LOS ANGELES — San Diego baseball (20-21-1, 13-8 WCC) on Sunday afternoon lost a wild, back-and-forth affair at Page Stadium, dropping a 10-9 decision to first-place Loyola Marymount (22-10, 15-6 WCC) as its quest for a second consecutive West Coast Conference sweep fell short despite a career-high four hits from
Will Worthington and three different go-ahead RBI singles from
Austin Smith.
WORTHINGTON AND SMITH STAY HOT
- Austin Smith got the scoring started in the top of the first, giving USD an early lead for the third consecutive game as he drove an RBI single through the right side.
- LMU immediately answered with a run of their own, then jumped ahead by a 2-1 margin in the bottom of the second on a sacrifice fly.
- The Lions' lead stretched to 4-1 in the bottom of the third on a two-RBI single before the Toreros began to mount their first comeback attempt of the afternoon.
- After Gabe D'Arcy sent a double off of Page Stadium's center field wall to begin the fourth, Worthington shot an opposite-field RBI double down the right-field line to cut the USD deficit to two.
- Ariel Armas followed with a third consecutive Torero double, this time yanking a sharp ground ball down the third-base line to make it a 4-3 game.
- Ian Blazier was next and hammered a towering go-ahead two-run homer, sending the second pitch he saw over the right-center field wall to cap a four-run USD fourth and give his team a 5-4 lead.
- Loyola Marymount countered with three runs in the bottom of the fifth to take a 7-5 lead, but Worthington came up clutch yet again in the following frame, sending another opposite-field homer to right field to again make it a one-run game at 7-6.
- Smith kept things rolling the top of the sixth after Worthington, slapping a two-RBI single into left field to put USD ahead by an 8-7 margin
- LMU tied the score at eight in the bottom of the seventh on a solo homer, but Smith again had an answer in the top of the eighth, putting USD back on top at 9-8 with yet another RBI single.
- San Diego took a 9-8 lead into the bottom of the eighth inning before the Lions scored twice on an RBI single and a bases-loaded walk to deal the Toreros a tough 10-9 loss on Sunday at Page Stadium.
ON THE MOUND
TORERO TIDBITS
- A day after he led San Diego to victory with a go-ahead two-run homer, Will Worthington paced the USD offense on Sunday with a career-best 4-for-4 performance that saw him score a run, drive in a run, double, and launch his fifth home run of 2023.
- Smith was next with a 3-for-4 afternoon that included three different go-ahead RBI singles and four total runs batted in.
- James Arakawa, Gabe D'Arcy, and Ariel Armas all notched two hits on Sunday.
- Angelo Peraza was hitless but led USD with two walks.
- Bunnell paced the Torero pitching staff with a pair of strikeouts.
- Despite Sunday's loss, San Diego has now won back-to-back WCC series after sweeping San Francisco at Fowler Park last weekend and taking two of three from Loyola Marymount this weekend. They will enter next week tied for second in the WCC standings with Portland and Gonzaga.
UP NEXT
The Toreros are back in action on Thursday, when they take on BYU to begin their final West Coast Conference home series of 2023. First pitch in game one at Fowler Park is set for 6:00 p.m.
