USD walks it off versus Pilots

Toreros win in extras behind a strong start from Chris Murphy and clutch hitting from Jeff Houghtby

Henry Jones / Contributor / The USD Vista

The University of San Diego baseball team continued conference play last  Thursday night with an action packed 4-3 win in 10 innings against the University of Portland Pilots. A little bit of quality pitching from Chris Murphy, some late game drama, and crucial pitching out of relief from Travis Kuhn led to a hard-fought victory against Portland. Senior shortstop Jeff Houghtby capped off the night with a walk-off single in the bottom of the tenth inning, giving the Toreros the win in the first game of the three-game home stand. Despite losing two out of three games in their previous series against Loyola Marymount University, the Toreros were able to come back with a win against Portland in extra innings in addition to beating California Baptist at home on Tuesday.

To begin the game, USD handed the ball again to their junior ace, Chris Murphy, who showed yet again why he is one of the best pitchers in the West Coast Conference. Murphy silenced the Portland bats for much of the game, going six innings with eight strikeouts, four walks, and only two earned runs in one hundred and thirteen pitches. Opposite Murphy, the Toreros faced unorthodox pitching from Portland Thursday night with the Pilots utilizing  two “submarine,” or sidearm pitchers in Cameron Richman and Christian Peters. USD baseball head coach Rich Hill described his team’s approach in facing pitchers with deceptive, underarm deliveries. 

“Usually those guys are not really effective against left handed hitters,” Hill said. “We weren’t freaked out that those guys were coming in because we had seven lefties running at those guys. I don’t think they have any lefties coming out of the bullpen, so it was a good matchup for us.”

Chris Murphy started off the game on a high note by striking out the two first batters in the top of the first inning. Despite walking Portland’s third  hitter afterward, Murphy was able to escape the inning by picking off the runner at first base, which would be the beginning of a low-scoring  affair. After a single from senior third baseman, Ripken Reyes, the Toreros were unable to answer in the bottom of the first with fly outs from  Houghtby and sophomore first baseman, Shane McGuire. It was a close ball game through much of the contest and Murphy played a big part in keeping his team in the contest. Though he was a bit wild at times, having given up a walk, hit by pitch, and balk by the third inning, Murphy cruised through the first three innings, which included four strikeouts on 47 pitches. 

USD eventually struck first to begin the scoring. After a double down the left field line by sophomore catcher Adam Kerner, sophomore designated hitter Tora Otsuka drove him in with an RBI single up the middle, making the score  1-0 Toreros. USD would exit the inning after another single by Reyes and a line out by McGuire.

Defense also played a critical role in Thursday’s win, particularly with one spectacular play from first-year second baseman Cody Jefferis. In the top of the fourth with the potential tying run on second base, Portland center fielder Blake Porter chopped a high grounder in between the pitcher and first base. Jefferis fielded the high chopper, and with the Portland runner rounding around third, he opted to chase him down instead of going for the easy out at first. Jefferis’ heads-up defense led to a run down between third base and home plate and USD got the critical out, preventing the runner from scoring. 

The first-year infielder showcased his all-around game not just with his glove, but also his bat later in the fourth. With runners on second and third with one out, Jefferis launched an RBI double down the right field line, scoring senior right fielder Chris McCready and senior center fielder Paul Kunst, making it 3-0 USD. 

In the top of the fifth inning, Portland flirted with taking the lead, but Murphy continued to keep USD in the game in tough spots. After surrendering a double to Portland first baseman Tracye Tammaro, the score became 3-1 USD. Following a walk that brought  runners to first and second, the top of the order for Portland, as well as the go ahead runs came to the plate. Murphy proceeded to strike out the one and two hitters for the Pilots and escaped yet another jam. Hill described the significance of Murphy’s performance in the fifth inning. 

“He threw close to 30 pitches that inning, but he came back and struck out one of their best players on a 3-2 fastball that had a little bit of fuzz on it,” Hill said. “To me, that was kind of the moment of the night.”

