USD beats Portland to clinch WCC Tournament title

The University of San Diego baseball team’s stretch of success has the Toreros headed back to the NCAA playoffs.

USD clinched the West Coast Conference Tournament championship Saturday afternoon with an 8-6 win over Portland at Las Vegas Ballpark.

The Toreros, who swept through the tournament with three straight victories and now have won 29th of their past 32 games, earned the conference’s automatic berth in the NCAA Division I Regionals.

USD is making its 10th regionals appearance, and second in Brock Ungricht’s three years as head coach.

The Toreros will learn Monday at 9 a.m. (ESPN2) which four-team regional they will be assigned to for the NCAA playoffs.

The double-elimination regionals begin on Friday.

UC Santa Barbara and Oregon State are potential West Coast sites. It wouldn’t be surprising to see the Toreros, projected as a No. 2 seed, to be shipped across the country, however.

USD used a five-run fourth inning to take command against Portland. The Toreros did it with just three RBI singles, along with a pair of bases-loaded walks.

USD starting pitcher Logan Reddemann limited Portland to just one run over four innings before the Pilots rallied in the fifth. They made it 5-4 before Toreros reliever Calvin Schapira (5-1) could get out of the inning.

The teams traded runs over the next three innings before USD built a three-run advantage with a pair of runs in the top of the ninth.

The Toreros needed the cushion when Portland rally for a run with two outs in the bottom of the inning.

USD’s Alex Schrier stranded runners at the corners to close out the game, then found himself in the middle of a celebration on the mound.