USD Weekly Update | 3-19-18

Men’s Tennis

USD Men’s tennis had three matches in the San Diego Spring Classic over the past week, going 1-2 overall. The week started with a 4-0 victory over Utah State on Thursday morning. The Toreros won the doubles point with a come from behind doubles win and then took control in the singles matches to advance to the quarterfinals of the tournament. In the second match of the event, the Toreros fell 4-3 to #24 Memphis. USD fell behind early, losing the doubles point and trailing 3-1 before tying the score at 3-3. However, Memphis escaped the upset bid, winning the next singles match to seal a 4-3 victory.

In the final match of the invite, the Toreros fell 4-3 to Texas Tech. Once again the Toreros found themselves in a dogfight, tied 3-3 going into the final singles matches but once again the Toreros could not see out the victory. USD now stands at 6-6 overall and will look to bounce back this Wednesday at home vs the Washington Huskies.

Football

USD Football held it’s Spring game on Saturday. Notable performances included senior quarterback Anthony Lawrence completing 7 of 8 passes for 126 yards and two touchdowns, junior quarterback Reid Sinnett completing 6 of 8 passes for 69 yards and a 34 yard run. The Torero offense, which will have four new starting offensive lineman next season, continued its strong play from last season. The Toreros will continue with their spring practices as they get ready for the start of a new season in August.  

Baseball

USD Baseball suffered a tough start of conference play, losing the weekend series to Santa Clara at Fowler Park. The Toreros dropped the first game of the series 13-2. The Broncos scored 10 of their runs over the final two innings. Paul Richian gave up 5 and struck out 8 over 7+ innings but the Toreros bullpen struggled following his exit and the Toreros could not make up the huge deficit. USD bounced back however in the second game of the series, led by the strong starting pitching of Chris Murphy. Murphy struck out 14 in 8+ strong innings of work, just two strikeouts short of the Torero record set in 2008.

USD jumped out to a lead in the first inning on an RBI single by Daniel Gardner and extended their lead to 4-0 after Gardner’s 2-run single and a sacrifice fly. The Toreros added four more runs in the 8th to give themselves an 8-0 lead. The Broncos scored two runs in the 9th but USD held on for the 8-2 win. In the final game of the series, Santa Clara responded to win the series with a 16-7 victory. The Broncos jumped out to a 10-1 lead early and never looked back. The Toreros are now 10-2 overall, 1-2 in WCC play and will be back in action this Wednesday with a road showdown vs Cal State Fullerton.  

Softball

USD Softball split a Saturday double header vs Cal State Bakersfield on Saturday. In the first game, the Toreros lost on a controversial call that did not go their way. With the score tied at one and the bases loaded in the bottom of the 8th,  CSU Bakersfield’s Paige Johnson hit a line drive to left field. Toreros outfielder Savannah Shields appeared to make the catch but the umpires did not make an out signal and the Roadrunners runner on third went home for the winning run.

USD bounced back in the second game of the double header and came away with a 3-2 victory. The Toreros were lead by Lindsay Clare and Taylor Spence offensively who went a combined 5 for 7 with an RBI and a run. The Toreros scored all their runs in the first three innings. In the final game of the series, the Toreros offense continued its hot early hitting, jumping off to a 7-1 lead after 4 innings and holding on for a 7-5 win. Kailey Hill went 4-5 with 4 RBI’s to pace the Toreros attack. The Toreros are now 17-14 and will now head to Riverside for a three game series with the Highlanders.

Men’s Basketball

Tyler Williams drained a three pointer with one second left to give the Toreros a thrilling 67-64 win over the Portland State Vikings in the second round of the Collegeinsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT). The Toreros trailed early on in the game as they struggled to break down the Vikings full court pressure. USD trailed by 12 in the first half at 37-28 at half time. The Toreros came out firing in the second half and took a 43-42 lead on Olin Carter III’s three pointer and extended the lead to 50-45 on another three, this time by Cameron Neubauer.

Portland State would not go away however, taking a 53-52 lead and things would remain tight down the wire. With the scored tied at 64 with less than a minute to go, Isaiah Wright’s three pointer went in and out of the rim but the Toreros got a defensive stop on the next possession to put themselves in position for the last shot. Wright drove into the lane and found Williams on the wing for the game winning shot.

Williams and Carter III lead the Toreros with 16 points. Neubauer (13 points) and Isaiah Pineiro (12) also scored in double figures for USD. The Toreros shot 43% (22-51) from the field and 51% (14-27) from beyond the arc. This win was USD's 20th of the season, the first time the Toreros have won 20 games since the 2007-08 season. The Toreros will be back in action this Wednesday against Northern Colorado at 7pm in the CIT quarterfinals.