nate deschryver vs. santa clara 4/2/26 - credit thomas christensen
Thomas Christensen
1
Santa Clara SCU 13-15, 3-4 West Coast Conference
5
Winner San Diego USD 10-17, 3-4 West Coast Conference
Santa Clara SCU
13-15, 3-4 West Coast Conference
1
Final
5
San Diego USD
10-17, 3-4 West Coast Conference
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Santa Clara SCU 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 3 0
San Diego USD 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 2 X 5 9 0

W: DeSchryver, Nate (3-2) L: Lanz, Cooper (1-4) S: Cody, Hayden (1)

Game Recap: Baseball | | By Breven Honda | Freelance Writer

DeSchryver Dominates, Bats Come Alive in 5-1 Win Over Santa Clara

Strong start from DeSchryver bolstered by three San Diego homers as Toreros earn wire-to-wire victory at Fowler Park

SAN DIEGO — San Diego baseball felt right at home Thursday evening to open a three-game series against Santa Clara at Fowler Park. 

The Toreros (10-17, 3-4 WCC) hit three home runs — as CJ Moran came a double shy of the cycle — and the San Diego pitching staff combined to strike out 11 batters while scattering three hits in a 5-1 win over the Broncos (13-15, 3-4 WCC).  

Head coach Brock Ungricht credited his assistant coaches in preparing the players to get the series opening win. 

"Grady (Miller)'s been doing a great job with the pitching (to help us) really stay on the attack," Ungricht said. "And then Mitch (Holland) has been doing a great job with the defense. (Josh Nicoloff), too with the defense. Again, just the last couple of weeks of cleaning things up, being more disciplined, keeping things simple. And then on the offensive end, giving those guys credit, just doing a great job all week of really keeping things simple." 

Nate DeSchryver dominated in his first start in a Torero uniform, not allowing a hit through four innings and was perfect through the first three. 

DeSchryver, who went at least four innings in 10 of 16 appearances last year at NJIT, commanded the strike zone with 39 of his season-high 54 pitches in the zone. 

"I found out last night that I was starting," said the graduate student, who started 10 games last year and 10 more during his time at Gonzaga the previous three years. "'I've started a lot of games in my career, and I was adamant with the coaches, like, 'Hey, I can do it. I believe in myself. I'll set the tone.' I didn't try to do too much. I tried to stick to my game and go out and give the best chance to win."

The San Diego offense got rolling in the third as a walk by Aden Howard set up a two-run home run by CJ Moran that bounced off the batter's eye beyond the center field wall.

Moran got hits in his first three at-bats Thursday. In addition to his fourth home run of the season, he singled in the first and tripled in the fifth in his first start in the leadoff spot in three weeks. 

"I felt really good," Moran said. "I was seeing the ball well, was taking good pitches, stuck with my approach really well and, just simplifying today. I love being leadoff, getting the most at bats, but also set the tone. I was able to do that today with the single early on." 

DeSchryver added that he gave his offense some moral support, especially going into the third inning, coming off finishing the Broncos in order over the first three frames. 

"I came running in. I'm like, 'Come on. Someone give me a run. Let's go. Let's do this.' Trying to fire the boys up," DeSchryver said. "CJ gave me a look, and so I knew something was up. Then we got up there and he got the job done. That got the boys going, for sure."

As the game progressed, the Toreros led by two in the eighth. However, Hayden Cody had two Broncos in scoring position, including the tying run at second base, facing Ben Cleary, who entered the conference series opener with a .407 batting average, which ranked second in the WCC.  

However, Cody got ahead 0-2 in the count before getting a flyout to Howard to end the inning. 

"We really try to stay with us and focus on us, and not trying to get caught up with the opposition too much and pitch to our strengths," Ungricht said. "A couple pitches got away from there in the eighth. This is where we trust our guy and how tough H-CO is and he made pitches when he had to, and didn't get too emotional there, which I thought was awesome."

Then the Toreros added on with not one, but two solo shots for some insurance before Cody came back out to complete the six-out save. Diego Gonzalez, who completed a 2-for-2 night with a sacrifice bunt before Moran's home run, hit a long ball of his own down the right field line. 

Three batters later, Andrew Gauna hammered one just inside the left field line to give USD the four-run lead and seal the victory. 

NOTABLE 
  • San Diego registered three home runs from CJ Moran (4th), Diego Gonzalez (2nd) and Andrew Gauna (3rd). It is the second time this year the Toreros have hit three longball in a game this season (Also: March 24 against Cal St. Fullerton)
  • The 11 strikeouts by USD pitching staff are tied for the third-most this season and the eighth time DeSchryver, who improves to 3-2 on the season, threw four no-hit frames in his first start in a Toreros uniform. 
  • He had five strikeouts against the Broncos, extending his streak of recording at least one strikeout in 13 of 14 appearances this season. 
  • The graduate transfer also registered a season-high in pitches in consecutive outings after throwing 46 against Pepperdine (March 28) and 54 tonight. 
  • Moran, who came a double shy of the cycle, recorded his third three-hit game this season and recorded the team's first triple since Howard collected a three-bagger against Charlotte (February 14)
  • Moran also extended his hitting streak to a team-best eight games
  • Connor Meidroth registered his second straight multi-hit game, hitting .714 (5-for-7), dating back to the series finale at Pepperdine (March 29) when he went 3-for-4.  
  • Cody picked up his first save of 2026. It is also just the team's second save of the season and first since Caleb Sebek closed the door at Long Beach State (February 17)
  • Porter Rovin, who threw three innings after DeSchryver, allowed one run. It is the fourth time this season the southpaw has thrown three frames. 
  • Lobliner was one of just 50 catchers in the country to be named to the 2026 Buster Posey National Collegiate Catcher of the Year Award Midseason Watchlist Wednesday from the Wichita Sports Commission. He went 1-for-4 in his first game since receiving the honor to log his team-leading 36th hit of the season, which ranks in the top five in the conference. 
UP NEXT 
San Diego continues its three-game series with Santa Clara Friday at Fowler Park. The middle game between the Toreros and the Broncos is slated for a 6:00 p.m. first pitch. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+ with Julian Del Gaudio (Play-by-Play) and Mike Gosling (Analyst) on the call. Live statistics will also be available via StatBroadcast. 

 
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