SPOKANE, WASH — Redshirt freshman
Conner Thurman dominated on the mound, graduate student
Thomas Luevano launched a grand slam, and San Diego baseball (33-12, 19-8 WCC) finished its regular season in style, blowing by conference rival Gonzaga (33-17, 20-7 WCC) by a score of 10-2 at the Patterson Baseball complex to take the series versus the nationally ranked Zags.
The Toreros got the scoring started by way of four RBI singles across the game's first four innings, with true freshman
Kevin Sim, Luevano, sophomore
Cody Jefferis, and sophomore
Max Jung-Goldberg each driving in runs as they sent balls to left, center, left-center, and center field, respectively to give San Diego an early 4-0 lead.
Senior
Adam Lopez doubled down on the USD scoring barrage in the top of the fifth, hammering a two-bagger into the left-center field gap to bring home Luevano before Sim recorded his third RBI of the series with yet another RBI single to left field.
In the top of the sixth, Luevano delivered the series' most decisive blow, pulverizing a fastball over the Patterson Baseball Complex's left field fence for an emphatic grand slam that earned him his conference-best 62nd, 63rd, 64th, and 65th runs batted in of the season and gave USD a commanding 10-0 lead.
Luevano led the team with a 3-for-5 performance with two runs scored and five RBIs, Jefferis was 3-for-5 with an RBI and two runs scored, and four other Toreros (Jung-Goldberg, Costello, Lopez, and Sim) each notched a multi-hit game.
Redshirt freshman
Conner Thurman started the game on the mound for San Diego, throwing 6.1 innings of one-run ball as he struck out seven, walked none, and earned his sixth win of the season. Thurman's strong start continued a stretch of 16 consecutive scoreless innings by San Diego pitchers over Gonzaga hitters before Ernie Yake drove in Mason Marenco in the bottom of the seventh to finally get the Zags on the board.
The Toreros' final 2021 record stands at 33-12 (19-8 WCC), the program's best winning percentage (.733) since 2008, when the team went 44-16 (.733) and appeared in an NCAA Regional. The team will await its postseason fate during the NCAA baseball selection show on Monday at 9 a.m. PST.