March 30, 2009

Complete Baseball Release in PDF Format

ON DECK: The University of San Diego baseball team (19-10, 3-0 WCC) will begin a eight-game road swing on Tuesday as they head to play UC Riverside in a 6 p.m. non-conference game at the Riverside Sports Complex. The Toreros will then head to the Bar Area this weekend to resume West Coast Conference play in a three-game series against Santa Clara University. Friday's game will begin at 7 p.m., Saturday's game will begin at 6 p.m. and Sunday's game will be televised live on ESPNU with a 3:30 first pitch.

LAST TIME OUT: San Diego posted a perfect 5-0 record this past week chalking up a 10-2 win over Brown, a 12-5 win over Long Beach State, and sweeping, then No. 12, Pepperdine University with scores of 8-6 on Friday, 4-0 on Saturday and 9-3 on Sunday. In the win against Brown, James Meador led the way as he went a perfect 5-for-5 with one double and one RBI. Zach Walters also looked impressive as he went 3-for-4 with two RBI. In Tuesday's win over LBSU, USD recorded a season-high 20 hits, while Sean Nicol led the way as he went 4-for-5 with one double and three RBI. Victor Sanchez, Walters and Steven Chatwood all had impressive days at the plate as well as they went 3-for-4. In Friday's win over Pepperdine, Meador led the offense as he went 2-for-4 with two home runs and two RBI. Bryan Haar also looked impressive as he went 2-for-3 with one home run and three RBI. Then on Saturday, USD's Matt Thomson turned in a dominating performance on the mound, as he tossed a complete-game, two-hit and career-high 10 strikeout performance. Then on Sunday, Meador led the offense again, as he went 2-for-3 with two RBI. Nick McCoy also had a good day at the plate as he also went 2-for-3.

SCOUTING THE HIGHLANDERS: UC Riverside enters the week with an overall record of 16-6 and are 1-2 in the Big West Conference after dropping two-of-three against No. 1 Cal State Fullerton this past weekend. The Highlanders are ranked as high as No. 22 in the latest Rivals.com top-25 poll. The Highalnders' offense is led by Tony Nix, who is hitting a team-best .403 with 31 hits, 12 doubles, two triples, one home run and 16 RBI. On the mound, USD will square off against senior right-hander Ryan Platt, who enters the game with an 2-0 record and a 3.05 ERA in four appearances. The Highlanders are under the direction of fifth-year head coach dough Smith. During his tenure as head coach, Smith has posted an overall record of 132-112.

SCOUTING THE BRONCOS: Santa Clara enters the week with an overall record of 10-11 and are 0-3 in the WCC after being swept by Loyola Marymount in the opening weekend of WCC action this past week. The Broncos will play a pair of non-conference games before the Toreros go to Santa Clara. Offensively, the Broncos are led by Geoff Klein, who is hitting .384 with 33 hits, nine doubles, two home runs and 27 RBI. On the mound, the SCU pitching rotation ins anchored down by Nate Garcia, who is 4-2 with a 2.91 ERA in six appearances. The Broncos are under the direction of Mark O'Brien. During his tenure in Santa Clara, O'Brien has posted an overall record of 209-201.

TOREROS ON TV: Sunday's series finale against Santa Clara will be televised live on ESPNU. This will mark the fourth consecutive season the Toreros have played on a televised game during the regular season. In those games, USD is 3-0.

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.

THOMSON AND MEADOR EARN WCC WEEKLY HONORS: The University of San Diego's junior right-hander Matt Thomson was named the West Coast Conference Pitcher of the Week and junior outfielder James Meador was named the WCC Co-Player of the Week the conference office announced Monday morning.

Thomson, a 6-4 junior from Santa Rosa, Calif., pitched a complete-game two-hit shutout against, then No. 12 Pepperdine University, on Saturday to clinch the series over the Waves. He allowed one hit in the second inning, then proceeded to retire the next 13 batters, five by strikeout, before a batter reached on strikeout wild pitch in the sixth inning. Thomson never got himself in trouble the rest of the way as he was lights out for the remainder of his outing tallying a career-high 10 strikeouts. This is Thomson's first WCC Pitcher of the Week honor in his career.

Meador, a 6-1 junior from Romona, Calif., takes home the honor after helping lead USD to a perfect 5-0 week, including a three-game sweep over, then No. 12 Pepperdine University. Meador led the team's offense as he went 12-for-19 (.632), with a double, two home runs, and five RBI, while scoring six runs . In Friday's win over Pepperdine, Meador went 2-for-4 with two home runs and two RBI. He has now moved into the team lead with a .375 batting average, 39 hits, eight doubles, two triples, four home runs and 24 RBI.

LAST 12 GAMES: Over the last 12 games, the Toreros have posted a 11-1 record and are currently riding a five-game winning streak. In these games, USD is hitting .339, while the Torero pitching staff is holding opponents to a .203 batting average. The San Diego pitching staff is bolstering a 2.23 ERA, while Torero bats have scorched opponent pitchers for a 7.86 ERA. During this stretch, three Toreros are hitting above .400, paced by James Meador's .476 (20-for-42) average. Tony Strazzara is hitting .458 (11-for-24) and Sean Nicol is hitting .409 (18-for-44).

ABOUT THE RECORD: San Diego is currently 19-10 overall and 3-0 in the WCC. The 19-10 overall record is the exact same record the Toreros had a year ago, when they went on to post a program-best 44 win season and reached the championship game of the Long Beach Regional. The 3-0 mark in the WCC puts USD one game ahead of where they were last year after dropping two-of-three to Santa Clara in San Diego in the opening weekend of WCC action.

THE POLLS: San Diego posted a perfect 5-0 record this past week and that catapulted them back into the top-25. USD checks in at No. 25 in the latest USA Today top-25 poll and are ranked No. 30 in the latest Collegiate baseball top-30 poll. UC Riverside checks in at No. 22 in the latest Rivals.com top-25 poll. Santa Clara is not ranked in any of the top-25 polls.

TOREROS ON A HIT PARADE: The Toreros offense has been on a tear over the last eight games, as they have reached double-digit hits as a team in seven of those eight games. USD's hit parade was highlighted by a 20-hit performance against Long Beach State this past Tuesday.

TOREROS AGAINST RANKED OPPONENTS: This season the Toreros have posted a 5-3 record against teams ranked in the top-25. The Toreros split a pair of games against, then No. 16, Oklahoma, went 1-2 against, then. No. 5 Rice, and this past weekend USD swept, then No. 12, Pepperdine. USD will look to improve on that record on Tuesday when they square off against No. 22 UC Riverside.

MEADOR GOES YARD TWICE: Junior outfielder James Meador hit a pair of home runs in Friday's WCC opening win over Pepperdine. Both home runs came in the exact same fashion, he turned on the first offering from Pepperdine's ace pitcher Nathan Newman, and launched them over the left field fence, both solo home runs. He was one home run shy of tying the USD single-game record of three, held by four former Toreros.

HE'S BACK: Senior right-hander Matt Couch will make is return to the mound for the Toreros on Tuesday vs UC Riverside after a 12-month absence. Couch has been recovering from season-ending injury suffered early last season, and is ready to make is come back. Couch is a three-time All-WCC performer and was a key role in the Toreros making back-to-back NCAA Tournament runs in 2006 and 2007, as well as helping lead USD to the 2007 WCC championship. For his career, Couch is 23-11 with a 3.94 ERA.

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.