SAN DIEGO — Home runs from Jack Gurevitch and Jakob Christian paired with a solid team effort from the USD bullpen powered San Diego baseball (16-10, 4-2 WCC) to a convincing 9-3 midweek victory over USC (11-16, 6-5 Pac-12) on Tuesday night at Fowler Park, earning the Toreros their sixth consecutive victory and their 10th win in their last 13 contests. 

San Diego found itself trailing by two runs after the top of the second, but reclaimed the lead by plating two in the fifth and five in the seventh and eighth innings. 

Five USD pitchers threw scoreless innings in relief on Tuesday, including 2.2 from Ivran Romero and 1.2 from Conner Thurman, who closed the game out to earn his first save of 2024.

Justin DeCriscio paced the Torero offense with a team-high three hits and three RBIs. Eight different Toreros recorded a hit on Tuesday night, and four finished with two or more. 

EARLY DEFICIT? NO PROBLEM.

• The Trojans got on the board first with a solo home run and an RBI groundout in the first and second innings before Gabe D'Arcy responded for the Toreros with an RBI single into left field to score Christian and make the score 2-1 USC, after two innings of play. 
• Christian turned on the second pitch he saw in the bottom of the fourth and sent a solo homer over Fowler Park's right field wall to knot the game up at two runs apiece. 
• After Angelo Peraza and Dustin Allen got the bottom of the fifth inning started with back-to-back singles, DeCriscio gave USD its first lead of the game with a textbook bunt down the third base line to score Peraza from third and advance Allen to second. 
• USD then loaded the bases before Jack Costello drew a walk to notch an RBI and add another run in the fifth inning for San Diego, putting his team ahead by a 4-2 margin.
• The score remained the same until the bottom of the seventh inning, when Gurevitch turned on a low fastball and blasted an opposite-field two-run homer over Fowler Park's left-field wall to extend the San Diego lead to 6-2 in the bottom of the seventh. 
• An RBI sacrifice fly gave the Trojans a run in the top of the eighth inning, but Will Worthington responded in the second half of the frame with an RBI single to score Christian — who reached on a double that bounced off the right-centerfield wall— from second to make it 7-3 Toreros. 
• Decriscio then scored Peraza and Worthington with a two-RBI single through the left side, giving San Diego a 9-3 lead it would not relinquish.  

A TEAM EFFORT ON THE MOUND

• Ivran Romero turned in 2.2 strong innings in relief, allowing no earned runs on just one hit while striking out three and walking one. 
• Drake Frize, Nick Suspenzi, and Austin Smith then teamed up to pitch an inning apiece out of the bullpen, allowing no runs and combining for seven strikeouts and just two walks. 
• Thurman closed things out with 1.2 scoreless innings to seal the victory for the Toreros. 

TORERO TIDBITS

• Christian's fourth inning solo shot marked his fourth homer in his last four games, and his team-best eighth of the season. 
• Frize picked up the win on the mound for the Toreros on Tuesday evening, giving him a 3-1 record on the season. 
• Christian went 2-for-4 at the plate and scored a team-high three runs.
• Tuesday night's game was delayed for 12 minutes in the bottom of the eighth inning after home plate umpire Bud Dunklin was struck by a pitch and had to leave the game due to injury. Dunklin walked off under his own power, but first base umpire Jason Kaminsky took over calling balls and strikes for the remainder of the contest.
• USD has scored nine or more runs in each of its last six games, and has outscored its opponents 78 to 24 in that span. 
• San Diego's current six-game win streak is its longest such streak so far this season.

UP NEXT
The Toreros are back in action this weekend, when they continue their homestand by hosting LMU for a three-game West Coast Conference series at Fowler Park. First pitch on Friday in game one against the Lions is set for 6:05 p.m.