San Diego, Calif. - Rallying late against the Torero bullpen, the Tigers fell short of the comeback as San Diego held on for the 8-5 win on Saturday night at Fowler Park. The Toreros' (20-13, 11-3 WCC) took their 20th win of the season with the victory while the Tigers (7-26, 5-9 WCC) dropped their second-straight WCC series.

The Toreros wasted no time jumping on the Tigers early as they picked up where they left off the night before, plating a run in the bottom of the first inning to take the lead. Fortunately for Pacific, the damage was limited to just one run as the Tigers cut a runner down at the plate trying to swipe a run on a throw down to second.

An inning later, San Diego struck for a second run, this time on a solo home run off the bat of Bryson Brigman. The home run came on a 2-0 pitch as the Torero second baseman drove the pitch over the wall in left for his first career home run of the season.

In the fourth, it was more from Brigman and more two-out hitting as the freshman singled in a pair of runs to start a scoring rally that broke the game open. He would score on a two out triple by Kyle Holder who in turn scored the fourth run of the frame on a wild pitch. 

Starter Will Lydon (1-7) would not make it out of the fifth as more two-out hitting ended the sophomore's day early with eight runs on the board and runners at the corners. In all, Lydon was charged with eight runs on 12 hits with seven of the eight runs coming with two outs in the inning. In 4.2 IP, Lydon struck out one and walked three while tying for his shortest outing of the season as he was eventually charged with the loss. From there, Sean Bennetts took the mound as the junior came up with 3.1 IP of scoreless relief to give Pacific a chance for the comeback.

For nearly seven innings, the Tigers struggled to find their way at the plate as Toreros' starter P.J. Conlin (5-2) was able to stifle Pacific's advances. Putting runners in scoring position in six of the nine innings, the Tigers were able to finally get on the board for the first time on the weekend in the top of the seventh when they cashed in one of their three leadoff doubles against Conlin. 

Getting the ball rolling, freshman Lucas Halstead came up with the double to deep left center for his second of three hits on the night. He would come in to score two batters later on a pair of ground balls with the RBI going to Danny Mayer and the run being charged to Conlin. 

With Conlin done for the night, the young designated hitter struck again in the eighth when he drilled his second double of the contest, going to right center this time to bring in a second run for the Tigers. A few batters later, Jimmy Gosano put the crooked number on the board with a double of his own as Pacific made the Toreros' bullpen pay for an early error in the inning. The Tigers added a third run with an RBI single by Tyler Sullivan as the Toreros were forced to go back to the pen to quell the rally with runners at the corners. 

Pacific would score a fifth run in the ninth after Brett Sullivan doubled to start the inning and came in to score on an RBI ground out by J.J. Wagner. The run would be the final score for the Tigers as Anthony McIver ended the contest for the Toreros. 

Throughout the night, Conlin came up the pitches he needed to earn his fifth win of the year. In 7.0 IP, Conlin stranded eight Tiger runners while allowing six hits and walking one. He would strike out five before handing the ball over to his bullpen to finish the last two innings of the contest. The bullpen gave up four hits and allowed four runs but in the end held on for the win.

For the night, Halstead went 3-for-4 as he also added a single and a walk to go along with his two doubles in his final tally. Overall, Pacific had six doubles including four leadoff doubles in the game as Gosano and Halstead each put two two-baggers in the box score for the Tigers. 

Pacific will try to continue its recent success on Sundays as the Tigers look to salvage a win on get-away day. The finale of the three-game series is scheduled for 12:00 pm at Fowler Park.