MALIBU, Calif. — San Diego baseball (24-12, 9-4 WCC) on Friday afternoon dominated Pepperdine (12-26, 6-7 WCC) from start to finish to take game one of its weekend West Coast Conference series at Eddy D. Field Stadium, beating the Waves by an 11-5 margin behind an steady offensive effort and a series of solid pitching performances.

The Toreros found themselves knotted up with the Waves 2-2 after the third inning before unleashing a five-run rally in the fourth that was led by a solo homer from Jack Costello and a trio of RBI singles.

USD's success was fueled by strong afternoons at the plate from both Jakob Christian and Dustin Allen, who combined to drive in five runs and score two more as Christian blasted his team-best 16th homer of 2024.

Josh Randall started for San Diego on the mound and pitched the game's first six innings before making way for a trio of Torero relievers that combined to pitch an inning each while allowing just one earned run on three hits.  

EARLY AND OFTEN

• San Diego struck first with an RBI single to shortstop from Allen in the third inning, allowing Angelo Peraza to advance to third, and then score on an error by the Pepperdine shortstop. 
• Allen was then plated by Jack Gurevitch, who sent an RBI single into left field to give the Toreros an early 2-0 lead after the top of third. 
• The Waves responded in their half of the frame with a two-run homer into left field to knot the game up at 2-2 after the third inning of play. 
• Costello kicked off a big fourth inning for USD by sending the first pitch he saw over Eddy D. Field Stadium's left field wall for a leadoff homer.
• RBI singles from Ariel Armas, Allen, and Christian then allowed the Toreros to score three more runs in the fourth inning, helping USD claim a 7-2 advantage over Pepperdine. 
• The Waves cut the San Diego lead to three in the bottom of the fourth with a pair of RBI singles, but Christian boomed a two-run shot to left field in the top of the sixth inning to regain his team's five run advantage at 9-4. 
• A seventh-inning RBI double from Peraza and a ninth-inning RBI single from Will Worthington gave San Diego its largest lead of the day at 11-4.

ON THE MOUND

• Randall got the start on the mound for the Toreros and turned in six innings, surrendering four runs on six hits while striking out five and walking only one.
• Tristan Lamaison was first out of the bullpen for USD on Friday and pitched a scoreless seventh inning before turning things over to Vaughn Mauterer, who pitched the eighth.
• Dallin Harrison sealed the win for San Diego by pitching a scoreless ninth. 

TORERO TIDBITS

• Every hitter in the San Diego batting order recorded at least one hit in Friday afternoon's victory. 
• Five Toreros (Peraza, Allen, Christian, Austin Smith, and Worthington) recorded multi-hit games. 
• Peraza was 3-for-5 from the plate on Friday with three runs scored and an RBI.
• Randall picked up the win on the mound to move his record to 3-2 in 2024. Friday afternoon's start marked his second consecutive outing in which he has pitched six innings or more.
• Lamaison's seventh-inning outing marked his second appearance of the season after he made his season debut on April 9 at UC San Diego after missing the Toreros' first 32 games this year due to injury. He has yet to allow a run in 2024. 
• Christian's sixth inning homer is his third in his last three games, and his team-leading 16th of the year. 

UP NEXT
The Toreros will look to clinch a series victory tomorrow afternoon when they continue their WCC series against Pepperdine. First pitch against the Waves at Eddy D. Field Stadium is set for 1:00 p.m.