aden howard celebrates walk-off homer against smc in wcc tournament - 5_24_25 - credit lucas peltier
13
Saint Mary's SMC 34-24
16
Winner San Diego USD 28-29
Saint Mary's SMC
34-24
13
Final
16
San Diego USD
28-29
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 R H E
Saint Mary's SMC 4 1 1 0 0 1 3 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 13 14 2
San Diego USD 0 1 2 0 0 0 9 0 0 0 0 1 0 3 16 16 2

W: Smith, Austin (5-5) L: Eaquinto, Derik (0-4)

Game Recap: Baseball | | Breven Honda | Freelance Writer

Howard Plays the Hero in Unforgettable 14-Inning Walk-Off Win

Toreros overcome seven-run deficit, rally again in extras to force winner-take-all WCC Tournament Final in Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS – The postseason gives every player the chance to execute and step up. 

On Saturday, that player for top-seeded San Diego Baseball was Aden Howard, who hit a walk-off three-run homer in the bottom of the 14th inning to win 16-13 and force a decisive championship game against No. 3 Saint Mary's at Las Vegas Ballpark in the West Coast Conference Tournament.  

With two outs in the 14th inning, Adrian Beltre Jr.  roped a double down the left field line before Nico Libed walked, setting up the dramatics for Howard's third home run of 2025, which went to left field. 

San Diego's defense had to come up big in the top of the 14th. Despite allowing a leadoff double, followed by a sacrifice bunt to move the runner to third base, Vincent Venverloh made a play. With the infield in, Venverloh went up the middle and fired a bullet to Libed, who put the tag down and prevented the Gaels from taking the lead.  

Both the Toreros (28-29) and the Gaels (34-24) traded runs in the 12th to keep the game square at 13. Jayden Lobliner recorded an RBI infield single, scoring Isaiah Lane. 

Scoring with two outs was the theme late in the game. 

St. Mary's tied the game at 12 in the top of the ninth on a two-RBI triple on a diving attempt from Rex Watson. As Watson dove, the freshman was unable to keep the ball in front of him, leading to the ball rolling to the wall.

In last night's elimination game against No. 4 LMU, San Diego trailed by four entering their offensive half of the seventh. On Saturday, USD was losing 10-3 entering the seventh after allowing three in the top half. 

However, after head coach Brock Ungricht gave some words of wisdom to all of his players in the dugout, that wisdom turned into motivation, although it did not come immediately because Venverloh struck out and Jack Gurevitch lined out. 

But then, the odds for San Diego returned in their favor as the Toreros got 11 consecutive batters to reach base, all with two outs with only one ball leaving the double. Beltre recorded an RBI hit by pitch sandwiched in between Watson and Connor Meidroth RBI walks. Watson only saw two pitches as the home plate umpire, Tim Vessey, called back-to-back pitch clock violations to give USD its first run of the inning. 

Howard hit an RBI infield single before Venverloh recorded a bases-clearing double to tie the game at 10, scoring Beltre, Ryan Ward and Howard. 

The inning continued as Gurevitch was intentionally walked for the first of three times Saturday. Lane and Austin Smith both singled up the middle to extend the lead to two, 12-10. 

In addition to trailing by seven, USD also faced early 4-0 and 6-1 leads before chipping away with two runs in the third inning. 

The first game of the WCC Tournament Championship game was also a battle of pitching staffs from both sides. 

For San Diego, Ungricht used six different pitchers. Dallin Harrison got the start, going the first three innings. Then, Logan Reddemann took the next two innings. The trio of Jack Giordano, Tristan LaMaison and Jaime Robertson combined to work the sixth and seventh innings. 

That came before the closer, Austin Smith went the next seven innings, despite blowing the save in the ninth innings. Smith continued to pitch around different situations throughout his outing, which was his longest of the season. 

Smith induced a popup and two flyouts in the 10th, despite allowing a one-out walk. After pitching a scoreless 11th inning, he allowed a leadoff walk in the 13th. However, he got a much-needed 6-4-3 double play before getting a flyout to end the inning. 

NOTABLE
  • Austin Smith, who earned the victory to move his pitching record to 5-5, threw 7.0 innings against the Gaels. That is his longest outing of the season and his longest outing of his collegiate career since going 8.0 innings against Pepperdine (April 21, 2024). 
  • Offensively, Smith went 3-for-8 with two runs and two RBI. The eight at-bats are the most in a game this season by a USD batter. 
  • The previous single-game high in at bats was six, which means Aden Howard and Jayden Lobliner also broke that mark Saturday. 
  • Five different Toreros recorded multiple hits, including Smith, who was one of three San Diego hitters with a trio of hits, along with Lobliner and Howard. 
  • USD recorded its fourth walk-off of 2025 as Howard recorded his second walk-off hit of 2025 with the other coming against Pacific (May 16). 
  • Howard's 14th inning walk-off blast marked his third home run of the season as he logged his third three-hit game of 2025. 
  • Saturday's game lasted five hours and 14 minutes, the Toreros' longest of 2025.
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