STOCKTON, Calif. – The University of the Pacific baseball team earned its first conference victory, after defeating the University of San Diego on Sunday afternoon, 9-7.

The Tigers improve to 8-15 overall and 1-5 in West Coast Conference action, while the Toreros fall to 12-12 on the season and 3-3 in WCC play.

After trailing 3-0 after two, the Orange and Black came up big in the bottom of the third to set the pace for the rest of the game.

With one out, Bradley Jekich singled to left center to start things off for the Tigers. Following Kevin Sandri, James Free smashed a home run over the left field fence to score Jekich and trail, 3-2.

From there, Nate Verlin walked to start the process all over again. Lucas Halsted stepped up and singled to center field and advance Verlin to second. The next at-bat, Tyler Ryan singled to center field, pushing Halstead to second and scoring Verlin for the tying run. Ryan and Halstead each advanced one base on a passed ball followed by Ryan Schalch walking to load the bases.

With two outs, Matthew Tarantino came through and doubled down the right field line to score Ryan and Halstead for the two-run lead, 5-3, and push Schalch to third.

The next at-bat, freshman Alex LeForestier singled to the pitcher to score Schalch for the final run of the inning and gave the Tigers a 6-3 lead.

In the top of the fifth, the Toreros scored one run to trail 6-4 before tying it with two runs in the sixth.

The Tigers responded in the bottom of the sixth with two runs to claim the lead back. LeForestier led off with a walk before advancing to second on a ground out. With two outs, Free was intentionally walked by the Toreros. Verlin loaded the bases after he was hit by the pitch. The next at-bat, Halstead singled to center field to score Free and LeForestier for the 8-6 lead.

From there, the Tigers scored the one more run in the bottom of the seventh to secure the win, 9-7, with the Toreros scoring one in the top of the eighth.

The Orange and Black tallied 10 hits on the day with Tarantino, Halstead, and Free leading with two hits and two RBIs each. Jekich, Verlin, Ryan, and LeForestier each had one.

Cooper Casad picked up his first win after pitching 4.1 innings with two strikeouts, while Gabriel Ponce was charged with the loss after going 3.1 innings and striking out seven. Justin Giovannoni earned his first career save.

The Tigers continue their home stand with a three-game series against Loyola Marymount starting on Thursday, March 29 with first pitch set for 6 p.m.