Priya Cooper / Asst. Sports Editor

As spring comes into full swing, so does the start of the USD men’s baseball season. The team opened their season Feb. 16 with a tournament in Austin, Texas, against the Longhorns.

USD Athletics shared the weight of the victory in game two against Longhorns.

“San Diego’s victory over No. 16 Texas on Saturday marked its third win over a ranked opponent in its last three seasons (March 10, 2023, at No. 16 TCU and May 21, 2022, vs. No. 11 Gonzaga),” according to USD Athletics.

USD sophomore and 2023 All-West Coast Confrence Team member Jack Gurevitch, an infielder for the Torero baseball team, said that while opening up was tough, coming away with only one victory was a great way to get ready for the games ahead.

“We fought hard. I mean, we lost two games, but we came out with one… I didn’t feel for one second that that [other] team was any better than us. Overall, we played a really good game and went forward. If we were to see them again, it’d be really good for us. We’d be ready to go,” Gurevitch said.

The team later had their first non-tournament official season game vs. UC San Diego at home Feb. 21. It was the first home game of the season, and the team pulled away with a win, leading 8-7 over the crosstown rival. The Tritons initiated the scoring in the opening frame, capitalizing on a USD mistake and securing a 3-0 lead, with two runs batted in singles.

In the bottom of the third, USD senior Jack Costello’s hit enabled USD junior Ariel Armas to cross home plate, putting the Toreros on the scoreboard. Subsequent to that, Jack Gurevitch and USD senior Angelo Peraza — both selected as members of the West Coast Conference Preseason Team for 2024 — each delivered Runs Batted In (RBI) single in consecutive plays, leveling the score at 3-3. Costello delivered the decisive blow with two outs in the bottom of the frame, lacing a looping RBI single into left-center field to plate USD junior Justin DeCriscio from second base, to push USD to victory in its 2024 home opener.

Gurevitch shared how the result of the first home game speaks a lot to the dedication of the team and their desire to make big strides on the field this season.

“It’s a really good team with a good culture. The team meshes very well. Some games we faced a little bit of adversity, but the team has been very strong with the mentality and just overall trust in each other. So I have nothing but the utmost confidence in our team and our coaching staff and basically everyone running the program,” Guervitch said.

Gurevitch also had a chance to talk about the emotions surrounding being selected for the 2024 WCC baseball preseason team.

“It’s an honor. It makes me happy and excited. It’s overall just really cool. If I give credit to my teammates and my coaches for getting to be where I am, I would say I wouldn’t be. I wouldn’t be in this position to be honored for that, if it wasn’t for basically everyone surrounding me. But overall, I’m really just thankful to be in that position.”

The main goal of the team this season is to make the postseason, Gurevitch explained. 

“The particular goal for the entire team is just to make it to a regional this year. Our team has the depth and definitely the vision to make it that far. And I think if we just stay on the path that we’re on right now, we’ll be fine and we’ll make it there. So I think that’s not only my goal, but everyone’s goal on the team,” Gurevitch said. 

Following this victory the team plays Arizona at Fowler Park on Feb. 23, 24 and 25, and hopes to continue the win streak going forward as they prepare for the season. 

The team won their games on Friday and Saturday versus University of Arizona and only fell short by one run for the final game on Sunday. The final scores were 10-8 San Diego and 6-4 San Diego for the first two matches. The last game ended 9-10 with Arizona victorious. 

Game two was the second night in a row, the Torero pitching staff tallied 19 combined strikeouts, a mark that was not recorded as a team in a single game since March 16, 2008.

After the first game against Arizona, USD had a lot to celebrate.

“Friday night’s victory over the Wildcats is USD’s 10th win over a Power-5 opponent since the beginning of the 2022 season, which marked head coach Brock Ungricht first year at the helm in San Diego,” USD Athletics shared.

The Toreros were able to make it a one-run game at 10-9 in the final inning, but fell short despite having two outs and the bases loaded. Next the team plays California State University, at Northridge on Feb. 27 and UC Irvine on Friday March 1.

After the game on March 1, the Toreros enter a very competitive weekend playing games back to back against UCLA on Saturday and Michigan Sunday, with both games to be played in Los Angeles.

USD baseball hosts their next home game on March 12 against CSUN at Fowler Park. Photo courtesy of @ortizvisualz/Instagram