Toreros crush Indiana to open up 2010 season

On a weekend when Mother Nature was supposed to intervene and deprive Torero fans of some baseball, the sun continued to shine and the Toreros took three of four games from the defending Big Ten tournament champions, the Indiana Hoosiers. From the first pitch on Friday to the last pitch on Sunday, the Toreros’ bats kept on swinging as the team outscored the Hoosiers 41-21 over the four-game series.
Cunningham Stadium was almost to capacity during Friday’s game, when the Toreros’ offense started the season with a bang, stomping Indiana 16-10; and it wasn’t even that close.
A first inning grand slam by shortstop Bryan Haar got the team headed in the right direction. After Indiana responded with a run in the top half of the second inning, USD countered with three more runs in the bottom half, thanks in large part to a two-run blast by catcher Nick McCoy. The team never looked back.
Indiana cut the lead to 7-3 after slugger Alex Dickerson absolutely crushed a home run that would have hit the Manchester dorms in right field were it not for the protective fencing.
The pitching for Indiana was wild all day, and they were never able to keep the game close. There were seven Torero hit batsmen in the game, and the offense continued to find ways to drive in the excessive base runners. 
The top three in the batting order did a fantastic job setting the table, and the combination of Kevin Muno, McCoy and Chris Engell scored a combined 11 runs between them. Muno scored five by himself and Engell took home Player of the Game honors with his 4-5 performance, which included three RBI.
A.J. Griffin looked good enough as he went six innings and allowed four runs, striking out eight en route to his first win.
The rain never came on Saturday, at least not until after the Toreros squeezed in both games of their doubleheader. In the first game of the day, USD’s pitching staff managed to work out of several jams and stranded 14 Hoosier base runners. Meanwhile, the Torero offense continued to swing the bats well as they cruised to a 9-2 victory.
As far as deadly one-two punches go, the four and five hitters in the Toreros lineup certainly proved a fearsome combo. After James Meador sat out Friday’s contest, he was penciled in to the clean-up spot for game one of the doubleheader, while Bryan Haar hit fifth. The two went a combined 7-8 with two walks, an RBI and five runs scored.
Matt Hauser picked up the win, pitching the final 4.1 innings in relief, allowing just one run over that stretch.
Game Two featured even more Torero offense, with Meador again leading the charge to a 9-4 victory. This time, hitting in the three-hole, Meador went 4-5 with a home run, four RBIs and two runs scored.
His final doubleheader statistics were marvelous: 7-9, five RBIs and seven runs scored. He had help at the top of the lineup this time, as Muno also went 4-5 with a home run, two RBIs and two runs scored.
On the mound, the Toreros were led by sophomore sensation Sammy Solis, who went five innings and allowed three runs, with only one being earned.
The game was still tight in the eighth inning, when Indiana cut the Toreros’ lead to 7-4 after an RBI single by Michael Earley. But Matt Thompson came on in relief and stopped the Hoosiers rally, however, and the Toreros added two big insurance runs in the bottom half as they held on for a 9-4 victory.
After taking the first three games, including the doubleheader sweep, things didn’t end quite the way USD had hoped. It took the offense a little more time to get going this time around, and they fell 7-5 despite a late rally.
Indiana jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the fourth inning; but the Toreros were able to cut the lead in half to 4-2 in the bottom half of the inning after another Haar home run and sac fly to drive in Chris Engell after he tripled.
But this was a sign of things to come, as seemingly every time the Toreros got close, Indiana pushed across another run to keep the game just out of reach. Down 7-4 in the bottom of the ninth, Meador drove in Jon Hotta with a single to cut the lead to two. But it wasn’t enough, as Haar struck out swinging to ensure the Toreros’ first loss of the season.
While the series did not end the way the Toreros would have hoped, it is still an impressive feat to take three of four from the defending Big East Tournament Champions.
Later in the week, USD received more good news, when Meador was named WCC Player of the Week.
The Toreros will look to continue their winning ways as they begin a weekend series tonight against cross-town rival San Diego State University. The series will alternate between locations, with tonight’s game taking place at 6 p.m. at SDSU.
The teams then play tomorrow here at Cunningham Stadium at 2 p.m. Saturday is a 1 p.m. game back at San Diego State University, and the series concludes at Cunningham Stadium Sunday at 1 p.m.