Brock Ungricht suspected that the start of the 2025 baseball season might be a little tough.
USD’s baseball team lost seven of nine starters from the team that went 41-15 in 2024. And the Toreros were locked into playing the 14th-toughest schedule in the NCAA, including four teams ranked among the nation’s top 25 teams.
But Ungricht, USD’s coach, its he was surprised by what befell his team. USD opened the season with eight straight losses. After 30 games, the Toreros were 6-24.
“This was one of the toughest things I ever went through as a player or a coach,” said Ungricht. “If I felt that way, I knew the players are feeling it, too.”
So Ungricht decided to make some changes before the 31st game. He moved cleanup hitter Jack Gurevitch into the leadoff slot and decided to open every three-game weekend series with No. 1 starter Logan Reddemann on the mound.
The result: USD has won nine straight games, the most recent victory a come-from-behind, 8-6 triumph over crosstown rival San Diego State on Monday night. Freshman Rex Watson belted a three-run home run in the seventh inning.
This weekend, the Toreros will travel to Spokane, Wash., with a chance to overtake first-place Gonzaga in the race for the West Coast Conference’s regular-season title.
“We’re on an awesome run,” said Ungricht. “We’ve shown a lot of resilience and fight. Everyone stepped up at a time when they could have been looking to play it out. I couldn’t be prouder of a group.”
Gurevitch points to a 4-3, 14-inning victory at UCLA on April 6 as being the turning point in the season. The win started USD’s nine-game streak.
“The UCLA game put us over the top and showed us what we can do,” said Gurevitch. “We had fallen short by one run in a lot of games to a lot of ranked teams. We were determined against UCLA. Guys who hadn’t had hits or pitched were producing at key times.”
As for being moved to the top of the order before that UCLA game …
“I’ve hit third or fourth all my life,” said Gurevitch. “But the way coach proposed it, I loved it. I love setting the tone for the game.”
USD’s other veteran offensive leader is Austin Smith. The Granite Hills High School product put together a 26-game hitting streak, the second-longest in USD history. Smith plays center field and is the Toreros’ closer.
“I knew we were a better team than our record,” said Smith. “I thought it would eventually work out if we didn’t hit the panic button. And no one did. We stuck together. Immature teams blame each other and point fingers. We stuck together and went to work. I’m 100 percent excited about how we’re playing. We worked our butts off and it’s showing in the results.”
Said Gurevitch: “Don’t get me wrong: It was difficult. I’ve never been on a team that lost so much. We’re seen it all. But I always had a belief in this team. And we stuck with it. We’re in a good spot because no one quit.”
Gurevitch said Drake Frize, a fifth-year senior pitcher, deserves some of the credit.
“Drake speaks up during our postgame meetings,” said Gurevitch. “He’s inspirational and challenging. He gets our engines running.”
Just like Gurevitch gets the Toreros going from the leadoff spot. The junior first baseman is hitting .370 with 12 doubles, a triple, eight home runs, 31 RBIs, 35 runs, a .475 on-base percentage and a .617 slugging percentage for a 1.090 OPS. “Jack’s one of the best hitters I’ve ever coached,” said Ungricht.
Batting second is shortstop Isaiah Lane, a sophomore out of Eastlake High School who is hitting .323 with a .446 on-base percentage. Then comes Smith (.348, six home runs, 36 RBIs) followed by AJ Beltre and Rex Watson, two of three freshmen in the Toreros’ batting order.
Beltre is the son of former big-leaguer Adrian Beltre.
“He has a lot of the mannerisms of the Hall of Fame player with the same name,” said Ungricht.
USD’s weekend pitching rotation consists of Reddemann (3-1, 1.86 earned run average), Cal Scolari (3-2, 4.68) and Vanderbilt transfer David Horn Jr. (0-1, 7.63 ERA). Reddemann and Scolari have both earned WCC Pitcher of the Week honors. Reddemann was a Freshman All-American last season and ranks among the top 10 NCAA ERA leaders this season.
Smith and Fernando Palencia lead USD with three saves apiece, with Smith recording two last weekend in a three-game sweep of Portland.
Ungricht, who played at Mission Bay High and San Diego State, is in his fourth season as the USD head coach after serving as a Toreros assistant coach.
“We start each season with the goal of winning the WCC,” said Ungricht. “That puts us in the NCAA Regionals. This season did open with a detour. I told our players that they’ve saw it all in the first two months of this season.”
Every week, U-T contributor Bill Center highlights one San Diego college team that’s making strides on and off the field. To nominate a team, email [email protected].
