PORTLAND, Ore. — Caleb Ricketts crushed a two-run homer but San Diego baseball (18-10, 6-4 WCC) dropped game one of its West Coast Conference series with Portland (18-11, 5-5 WCC) on Friday night, falling to the Pilots by a 6-2 margin at Joe Etzel Field.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Portland struck first in the bottom of the third, plating a trio of runs with a pair of RBI singles and a two-run home run.
- The Pilots added on again in the bottom of the fifth with an RBI single and an RBI double before Ricketts (junior catcher) got his team on the board with a towering two-run homer over Joe Etzel Field's right field wall that plated sophomore center fielder Dustin Allen and moved the score to 5-2.
- Portland got a run back in the bottom of the seventh via a throwing error and San Diego was unable to respond, falling to the Pilots 6-2 on Friday night in game one of the three-game set.
TORERO TIDBITS
- Senior right-handed pitcher Garrett Rennie started the game on the mound for the Toreros and allowed five runs on eight hits in 4.1 innings of work.
- He was relieved by redshirt sophomore righty Conner Thurman, who struck out a pair in two thirds of an inning of work.
- True freshman left-hander Gabe Maya turned in the Toreros' most dominant pitching performance of the night in the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings, racking up a career-high five strikeouts in a career-long three innings pitched.
- Maya, who did not walk a batter on Friday night, allowed just one run (unearned), which came when his overthrow of first base on a bunt took an unfortunate kick on its way into the right field corner and allowed the Portland baserunner who had bunted to score.
- Ricketts led the way for USD at the plate, going 2-for-4 with the home run (his fifth), two RBIs, and a run scored as he extended his hit streak to a season-high 10 games.
- Allen was 1-for-2 with a run scored and extended his hit streak to a season-high nine games.
UP NEXT
- The Toreros will conclude their series at Portland tomorrow afternoon with a doubleheader. Game one is set to begin at 1 p.m., and game two will begin 30 minutes after the first game's conclusion.