SPOKANE, Wash. – San Diego baseball earned the crucial series win on Sunday, defeating Gonzaga 15-9 in the rubber match at Patterson Baseball Complex and Coach Steve Hertz Field.
 
After San Diego (17-25, 11-4 WCC) took an early 5-0 lead, Gonzaga (19-21, 11-4 WCC) responded with seven unanswered runs. A run in the fifth and two in the seventh brought the score to an 8-8 tie.
 
As they did on Friday, the USD offense came alive late in game three. Including the two runs in the seventh, the Toreros combined for nine runs to turn an 8-6 deficit into a 15-9 win.
 
Max Coupe blasted three home runs in the loss on a perfect 3-for-3 afternoon, driving in four and scoring four times with a walk. He is the first Bulldog with a three-homer game since Brian Kalmer at Tennessee in 2023.
 
Mikey Bell added a home run in a 2-for-4 effort, driving in three and scoring once.
 
After relieving Justin Feld (ND) in the second inning, Karsten Sweum threw 4.2 innings, allowing three earned runs on just two base hits, striking out six. Garrett Gores (L, 1-1) was tabbed with the loss despite allowing just one earned run. A two-out error in the eighth led to three unearned Torero runs.
 
Gonzaga and San Diego will enter the week tied for first place in the West Coast Conference standings, but the Toreros hold the ultimate tiebreaker after the series win this weekend. The Bulldogs travel to Loyola Marymount next weekend, while USD hosts San Francisco.
 
UP NEXT
Gonzaga will make their second trip to Pullman on Tuesday, facing Washington State for the penultimate time this season at 6:05 p.m. on the Mountain West Network.