LAS VEGAS — San Diego baseball (40-13, 20-4 WCC) capped off a dominating 2024 West Coast Conference campaign with a controlling win over No. 2 Portland (37-19, 19-6 WCC) to secure the title of West Coast Conference Tournament Champions for the second time in three seasons, defeating the Pilots 8-6 at Las Vegas ballpark for its tenth consecutive victory.

After the Pilots maintained an early 1-0 lead through the first three frames, a monster five-run fourth inning gave USD a lead that sustained multiple comeback attempts from Portland, keeping the Toreros in front for the remainder of the game thanks to a pair of insurance runs from Jack Costello and Dustin Allen in the top of the ninth inning. 

True freshman righty Logan Reddemann started on the mound in quite possibly the biggest game of his young San Diego career, and turned in 4.2 strong innings before leaning on a trio of veteran bullpen performances from Calvin Schapira, Alex Schrier, and Conner Thurman who kept the Pilots from taking the lead, and secured the championship for USD. 

With the win, USD Baseball has now secured its second West Coast Conference title of the Brock Ungricht era, and will await an NCAA Regional bid tomorrow morning.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Portland got on the board first with an RBI double in the second inning to take a 1-0 lead.
• Justin DeCriscio answered back for the Toreros in the top of the fourth inning with the bases loaded by knocking an RBI single past the Pilot third baseman to score Austin Smith and knot the game up at one run apiece. 
• Allen was next and gave USD the lead by drawing an RBI walk before Will Worthington continued the fourth inning rally with a looping RBI single into center field.
• Another RBI walk — this time from Angelo Peraza — followed by an RBI fielder's choice from Ariel Armas added two more runs in the fourth inning for San Diego, giving it a 5-1 advantage. 
• The pilots scored three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to get within one run at 5-4. 
• Costello added another run for the Toreros in the top of the seventh, before the Pilots responded in the bottom of the eighth to maintain the one-run lead. 
• USD added a pair of insurance runs in the top of the ninth inning with a groundout and sacrifice fly from Costello and Allen, giving it an 8-5 lead. 
• The Pilots scored once in the bottom of the ninth inning to make it 8-6, but got no closer. 

ON THE MOUND

• Reddemann got the start on the mound for San Diego and turned in 4.2 strong innings, limiting the Pilots to four earned runs, while striking out a pair and walking just one. 
• He then made way for Schapira out of the bullpen who completed 2.2 one-run innings on the hill for the Toreros. 
• Schrier entered out of the bullpen in relief of Schapira in the eighth inning, and turned in 1.1 scoreless innings before handing things over to Thurman with two outs in the bottom of the ninth who closed things out, securing the championship for San Diego on the hill. 

TORERO TIDBITS

• Schapira picked up his fifth win of 2024 on the mound, moving his record to 5-1 on the season. 
• The three and four hitters for San Diego — Christian and Smith — went 2-for-5 and 2-for-4 respectively.
• The bottom of the USD batting order continued to be instrumental in Saturday's victory, as the seven, eight, and nine hitters for the Toreros — DeCriscio, Allen, and Worthington — combined for four of their team's eight total RBIs, with a pair of runs scored. 
• Thurman earned his fifth save of 2024 on Saturday afternoon. 
• San Diego recorded its tenth straight victory as well as its 18th win in its last 19 games. 
• Justin DeCriscio, Angelo Peraza, Ivran Romero, and Austin Smith were all named to the 2024 WCC Baseball All-Tournament Team.

UP NEXT
After securing an automatic bid with the WCC Tournament win, the Toreros will await their postseason destination on Monday morning during the 2024 NCAA Division I Baseball Selection Show, which is set to begin at 9:00 a.m. PST, and will be televised nationally on ESPN2.