Heading into the seventh inning, after giving up his fourth walk of the game and his pitch count rising, Murphy was pulled from the game, finishing his outing. He threw six innings striking out eight batters in 113 pitches. Hill proceeded to bring in redshirt senior righthander Travis Kuhn into the game. It would not be an easy start to the game for the hard-throwing relief pitcher. On a 3-1 count with a runner on first, Kuhn gave up a game tying home run to Portland’s designated hitter Hunter Montgomery, tying the score at  three. 

After a rough seventh inning, in between innings, Kuhn gave a pep talk to his teammates in the dugout. 

“I was making sure that our guys knew that we were still in that game,” Kuhn said. “Tie games are nothing new to us. We’ve been competing in a lot of those this year. At the end of the day, we’re a tough team to beat in any situation.” 

 With his head held high and his emotions poised, Kuhn came back out in the top of the eighth and put the home run he allowed in the seventh inning in his rearview mirror. He struck out the first two batters of the frame and got a line drive out to end the top of the eighth. While the USD offense was unable to provide him with any run insurance, Kuhn continued to dominate, with a strikeout, groundout, and fly out in a quick of the top of the ninth. After a fly out by Jefferis, a strikeout by Kerner, and a pop out by senior outfielder Chris Colarossi, it was time for extra innings baseball.  

Kuhn came back out yet again for the top of the tenth, and he finished his night on a high note, going three up and three down with a fly out, strike out, and ground out. Kuhn finished his solid night having gone an impressive four innings pitched out of relief with four strikeouts and  one earned run. 

Going into the bottom half of the inning, the Toreros had the top of their lineup due up, with Otsuka starting it off with a walk. Otsuka was pinch ran for by senior outfielder Connor Doyle, and Reyes followed him up by laying down a sacrifice bunt, which brought Doyle over to second, and into scoring position. McGuire then grounded out to second base, bringing Doyle over to third and the potential game winning run 90 feet away. 

Two outs, the go ahead run on third, and a tie-ball game in the bottom of the 10th. The stage was set as Houghtby came to the plate. On an 0-1 count, Houghtby knocked a single into shallow right field, just missing the diving glove of Portland’s left fielder. Nonetheless, it was good enough to win the game on a walk off, highlighting a miraculous victory as Houghtby’s teammates mobbed him at second base celebrating the late-game dramatic win. Houghtby described his mindset during his clutch at bat that won the game. 

“I was looking for a pitch to hit and not trying to do too much,” Houghtby said. “Tora got on and I was just trying to get a base hit.” 

In addition to Houghtby’s clutch hitting, Hill attributed Kuhn’s performance as a critical part of Thursday night’s win. 

“I can’t say enough about Travis,” Hill said. “That’s four innings in a close game where my favorite part about the night was when he gave up the home run and he just couldn’t flinch. He didn’t buckle and got us out of that inning.”

 Kuhn was not only responsible for keeping them in the game score-wise, but his mid-game pep talk was also crucial in shaping the team’s mindset for the rest of the game. Hill described the team’s resilience going late into games. 

“We have a saying here — ‘seven, eight, nine is Torero Time,’” Hill said. “The seventh, eighth, and ninth innings belong to us and it really kind of rang true. The cool thing about this team is that we never believed we were gonna lose.” 

Houghtby and Kuhn’s late game heroics may not have been possible if it weren’t for Murphy putting up yet another quality start. Murphy will be a player to watch as the season progresses, with the 2019 MLB Amateur Draft less than two months away. Murphy will likely highlight this year’s USD draft class, and it wouldn’t be a stretch to say the junior lefty could be selected in the early rounds of the draft. After the game, Kuhn expressed his appreciation for his teammate. 

“He’s a guy I’ve played with for three years,” Kuhn said. “If his stuff isn’t the best, he is still one of the better guys in the nation as far as my concern.”  

USD  will return home to Fowler Park and begin their final regular-season home stand of the year on Tuesday, May 7 at 6 p.m. against nonconference opponent UC Irvine.