SAN DIEGO — In front of a big crowd of 1,641 who made their way to Fowler Park Friday night as San Diego baseball hosted No. 18 Oregon State in the series opener, the Toreros were unable to complete a comeback, falling 7-5 to the Beavers.
Trailing 7-2 in the eighth, USD (7-10, 0-0 WCC) put together a three-run frame to cut the lead down to two. Gage Mestas recorded an RBI groundout, plating Gabe Springer as Andrew Gauna and CJ Moran moved up 90 feet into scoring position.
Then, Jayton Greer, who pinch hit for Vincent Venverloh, lined a single through the right side, scoring Moran and Gauna.
In the ninth, after Aídan Gonzalez allowed a double and a sacrifice bunt, Nate DeSchryver stranded a Beaver runner at third base with a groundout to Moran with the infield in before getting a strikeout to end the inning.
Jayden Lobliner drew a two-out walk in the bottom of the ninth but USD couldn't muster a rally in the opening game of the three-game series Friday evening against the Beavers (12-4).
Graduate student Diego Gutierrez started on the mound for the Toreros on Friday night. He went five innings, allowing five hits and four runs. Three of those runs came on home runs in the first inning before he settled in with scoreless frames in the second and third innings.
Chaz McRoberts worked a seven-pitch sixth inning before giving up two runs in the seventh. Jagger Edwards began the eighth before Gonzalez and Deschryver finished out the ninth.
USD got its first run of the evening playing by San Diego Baseball, as their head coach often says. After
Cade Martinez doubled down the left field line,
Aden Howard – with two strikes – bunted Martinez to third and scored on a throwing error by the Beavers.
San Diego added one more in the sixth before its eighth-inning rally as Gauna went the other way for a two-out RBI single to right field, scoring Lobliner to cut OSU's lead down to 4-2.
NOTABLE
- 1,641 people made their way inside Fowler Park to watch the opening series between San Diego and Oregon State. It is the largest home crowd at Fowler Park since at least 2023.
- Martinez had a two-hit performance out of the No. 9 spot in the lineup. It is the senior's second two-hit game and first since the series opener against Michigan (February 27)
- Gauna, who robbed a home run to end the sixth inning, went 1-for-2 with two walks, an RBI and a run scored. The graduate student has at least one hit in five of the last six games, dating back to March 1 and is hitting .300 (6-for-18) during that stretch.
- Gutierrez, who logged six strikeouts against the Beavers, has fanned at least six hitters in each of his last four starts.
- DeSchryver logged his first scoreless outing since not allowing a run in 6.2 innings from February 17-March 1.
- Gonzalez has opened the season not allowing a run in 2.2 innings of work across three appearances.
UP NEXT
San Diego will continue its series with No. 18 Oregon State tomorrow at Fowler Park. First pitch between the Toreros and Beavers is at 5 p.m. Saturday before the series finale Sunday at 1 p.m. Like Friday, the final two games of the series between USD and OSU will be streamed live on ESPN+ with Braden Suprenant and Mike Gosling on the call.
