SAN DIEGO, Calif. – The San Diego Toreros scored four runs in the fifth inning to overcome an early 3-0 deficit and hold on for a 4-3 win over Portland Friday night at Fowler Park. The Pilots outhit the Toreros by an 11-6 margin but left 11 runners on base. The teams meet for the series finale on Saturday with a 6 p.m. first pitch in what will be Portland's final game of the season.
The Pilots (23-26, 13-13 West Coast Conference) got on the board first with a two-out rally in the second inning. Gabe Skoro hit a double to left field and then scored on a Jake Tsukada single to right field. Hunter Montgomery hit an infield single and then Ty Saunders doubled the margin hit a hit back up the middle to plate Tsukada. Portland recorded a fifth consecutive hit when Chad Stevens roped a ball to left, but Montgomery was thrown out at home on the play to end the rally.
Portland added another run in the fifth when Skoro game through win an RBI single to score Briley Knight.
The Toreros (31-10, 17-6) then mounted the game-deciding rally in the bottom of the frame. Portland starter Brett Gillis cruised through the first four innings and had two outs with just one runner on in the fifth when San Diego took advantage of some Pilot mistakes. Back-to-back walks loaded the bases and Thomas Luevano hit a bases-clearing triple to right field tying the game at 3-3. A fielding error on a ball hit by Caleb Ricketts plated the go-ahead run and saddled Gillis (2-5) with the tough-luck loss.
Conner Thurman came on in relief for San Diego and dazzled in four scoreless innings to pick up his first save of the season. Thurman allowed just three baserunners and struck out five.
Gillis finished the game with 5.0 IP and allowed four hits, three walks and four runs (three earned) while string out two. Bradley McVay was solid out of the bullpen with three scoreless innings and allowing just two hits to keep the Pilots in the game.
It was missed opportunities early that came back to bite the Pilots. Portland had the bases loaded in the fourth but couldn't convert and two of the outs in the three-run fifth inning came on the base paths.
Skoro continues to swing a hot bat in league play. The Portland native finished the day 2-for-4 with a run scored and another driven in to raise his batting average to a team-best .368 in WCC play. Montgomery finished 3-for-4 at the plate and Jake Holcroft also added a pair of hits for the Pilots.
The Toreros kept their WCC title hopes alive with an important come-from-behind victory. League-leader Gonzaga improved to 18-4 in conference play with a win over San Francisco on Friday. San Diego will visit the Bulldogs next weekend to close out the regular season.
