first via a single from sophomore Caleb Ricketts and a sacrifice fly from freshman Will Worthington, stretching its lead to 5-1 after just an inning of play.

"I'm really proud of the way we jumped on one of the premier pitchers in our conference," USD head coach Rich Hill said after the game. "Our offense just came alive."

The Toreros rounded out their scoring in the WCC series' middle contest with an RBI groundout from Ricketts and another sacrifice fly from Worthington, marking the team's NCAA-leading 29th sac fly of the 2021 season. Lopez, Luevano and junior Tora Otsuka each notched two hits in the game, while Luevano, Ricketts, and Worthington each contributed a pair of RBIs.

Freshman Carter Rustad (4-1) was the highlight of the evening for San Diego on the mound, tossing four scoreless innings in relief while striking out four and walking none to earn the win.

He handed the ball off to graduate student Kieran Shaw in the ninth, who shut down Pepperdine to finalize USD's 7-6 victory and earn his team-leading eighth save of the year.

The series concludes tomorrow afternoon at Fowler Park when the Toreros will look for their fifth sweep of the 2021 season. First pitch is set for 2 p.m.