USD baseball crushes Cougars

Toreros take two of three from first-place BYU with a Thursday-night blowout and a Friday-night walkoff

Anderson Haigler / Sports Editor / The USD Vista

When University of San Diego baseball welcomed the West Coast Conference (WCC)’s first-place team to Fowler Park last Thursday night, they treated it like any other game.

“I don’t think we even look at that,” USD baseball head coach Rich Hill said of visiting Brigham Young University (BYU)’s 21-6 overall record. “We’re playing the game, not the opponent. We know that BYU is a very quality opponent, they’ve got a good record.”

After the game, however, Hill offered a small peek into his team’s mindset going up against the first-place Cougars.

“We’re just trying to survive,” Hill said.

But the Toreros did more than simply survive the first game of the series. They dominated it.

With a solid performance on the mound from staff ace Chris Murphy and a monster night at the plate from veteran outfielder Chris McCready, San Diego powered their way to an emphatic 15-5 victory over nationally-ranked BYU. 

A convincing performance for a team that was simply trying to survive.

The game did not begin in dominant fashion for the Toreros, though. As he has done multiple times previously this season, Murphy ran into a bit of trouble in the first inning after surrendering a lead-off single to infielder Carson Mathews. After a four-pitch walk to the following batter, the junior lefty was able to record the first out of the game on a popup to sophomore catcher Adam Kerner before issuing another walk on a full count. Staring down a bases-loaded situation early on, Murphy would need a little help from his battery-mate to work his way out of trouble. With a snap throw from his knees behind the plate, Kerner back-picked Matthews off of third base, earning the Toreros a crucial second out of the inning. 

The next batter, Abraham Valdez, worked a 2-2 count but swung and missed on the fifth pitch he saw, allowing Murphy to escape the opening frame unscathed. Hill discussed Murphy’s precarious, but ultimately inconsequential start to the game.

“I thought he really showed some resiliency there in that first inning,” Hill said. “The first inning can be a little weird, I’ve made more mound trips in the first inning than in all the other ones combined. It’s a little bit tricky. But he found his stride, and it was awesome.”

The Toreros enjoyed a rally of their own in the bottom half of the inning. Sophomore outfielder Tora Otsuka, who hails from nearby Rancho Bernardo, California, got things started for USD by slapping a line drive single down the third base line that fell just out of the reach of the Cougars’ third baseman’s dive. Senior infielder Ripken Reyes followed up with a single of his own to center field, putting a Torero in scoring position just three pitches into the game.  Next up was sophomore first baseman Shane McGuire, who made a productive out, advancing the runners to second and third with a swinging bunt to the catcher. Senior shortstop Jeff Houghtby walked on four pitches immediately after, and the stage was set for San Diego to do some damage, and to the plate strode Chris McCready. 

McCready, who is batting a team-high .415 so far this season, came up big. With a 1-2 count, the redshirt senior outfielder turned on an off-speed pitch and sent a grand slam over the right field wall in front of the Manchester Village Apartments, giving his team a 4-0 lead early on.

“I was just trying to get something to hit, trying to drive the run in somehow,” McCready said. “I fought off a couple pitches, then got a pitch out front. I knew it was enough to drive in the run, then it went out, so it was a good feeling.”

The Toreros’ success continued past the first inning. After his eventful opening frame, Murphy settled in for the next couple innings, holding BYU scoreless until the top of the fifth, where he was touched up for four runs, three of which were earned.  BYU did their damage by way of a single, a home run, a walk, and a throwing error on a swinging bunt by Kerner that would’ve made for a spectacular sliding play should his throw have hit its mark. Murphy departed the game after the errant play, with Hill opting for hard-throwing righty Travis Kuhn to quell the Cougars’ rally. Murphy’s final line: 5.2 IP, 7 H, 3 ER, 5 BB, 6 K, and the win, moving his record to 4-1 so far this season. He spoke about his outing after the game.

“I’m pretty happy about the start,” Murphy said. “It’s always good to get a win against BYU on a Thursday night, we’re not used to that. (Keeping the Toreros in the game) is all that really matters. I didn’t really have my best stuff necessarily, but my goal was just to compete with what I had today.”

With the way the USD offense performed on Thursday evening, it wouldn’t have mattered if Murphy surrendered 10 runs. After McCready’s four-RBI blast in the first, redshirt junior Paul Kunst chipped in with a home run of his own in the second inning, lining a 1-1 pitch well over the left field wall to expand the USD lead. In the bottom of the fifth, USD was able to answer BYU’s flurry of scoring with two runs on a line-drive triple from Houghtby that kicked around in the right field corner as the speedy infielder raced his way to third. Then McCready got aboard with a walk in the ensuing plate appearance, before Kerner notched two RBI on a double down the left field line to move the score to 7-4 USD. 

The Toreros’ metaphorical foot remained firmly on the gas pedal as the game progressed. In the sixth, they further extended their advantage with two singles, two hit by pitches, two walks, a balk, and a stolen base. By the end of the frame, San Diego led by a seven-run, 11-4 margin. They wouldn’t stop there. USD began the bottom of the seventh with three straight hits — a single from first-year utility player Caleb Ricketts, a double from Kunst, and a single from McGuire — made it a 12-5 ballgame. Shane McGuire piled on with a two-RBI double, then McCready delivered the final blow with a single up the middle, good for his seventh RBI of the night and a 15-5 Torero lead. McCready described his and his teammates’ big night at the plate.

“We were taking a lot of good at-bats, really good with two strikes,” McCready said. “We also had a lot of good at-bats with two outs as well. When we’re getting that big two-out hit, bouncing back and scoring after they score, that’s big for us.”  

Hill described the game as his favorite offensive performance of the season thus far, even more so than the Toreros’ absurd 31-run effort on the road versus UC Riverside in March.

“It was a great offensive night,” Hill said. “We just put it on them. Just two-out hits, quality AB’s, and that’s on a Thursday night against Jordan Wood, who was an all-conference pitcher last year. So, it was an awesome performance by the offense.”

After their big win, San Diego continued their success with a thrilling, extra-innings, walk-off win on a ground ball from redshirt senior Chris Colarossi before they lost the series finale in a blowout on Saturday afternoon. The two wins move USD’s record to 21-11 (6-6 WCC), good for seventh in the conference. Murphy spoke about what the series victory versus the WCC’s first-place team meant to him and his teammates.

“It just proves to ourselves that we are that good…even though we’ve had a couple rough weekends,” Murphy said. “It proves that we can just bounce back and do this again.”

He mentioned that though the Toreros are proud of what they have accomplished thus far, work remains to be done should they finish the season the way they want to.

“I’m extremely happy with what we’ve accomplished so far,” Murphy said. “Although, there are games where you can see that one pitch decided the game. Hopefully we start winning those one-pitch games, and hopefully we look back at the end of this and we’ll be pretty happy.”

The Toreros return home on Thursday, April 18 at 6 p.m. to continue conference play versus the University of Portland. Tickets are free for all USD students.