Feb. 23, 2009

Complete Baseball Release in PDF Format

ON DECK: The 11th-ranked University of San Diego baseball team (2-1) has a busy week ahead of them, as they will play six games in six days. The Toreros will open the week with a pair of 2 p.m. games against Oklahoma on Tuesday and Wednesday. San Diego will then host the USD Tournament this weekend, opening Friday in a 2 p.m. game against Pacific. On Saturday, USD will play a 10 a.m. game against Kansas State, followed by a 2 p.m. game against Nevada. The Toreros will conclude the tournament with a 11 a.m. game against Nevada on Sunday.

SCOUTING THE SOONERS: Oklahoma enters the games with a 4-0 overall record after sweeping a four-game series with Western Illinois University this past weekend. Through four games, the Sooners offense is led by Jamie Johnson, who is hitting .713 (10-for-14) with three doubles, two triples, one home run and four RBI. On the mound, USD will face left-hander JR Robinson, who has made one appearance and allowed no runs on one hit in 1.0 innings of work. On Wednesday, USD will face right-hander Michael Rocha, who is 0-0 with a 0.00 ERA after throwing in 2.0 innings this past week. The Sooners are under the direction of Sunny Golloway. During his time at Oklahoma, Golloway has posted an overall record of 131-78-1.

SCOUTING THE TIGERS: Pacific enters the week with an overall record of 1-2 after its season-opening series with, then No. 8, Baylor. The Tigers offense is led by JB Brown, who is hitting .500 with six hits, one double and three RBI. On the mound, the Tigers are anchored down by Joey Centanni, who has a 0.00 ERA in one start. The starter against USD is still yet to be determined for this weekend's game. Pacific is under the direction of sixth-year head coach Ed Sprague. During his time in Stockton, Sprague has posted an overall record of 97-132.

SCOUTING THE WILDCATS: Kansas State enters the week with an overall record of 2-1 after taking two-of-three against the University of Houston this past weekend. The Wildcats offense is led by Justin Bloxom, who is hitting .500 with seven hits, one triple, one home run and five RBI. On the mound, KSU is anchored down by AJ Morris, who is 1-0 with a 0.00 ERA in 6.0 innings of work. The starter against USD has yet to be determined. KSU is under the direction of sixth-year head coach Brad Hill. During his time at Kansas State, Hill has posted an overall record of 152-129-2.

SCOUTING THE WOLF PACK: Nevada enters the week with an overall record of 2-2 after spiltting games with both Gonzaga and No. 10 Missouri this past weekend. The Wolf Pack offense is led by Brett Hart, who is hitting .357 with a team-leading five hits, has two doubles and seven RBI. On the mound, the Wolf Pack is anchored down by Stephen Bautista, who is 1-1 with a 4.50 ERA. The Wolf Pack's starting pitcher against the Toreros for both Saturday and Sunday have yet to be determined. Nevada is under the direction of 27th-year head coach Gary Powers. During his time in Reno, Powers has posted an overall record of 797-623-4.

THE POLLS: The University of San Diego baseball team remained at No. 11 in the latest Baseball America top-25 poll. USD also moved up one spot to No. 14 in the latest Rivals.com top-25 poll and fell to No. 27 in the latest Collegiate Baseball top-30 poll. Oklahoma comes in ranked as high as No. 16 in the latest Baseball America top-25 poll, No. 20 in the COllegiate Baseball top-30 poll and No. 21 in the latest Rivals.com top-25 poll. Kansas State, Pacific and Nevada are not ranked in any of the top-25 polls.

CAN YOU HEAR ME?: Fans can catch all home games as well as select road games live on USDToreros.com. All of this week's games will be live on USDToreros.com with the voice of the Toreros Jack Murray will bring fans all the live play-by-play action.

2009 GAMETRACKER AVAILABLE: All of San Diego's home games, and select road games can be followed live via Gametracker on the Toreros athletic web site at www.usdtoreros.com. Gametracker is a service of CBS College Sports, the official web provider for San Diego athletics, and is a real time update of the action.

SAMMY MOWIN EM DOWN: San Diego sophomore left-hander Sammy Solis recorded a career-high nine strikeouts in Friday's season-opening win over Southern University. Solis allowed one run on four hits in 6.0 innings of work. For his efforts, he was nominated for both the national and WCC Pitcher of the Week. On the season, Solis now has a 1.50 ERA.

