SAN DIEGO — Senior catcher
Jayden Lobliner delivered one of the most memorable individual performances in San Diego baseball history on Thursday night, hitting for the cycle in the Toreros' 17-8 victory over Loyola Marymount in the opener of the teams' final West Coast Conference series of the regular season at Fowler Park and Cunningham Field.
Lobliner became just the second player in USD program history to hit for the cycle, and the first since Kevin Reese accomplished the feat on Feb. 6, 2000. He is also the only Torero to hit for the cycle at Fowler Park since the venue opened in 2013.
The 16-hit, 17-run outburst lifted San Diego to 18-30-1 overall and 10-14-1 in West Coast Conference play, keeping the Toreros' postseason hopes alive entering the final two games of the regular season.
Lobliner finished 4-for-6 with four runs scored and four RBI. He opened the scoring in the first inning with a two-out RBI double to right field, plating
Gage Mestas as part of a five-run frame that featured a steal of home (on a double steal) by Lobliner himself and a bases-loaded RBI sacrifice bunt from
Cade Martinez.
Trailing 8-5 entering the bottom of the fifth, the Toreros got back in the game on Lobliner's two-run home run to deep left field — his 10th of the season — that pulled USD within 8-7. He extended the comeback with an RBI single to right in the sixth, scoring
CJ Moran during a four-run inning that put San Diego ahead for good.
The cycle came together on a big swing in the bottom of the eighth, when Lobliner laced a 2-1 pitch from reliever Caleb Sweeney into the right-center gap for a leadoff triple, drawing a roaring ovation from the announced crowd of 561. He came around to score later in the frame, one of five runs USD plated in the eighth.
Martinez also enjoyed a big night, kicking off the seventh inning with a solo home run — his first in a Torero Uniform — and adding a two-run double during the eighth-inning rally. Mestas reached three times, scored twice and capped the eighth's scoring with a two-run double to left. As a team, San Diego went 9-for-18 with runners in scoring position.
Christian Garcia (1-1) earned the win with 1.1 innings of one-hit relief. Starter
Diego Gutierrez worked 4.0 innings, allowing eight runs (seven earned) on eight hits with six strikeouts.
Caleb Sebek,
Chaz McRoberts and
Logan Piper combined for 3.2 scoreless innings to close it out, with Piper retiring the side in order in the ninth.
Zachary DenDekker (1-2) took the loss for Loyola Marymount, charged with four runs on four hits in one inning of relief.
UP NEXT
San Diego and Loyola Marymount will continue their three-game series on Friday night at Fowler Park and Cunningham Field. First pitch is set for 6 p.m.
Â
