SAN DIEGO — Drake Frize turned his final appearance on the Fowler Park and Cunningham Field mound into a vintage one, striking out nine over six dominant innings, and freshman
Jayton Greer backed him with the first two home runs of his season — including a tie-breaking grand slam in the eighth — to lift the University of San Diego baseball team past Loyola Marymount, 7-3 on Friday night.
The victory pulled the Toreros (19-30-1, 11-14-1 WCC) back into the postseason picture, keeping their hopes of clinching a West Coast Conference Tournament berth alive with the regular season winding down.
USD jumped on Lions starter Adam Behrens in the second. With one out, Greer doubled to left-center and moved into scoring position alongside
Diego Gonzalez, who drew a walk one batter later. After a
Phoenix Brant strikeout,
Connor Meidroth pulled a two-out, two-RBI double down the right-field line to plate both runners and stake the Toreros to a 2-0 lead.
That early cushion was more than enough for Frize, who saved one of his sharpest outings for his final start at home. The senior right-hander carved up the LMU lineup over 6.0 innings, allowing just three hits while striking out nine and walking two. He retired 11 of 12 batters between the second and fifth, and the only run he surrendered came in the sixth, when DJ Ghiorso walked, stole second and scored on an Andrew Mhoon single up the middle to make it 2-1.
Greer stretched the lead back to two in the seventh, leading off the frame with a solo blast to deep right field — his first home run of the year and the start of his big night at the plate.
Loyola Marymount answered in the top of the eighth. Reliever
Hayden Cody walked Ghiorso to start the inning and watched him move up on a wild pitch before Zion Williams pulled a two-run homer down the left-field line — the senior's fourth of the season — to tie the game at 3.
The deadlock lasted one half-inning.
CJ Moran opened the home eighth with an infield single, advanced on a
Gage Mestas sacrifice bunt, and moved to third when
Andrew Gauna dropped a bunt single down the third-base line.
Jayden Lobliner worked a nine-pitch walk against reliever Alec Johnson to load the bases, bringing Greer to the plate with one out. He didn't waste the opportunity, driving the second pitch he saw over the wall in center field for a grand slam that put the Toreros up 7-3.
Aidan Gonzalez (1-0) earned the win out of the bullpen, working 1.2 hitless, walkless innings with a strikeout to close it out. Johnson (0-1) took the loss for the Lions (12-43, 3-23 WCC) after allowing four runs on three hits and two walks in one inning of work.
Greer's five RBI matched the entire LMU output on the day. Meidroth finished 1-for-3 with the two-RBI double, while Ghiorso reached base twice with a walk and a stolen base. Frize's nine strikeouts marked the high point of a Torero pitching staff that fanned 11 in the win.
UP NEXT
The Toreros will wrap up their 2026 regular-season schedule tomorrow afternoon in their series finale against LMU. First pitch against the Lions — in what will mark San Diego's Senior Day — is set for 1:00 p.m. at Fowler Park.