GOING YARD: In Saturday's 9-6 win over Bethune-Cookman, both Victor Sanchez and Kevin Muno went yard. Sanchez, who set USD's freshman record of 12 home runs last season, launched one over the top of the scoreboard in left center field fence in his first game of the season. On the young season, Muno leads the team in hitting with a .462 batting average, has a team-leading six hits, one home run and one RBI. Sanchez is hitting .250 with a pair of hits, one home run and two RBI.

TRUE FRESHMAN: Freshman outfielder Austin Green started all three of USD's opening weekend games in left field, and he made the most of his opportunity. Green went 4-for-10 (.400) with one RBI and currently is second on USD's batting charts.

GRIFFIN EXTENDS SAVES RECORD: Junior All-American AJ Griffin showed Southern University why he is the best closer in the nation. Griffin entered the season, already USD's all-time saves leader with 25, now he has 26. He came in an gave up just one hit, while striking out four in 2.1 innings of work. He now is bolstering a 0.00 ERA.

THOMSON LOOKING SOLID: Junior Matt Thomson picked up a save in Saturday's win over Bethune-Cookman. Thomson came in and threw for 4.0 innings of relief work and struck out a career-high six batters. Thomson now has a perfect ERA of 0.00.

SANCHEZ NAMED A PRESEASON ALL-AMERICAN: Sophomore third baseman Victor Sanchez of the University of San Diego baseball team has been named third-team preseason All-American by Baseball America. Sanchez, a 6-2 sophomore from Norwalk, Calif., is coming off a freshman campaign in which he set the new USD freshman home run record with 12, while hitting .268 with 59 hits, 12 doubles and one triple. Sanchez played a huge role in helping USD set a program record 44 wins, wining its second consecutive West Coast Conference championship and reaching the Long Beach Regional championship game.

TOREROS TABBED AS WCC CO-FAVORIATES: San Diego and Pepperdine were picked as favorites to win this year's WCC regular season title in the 2009 preseason baseball poll, as voted on by the head coaches in the conference. The Toreros and Waves have already been receiving several preseason accolades by several publications as San Diego has been ranked as high as No. 11 by Baseball America, while Pepperdine was ranked No. 17 in the same poll. San Diego and Pepperdine both received 45 points, with the Toreros receiving four first place votes to three for the Waves. Santa Clara, which has received votes in several preseason publications, was picked to finish third with 35 points. Gonzaga received the last remaining first place vote, and received 30 points, to come in at fourth place, edging out San Francisco, which received 26 points, for fifth place. Rounding out this year's poll are Loyola Marymount, with 20 points, Saint Mary's, with 14 points, and Portland, with nine points.

TORERO SKIPPER Rich Hill: San Diego's Rich Hill has built the USD Toreros into one of the most successful Division I baseball programs on the West Coast. The 2009 spring season will be Hill's 22nd year as a head coach at the collegiate level, and 11th at USD, having enjoyed 19 winning seasons in 21 years. Since taking over at USD in 1999, Hill has been remarkable in leading the Toreros to 11 consecutive winning campaigns, rewriting the school record book en route to claiming back-to-back West Coast Conference Championship titles in 2002 and 2003 and again in 2007 and 2008. Under his leadership San Diego has averaged 34 wins per season, including winning a school record 44 games in 2008, a year in which Hill was honored by his peers as the WCC of the Year. In 2007, Hill led USD to its highest national ranking in program history at No. 4, as well as USD's first-ever national seed in the NCAA Regionals. In 2008, Hill guided the Torero into the championship game of the Long Beach Regional, marking the first time USD had reached that game in a NCAA Division I Regional.

GRIFFIN HIGHLIGHTS GOLDEN SPIKES WATCH LIST: USA Baseball announced its preseason Golden Spikes Award Watch List Tuesday, marking the organization's first step toward identifying the top player in college baseball. Highlighting this list is the University of San Diego's ace closer AJ Griffin. Griffin, a 2008 first-team All-West Coast Conference selection, a 2008 Louisville Slugger All-American, Team USA member, and a first-team preseason All-American by the NCBA, posted an overall record of 1-1 with a 1.96 ERA and set the school record for single-season saves with 14 a year ago while helping lead the Toreros to their second consecutive West Coast Conference championship and its third straight trip to the NCAA Regionals. With the 14 saves, Griffin became the all-time leader in career saves at USD with 25.