April 21, 2014

Box Score

Austin Bailey.

SAN DIEGO, Calif. - Junior infielder Austin Bailey's walk-off 2-run double lifted the University of San Diego baseball team to a thrilling 4-3 come-from-behind win over Long Beach State University Monday evening in a non-conference game at Fowler Park.

With the Toreros trailing 3-1 heading into the bottom of the ninth, USD put on its rally caps and went to work. Kyle Holder led off the frame with a double down the right field line. Josh Goossen-Brown then struck out swinging, only the ball popped out of the catchers glove, allowing Goossen-Brown to safely reach first on the pass ball and Holder moved to third. Grant Melker was then inserted as a pinch runner, and Ben Wylly launched a single to left center field, which scored Holder and moved Melker to third, still no outs. Ryan Kirby then hit a soft infield single to the first baseman, who thought about throwing Melker out at home, only to see Melker held at third, meanwhile Kirby cruised into first and Wylly moved to second, loading the bases full of Toreros with no outs. Bailey then stepped to the plate, and he hit a rocket shot to right field, which scored the final two runs, giving USD the 4-3 victory.

With the win, the Toreros snapped a four-game losing streak, and improve to 26-14 overall. With the loss, the Dirtbags fall to 18-20 overall.

LBSU got on the scoreboard first, as they managed to push across two runs in the top of the third inning. The Long Beach runs came on a Richard Prigatano RBI single, and a Cameron Pongs RBI sacrifice fly to centerfield, to give the visitors a 2-0 lead.

LBSU would then tack on one more run in the top of the fourth, only to see USD take back that run with in in the bottom half of the fourth. The Torero run came on a Jesse Jenner RBI single up the middle, which scored Andrew Daniel, who had doubled, to move the score to 3-1, setting up the thrilling finish in the ninth.

Offensively for the Toreros, Kirby led the way, as he went a perfect 3-for-3 with one double. Both Daniel and Lechich had great offensive days as well, going 2-for-4, while Jenner extended his hitting streak to 14 games, and Bailey's walk-off double moved his hitting streak to 20 games.

Daniel Reitzler (1-0) picked up the win on the mound for the Toreros, as he allowed no runs on no hits in 0.1 innings of work. LBSU's closer, Kyle Friedrichs (1-1), blew the save for the Dirtbags, and was saddled with the loss, allowing three runs, two earned, on five hits in 1.0 innings of work.

The Toreros will return to action on Tuesday, when they host UC Riverside in a 6 p.m. game at Fowler Park.