Toreros crush Bulldogs in record-setting weekend

As impressive as the Toreros' 6-0 start to conference play has been, it was not the first time in the program's history that a hot start was had. In fact, it happened just last year after USD swept consecutive three-game series' against Pepperdine and Santa Clara to begin WCC play. But after a string of misfortunes, the team stumbled the rest of the way to a disappointing 11-10 conference record last season. So one must forgive the skeptics for being, well, skeptical after the Toreros made easy work of Loyola Marymount and Santa Clara to begin the 2010 WCC schedule.
In 2009, the wheels came off beginning with a series against the eventual WCC champion Gonzaga Bulldogs, thus it was only fitting that the Toreros welcome the 2010 Bulldogs to Cunningham Stadium this past weekend in hopes of reversing last year's fortunes.
After a series sweep last weekend against the Bulldogs, it's safe to say that there is no more room for skeptics; the 2010 Toreros baseball team is the real deal.
"We are really playing some great baseball right now," outfielder James Meador said. "Our pitching has been great. Our hitting has been great. It's been a lot of fun."
The Toreros started the weekend series with the same deadly rotation they used to get off to such a hot start: Kyle Blair in game one, Sammy Solis in game two and A.J. Griffin closing it out in game three.
Blair dominated the Bulldogs on Friday, despite allowing three unearned runs in the first two innings. The offense had no problem battling back, and they rode Blair's 12 strikeouts to a roaring 9-4 victory. Meador led the way on offense, going 3-4 with an RBI. Blair improved to 4-3 on the year after going 7.2 innings, allowing just six hits and one earned run.
The win put USD's conference record at 7-0, the record for the best start in WCC play in program history.
While that is quite the feat in itself, it was not the only school record that the Toreros would break on the weekend.
Solis, who has essentially become a lock to shut down the opposition each and every time he takes the hill, headlined Saturday's all-important game. He went six strong innings, struck out nine batters and allowed just one run on three hits during the afternoon affair.
But it was the offense that had the record-setting day. With the game tied 1-1 heading into the bottom half of the third, the Toreros put together a 13-run inning behind 13 consecutive hits, another school record, this time for most consecutive hits in an inning.
When all was said and done after USD sent 18 hitters to the plate, Solis took the hill in the top of the fourth with a commanding 14-1 lead.
Just about everyone on the offense deserves recognition for the rout. Meador went 4-5 with a home run and four RBI, Kevin Muno and Chris Engell had four hits apiece and the Toreros won their eighth conference game in a row in an 18-5 romp of the Bulldogs, improving Solis' record to 7-1.
"We had it in for Gonzaga this time around," Engell said. "There's definitely a rivalry there and they took two of three from us last year on their field, so it was nice to get out there and return the favor this year."
Game three did not look promising in the beginning after Gonzaga scored two runs in the top of the first, but Griffin began to settle in, and the offensive eruption was soon to follow.
The Toreros' lineup again used the third inning to wake up their bats. Bryan Haar led off the inning with a home run and the rest of the offense followed, as USD pushed across five runs in the inning to take a 5-2 lead.
There was a lot of scoring late in the game as the Toreros added more insurance but also gave up some runs to the Bulldogs long after the game was already decided. In the end, USD completed the sweep with a 17-7 blowout, pushing their record in WCC play to 9-0. The sweep was done in a dominating fashion with the Toreros outscoring the Bulldogs 44-16 over the three games.
"Our offense got in a groove early and we kept the pressure on them," Haar said after going 3-5 with the home run, an RBI and two runs scored. "AJ [Griffin] did a good job of getting quick outs to let the offense continue to score runs."
The sweep of the Bulldogs put the Toreros back in the national rankings, as they came in at No. 24 in the Baseball America poll.
The undefeated start to WCC play is the greatest start in program history. The sweep of the Bulldogs was a statement of just how real the 2010 Toreros' chances for a conference title are.