SAN DIEGO, Calif. – Junior first baseman Jose Valerio goes yard twice as the ninth-ranked University of San Diego baseball team cruised their way to a 11-3 win over Loyola Marymount University Sunday afternoon in a West Coast Conference game at USD’s Cunningham Stadium.
With the win, the Toreros improve to 35-11 overall, move to 13-3 in the WCC, complete a three-game sweep over the Lions and extend the nation’s longest winning streak to 16 games. With the loss, the Lions fall to 20-23 overall and 5-10 in the WCC.
The Toreros got on the scoreboards first as they scored six runs on six hits in the bottom of the second inning. Logan Gelbrich led off the inning with a double and moved to third on a Victor Sanchez single to centerfield. After Kevin Hansen walked to load the bases, Jose Valerio then hit his first collegiate grand slam over the fight field fence to give USD a 4-0 lead with no outs. Ryan Davis then kept things rolling with a single through the right side and moved to second on a Kevin Muno sacrifice bunt. James Meador then drove in Davis with a run-scoring double to left field and the final USD run of the inning came on a Josh Romanski RBI single through the right side to give USD a 6-0 advantage.
After each team then scored a run a piece in the third inning, the Lions took back two runs in the top of the fourth inning on a Brett Mendoza two-run single to cut the lead down to 7-3.
USD then went on to take those two runs back in the bottom of the sixth inning on a Meador two-run homer over the left field fence, which scored Nicol, who had singled, to give USD a 9-3 lead.
The Toreros then put the game completely out of reach in the bottom of the seventh inning on a two-run Valerio homer over the left field fence to give USD a comfortable 11-3 lead.
Offensively for the Toreros, Valerio led the way as he went 2-for-4 with two home runs and six RBI. Meador was also solid at the plate for the Toreros as he went 3-for-5 with one double, one home runs and three RBI.
Kyle Blair (5-3) picked up the win on the mound for the Toreros as he allowed no runs on one hit, while striking out eight in 4.2 innings of work. Xavier Esquivel (4-3) was saddled with the loss for the Lions as he allowed seven runs on six hits in 2.0 innings of work.
