April 13, 2009

Complete Baseball Release in PDF Format

ON DECK: The 24th-ranked University of San Diego baseball team (23-13, 7-2 WCC) will finally return to the friendly confines of Cunningham Stadium on Tuesday for a non-conference game against No. 3 UC Irvine at 3 p.m. This weekend, the Toreros will resume West Coast Conference Pay as they head back to the Bay Area for a three-game series with Saint Mary's College. Friday's game will begin at 3 p.m., and both Saturday's and Sunday's games will begin at 1 p.m.

LAST TIME OUT: The Toreros posted a 1-2 record this past week, dropping their first West Coast Conference series of the season to Gonzaga University in Spokane. On Friday, USD dropped the series opener, 14-2, then bounced back and claimed game two 9-2 to force a rubber game on Sunday, in which they lost 4-2. In Friday's loss, James Meador led the way offensively for the Toreros as he went 2-for-3 with two RBI. In Saturday's win, AJ Griffin went 8.0 innings allowing two runs on six hits, while striking out seven batters. Offensively, Zach Walters led the offense as he went 2-for-2 with one home run and one RBI and Jon Hotta also had a big day as he went 2-for-3 with two RBI. In Sunday's loss, Tony Strazzara led the way offensively as he went 2-for-4 with two doubles and one RBI. Hotta was the second USD player to record multiple hits as he went 2-for-4.

SCOUTING THE ANTEATERS: UC Irvine enters the week with an overall record of 22-9 and are 8-1 in the Big West Conference after sweeping Long Beach State this past weekend. The Anteaters will play Loyola Marymount on Monday before heading down to play USD on Tuesday. The UC Irvine offense is led by Ben Orloff, who is hitting .366 with 45 hits, five doubles and 13 RBI. On the mound, the Anteater rotation is anchored down by Daniel Bibona, who is 5-1 with a 2.33 ERA. Irvine is under the direction of second-year head coach Mike Gillespie. During his time at UC Irvine, Gillespie has posted an overall record of 64-27.

SCOUTING THE GAELS: Saint Mary's College enters the week with an overall record of 19-14 and are 3-3 in the WCC after being swept by Pepperdine University this past weekend. The Gaels will play UC Davis and San Jose State on Tuesday and Wednesday before the Toreros come to town on Friday to begin the three-game series. Offensively for the Gaels, Troy Channing leads the way as he is hitting .411 with 51 hits, 15 home runs and 49 RBI. On the mound, Brian Justice leads the way as he is 5-1 with a 2.89 ERA. The Gaels are under the direction of seventh-year head coach Jedd Soto. During his tenure in Moraga, Soto has posted an overall record of 126-165-2.

TOREROS AGAINST RANKED OPPONENTS: This season the Toreros have posted a 5-4 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, swept, then No. 12, Pepperdine and dropped a 8-7 decision to No. 22 UC Riverside. USD will look to improve on that record this week when they host No. 3 UC Irvine on Tuesday at 3 p.m. game inside the friendly confines of Cunningham Stadium.

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.

THE POLLS: San Diego dropped three spots to No. 24 in the latest USA today top-25 poll. UC Irvine enters thee week ranked as high as No. 3 in the latest Baseball America top-25 poll, they are also ranked No. 4 in Collegiate Baseball and No. 8 in the latest Rivals.com top-25 poll. Saint Mary's is not ranked in any of the top-25 polls.

HOTTA GETTING INTO THE SWING OF THINGS: Freshman outfielder Jon Hotta seems to have figured things out and has been red hot at the plate for the Toreros. This past week, Hotta led USD's offense, as he went 5-for-10 (.500) with two RBI. Hotta has now moved his bating average up to .360, with 18 hits, one triple and 18 RBI.

GRIFFIN GETS ANOTHER START: Junior All-American closer AJ Griffin has been taking on a different role for the Toreros as of late, a starter. Griffin, USD's all-time leader in career-saves with 28, started his third game of his career in Saturday's win over Gonzaga. Griffin allowed just two runs on six hits, while striking out seven batters in 8.0 innings of work. This marked Griffin's third start in as many weeks, and he is 3-0 in those games, has struck out 17 batters and opponents are only hitting .254 off of him in 18.0 innings of work. On the season, Griffin is 6-1 with a 2.23 ERA.

IN HOME GAMES: San Diego has played 21 home games this season, and are 15-6 in these games. As a team, USD is hitting .327, while the USD pitching staff is holding the opponents to a .257 batting average. The USD offense has scorched the opposing pitchers to a 6.37 ERA. Three Toreros are hitting above .400 inside the friendly confines of Cunningham Stadium, paced by James Meador's .429 batting average at home. Sean Nicol and Steven Chatwood are both hitting .400 at home.

IN ROAD GAMES: San Diego has played 13 road games, and posted a 6-7 record in those games. The Torero offense has not slowed much on the road, as they are hitting .302 in opponents ball parks, and four USD players are hitting over .400 in road contests paced by Jon Hotta's .414 batting average. The Torero pitching staff is holding opponents to a .271 batting average.

TOREROS ON A HIT PARADE: The Toreros offense has been on a tear over the last 15 games, as they have recorded 196 hits, averaging 13.1 hits per game during this stretch. USD has recorded 10 or more hits in 12 of those 15 games. The Toreros will look to keep the bats red hot this week as they take on No. 3 UC Irvine on Tuesday and then head to the Bay Area for a three-game tilt with Saint Mary's.

ABOUT THE SCORES: San Diego scored a combined 53 runs in a three-game sweep over Santa Clara on April 3-5. The 53 runs is the most combined runs in a three-game series in program history, topping the previous record of 45 runs in a three-game sweep over San Francisco in the 2002 season.

WHERE DO THESE SCORES RANK IN USD HISTORY?: USD scored 22 runs in both April 4th and April 5th, so where does this rank in USD history? The single-game record for team runs scored is 33 in a win against Cal Western on Mar. 26, 1960. The Toreros have scored 20 or more runs on 21 occasions since the programs inception in 1958, 13 of those in the Division I era and eight of those were during Rich Hills' tenure as head skipper of the team, which began back in 1999.

CAN YOU HEAR ME?: Fans can catch all home games as well as select road games live on USDToreros.com. Tuesday's game will be live on USDToreros.com with the voice of the Toreros Jack Murray will bring fans all the live play-by-play action and John Cunningham providing color commentary.

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.