USD sweeps opening weekend

Torero baseball dominates in their first three games of the season versus Wagner College

Anderson Haigler / Sports Editor / The USD Vista

It’s hard to imagine a better opening night than the one the University of San Diego baseball team enjoyed last Friday. On an evening where first pitch was moved up to 4 p.m. from 6 p.m. due to impending rain in San Diego, everything seemed to work out for the Toreros. The rain held off, USD’s pitching was lights-out, and the Toreros were dominant at the plate. A recipe for a picture-perfect first game of the season at Fowler Park that saw USD take down visiting Wagner College 14-0 while holding the Seahawks to just one hit.

The Toreros’ barrage of scoring began early, getting things started in the bottom of the second inning when junior third baseman Adam Lopez was hit by a pitch. After strikeouts from sophomore first baseman Shane McGuire and redshirt senior designated hitter Stephen Dubb, Lopez advanced to second on a wild pitch, then advanced again on a wild ball four to senior outfielder Kevin Collard. The following pitch would prove to be yet another mistake for Wagner starting pitcher Neil Abbatiello, as Ripken Reyes, an infielder who transferred to USD for his senior season from UC Berkeley, hammered a triple over the center fielder’s head, scoring both Lopez and Collard. After working the count to 3-1 in the subsequent at bat, redshirt senior outfielder Chris McCready completed the rally by plating Reyes on a single through the right side of the infield. Following just two innings of play, the Toreros led by a score of 3-0. 

USD didn’t stop the scoring there, however. In the bottom of the fifth inning, they added to their lead behind three singles, two doubles, a walk, and a fielder’s choice. USD 6, Wagner 0. In the sixth, they added another four runs on the backs of two singles (one of the infield variety), a double, two wild pitches, two walks, a hit by pitch, and an error. This long, ugly frame culminated in a 10-0 advantage for the Toreros. By game’s late stages, USD had stretched their lead to a comfortable 14-0, an advantage that was primarily powered by contributions from their first-year and new transfer students. 

First-year utility player Cody Jefferis was a big part of the aforementioned contributions from USD’s fresh faces, showing no signs of nervousness in his college debut as he went 3-5 with an RBI and two runs scored. He spoke about his team’s offensive explosion after the game.

“It’s exciting, it’s exciting to see,” Jefferis said. “Especially for the first game to come out here and put up 14 runs with 16 hits, it was pretty cool. We’ve known that we can hit as a team, and if we do that every game we’re gonna be pretty successful.”

Perhaps equally as impressive as the Toreros’ deluge of runs scored was their pitchers’ performances on the mound. Junior left-hander Chris Murphy started on the hill for USD, and turned in a terrific performance, throwing five scoreless innings with six strikeouts, five walks, and just one hit allowed. Murphy discussed his outing.

“I felt like there was a huge adrenaline rush, the first time facing a team in a long time,” Murphy said. “It was my first opening night start here as a Torero, so it was pretty fun to get out there.” 

USD baseball head coach Rich Hill weighed in on Murphy’s start.

“In that first inning when he’s touching 95 miles an hour, and when he’s downhill and he’s pitching at the kneecaps, he’s a big league pitcher,” Hill said. “ When he runs into the desert a little bit and loses his command and walks guys on four pitches he becomes very average. He’s just still finding the answers to the test. But that was a very encouraging outing.”

After Murphy exited the game in the sixth inning with a 6-0 lead, his teammates were able to continue the Toreros’ game-long trend of dominance on the mound. First- year righty Jake Miller tossed two scoreless frames, working his way around a leadoff walk to his first batter with a pair of strikeouts. Up next was fellow first-year right-hander Cade Brown, who turned in a scoreless inning of his own before passing the baton to redshirt junior Nikolai Mislinski to close things out with a scoreless ninth inning. The combination of Miller, Brown, and Mislinski did not surrender a single hit over their combined four scoreless innings of relief. A strong outing for USD pitching, to say the least. Murphy described his teammates’ pitching performances after he left the game.

“A lot of strikes, a lot of aggressive pitching,” Murphy said. “I mean we could bring our walk numbers down — me included being a big part of that — but I’m really impressed with how the freshman did on their first stage as pitchers here.”

When the dust settled on a comprehensive tour de force for USD baseball, the Toreros were 14-0 victors of their first game of 2019. Hill assessed his team’s overall performance after the last out.

“I thought we were really ready to play,” Hill said. “It was a good vibe within the team, just felt extremely relaxed and confident and prepared going into the thing, so it can’t get much better than that.”

Hill mentioned that he was impressed by and pleased with the contributions of his first-year players, adding that if the Toreros are to be successful this season, he will need to see consistent contribution from his younger players. 

“It was really nice to see the freshman debut guys,” Hill said. “That’s Cody Jefferis, Max Jung-Goldberg, Jake Miller, Cade Brown, Caleb Ricketts — those guys just contributed to the win tonight, which is great.”

After their spectacular Friday-night win, USD went on to sweep the Seahawks in a Saturday doubleheader that saw them put up an additional combined 18 runs in their two wins, prevailing by scores of 15-9 and 3-1. The weekend sweep moves the Toreros’ record to 3-0 on the season. USD will return home to Fowler Park to begin play in the 10-team, 12-day Tony Gwynn Legacy Tournament against the Oklahoma University Sooners next Friday, Feb. 23 at 6 p.m.