SAN DIEGO — The University of San Diego Toreros baseball team rode their hot bats to a 12-5 victory over Long Beach State at Cunningham Stadium Tuesday afternoon.
In a game that started off looking like a pitching duel, the end result was far from it, as the Dirtbags dropped their sixth game away from Blair Field.
The Dirtbags (7-12) were informed before the start of the game that they would be without head coach Mike Weathers, who was ordered to serve a 3-game suspension after his tirade and ejection in a home victory against Loyola Marymount on March 15.
San Diego (16-10) came up with one of its biggest offensive showings of the year, and its pitching by committee worked to perfection, keeping the Dirtbags off-balance and uncomfortable in the box all day.
Shortstop Sean Nicol went 4-for-5 with three RBIs and four other Toreros had three hits apiece. Nicol also made several key plays in the field that stopped the Dirtbags before they could mount a comeback threat.
From the first pitch, it seemed apparent that it wasn’t going to go the Dirtbags way. Tre Dennis, leading off as the designated hitter, was hit by a curveball on the first pitch and was immediately instructed to stay in the batter’s box by home plate umpire Ramon Amendariz for failing to make an attempt to evade the pitch. From that point on, the Dirtbags looked to be fighting an uphill battle.
In the first few innings, it looked as if the Dirtbags were one clutch stroke away from breaking out of their shells, but that hit never came.
Dennis led off the third with a single to center. From there, Jordan Casas popped out to shallow right, and Dennis advanced to third on a Devin Lohman single to left. With runners on the corners and one out, Rylan Sandoval and TJ Mittelstaedt struck out and the Dirtbags’ opportunity to tie the ballgame was lost.
Once again for Long Beach, the lack of quality relief pitching was glaring. After Jeff Lease (1-1) left the game, the bullpen failed to hold the Toreros offense at bay and consistently fell behind in the count, playing to San Diego’s advantage the entire afternoon.
Lease was handed the loss, although it was hardly deserved. Lease was knocked out in the fourth, when the Dirtbags committed two errors and a third fielding blunder, which was ruled an infield hit.
At that point, the floodgates were opened, as the Toreros unloaded for 20 hits.
Matt Hauser (1-0) picked up the win for the Toreros after 1 1/3 scoreless innings and two strikeouts in relief.
No Dirtbag collected more than a single hit, and the offense’s lack of timely hitting squandered several early opportunities to get to the USD pitchers.
The Dirtbags will be back in action Friday night at Blair Field for a three-game set against visiting UNLV. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.