San Diego Athletics

PORTLAND, Ore. — San Diego baseball rallied late, but was unable to complete the comeback, falling 9-6 on the road at Portland on Thursday evening at Joe Etzel Field. 

After scoring three runs in the seventh, USD (16-26, 8-11 WCC) got walks from Phoenix Brant and Cade Martinez to put the tying run on base and the go-ahead run at the plate in the top of the ninth inning against the Pilots (24-18, 10-9 WCC). However, Portland was able to get the final out. 

Three of the top four players in San Diego's lineup – CJ Moran, Andrew Gauna and Diego Gonzalez – got on base in the final frame. Gauna recorded an RBI single, bringing home Moran, who led off the ninth inning with a double to right center field. 

And in the seventh, Martinez and Tanner Kern opened the inning with singles before Connor Meidroth walked to load the bases. 

Moran hit a deep fly ball to the warning track that was caught by Portland to cut the lead down to 8-2 on the sacrifice fly, scoring Martinez. It was one of two plays on Thursday where the Pilots made highlight-reel catches at the warning track to stifle San Diego scoring threats.

Kern eventually came around to score on a base hit from Gauna and Gonzalez went the other way to bring home Meidroth. San Diego ultimately recorded seven of its 12 hits in the final three innings. 

As the Toreros put up crooked numbers late, the San Diego bullpen was able to keep the offense in it. 

Caleb Sebek, who was making his first collegiate start, threw a scoreless first inning, before giving up five runs in the second inning as part of a six-run frame for the Pilots. 

But Aidan Gonzalez, Christian Garcia and Kyle Bade kept Portland off the board in the third, fourth and fifth innings. Lucas Shannon and Jagger Edwards combined to throw the sixth inning before Chaz McRoberts took the final two innings and limited his damage to just a run while striking out five. 

NOTABLE 

• San Diego registered 12 hits, marking the sixth time in the last eight games it has recorded double-digit hits. 
• The Torero pitching staff also registered a dozen strikeouts, tying the second-best mark this season (Also: March 27 at Pepperdine and April 10 at San Francisco)
• By going 3-for-4 Thursday, Moran has five multi-hit games in a six-game hitting streak  and is hitting .538 during that stretch. He has also reached base safely in 26 of the last 28 games, since March 8. 
• Gauna has now recorded a hit in 16 of his last 17 games since the series finale at Pepperdine (March 29) and is hitting .455 (30-for-66) during that stretch.
• Diego Gonzalez joined Moran and Gauna with three-hit performances, going 3-for-5. It is his second straight three-hit game and is hitting .500 (15-for-30) during team-best seven-game hitting streak. 
• Martinez, who went 1-for-3 with a run scored and an RBI, recorded his second straight game with two walks. It is also the fourth time this season the senior has two walks in a game. 
• Sebek made his first collegiate start and worked around a couple of walks for a scoreless first inning. 
• McRoberts' five strikeouts are the most he has recorded in a game during his Torero tenure. It is also the third time this season the sophomore has thrown two-plus innings [Also: 2.0 innings against Oregon State (March 13) and 2.2 innings at Cal (March 7)] 
• Aidan Gonzalez has allowed one run or fewer in six straight outings, totaling 5.1 innings pitched 
• Garcia recorded two groundouts and a strikeout, despite allowing a base hit in a scoreless fourth inning. It marks the freshman's fourth straight scoreless inning, dating back to the series opener against Seattle U (April 17)  
• Bade logged a scoreless fifth inning, snapping a streak of four consecutive outings with at least one earned run.  

UP NEXT
San Diego continues its West Coast Conference series at Portland Friday at Portland. The middle game of the three-game series between the Toreros and Pilots is slated for first pitch at 6 p.m. at Joe Etzel Field. The game will be streamed live on ESPN+.