May 5, 2008
Complete Baseball Release in PDF Format 
ON DECK: The University of San Diego baseball team (37-13, 15-3 WCC) will conclude the 2008 regular-season with four road games. USD will first head to Los Angeles to take on UCLA on Tuesday with a 6 p.m. non-conference game. The Toreros will then conclude the regular-season with a three-game series against the University of San Francisco this weekend. Friday's game will begin at 3 p.m. and both Saturday and Sunday's games will begin at 1 p.m. USD just needs one more win to clinch a share of the WCC championship and the right to host the WCC Championship Series.
THE POLLS: The University of San Diego baseball team remains in the top-10 as they held steady at No. 8 in the latest Baseball American top-25 poll, fell two spots in the latest Collegiate Baseball top-30 poll to No. 9 and moved up to No. 10 in the latest Rivals.com top-25 poll. Neither UCLA or San Francisco are ranked in any of the top-25 polls.
SCOUTING THE BRUINS: UCLA enters the week with a overall record of 24-20 after dropping two-of-three to No. 3 Arizona State this past weekend. This will be the only meeting between the two programs this season with the last meeting coming during the 2005 season when the Bruins defeated the Toreros 8-5 in Los Angeles. The Bruins are led offensively by Alden Carrithers, who has a team-best .391 batting average with 68 hits, 13 doubles, three triples, four home runs and 39 RBI. On the mound, the Toreros will face right-hander Garrett Claypool, who is 1-2 overall and has a 4.25 ERA in 29.2 innings of work. UCLA is under the direction of fourth-year head coach John Savage.
SCOUTING THE DONS: San Francisco enters the week with an overall record of 28-21 and a West Coast Conference record of 10-8 after taking two-of-three against Gonzaga this past weekend in Spokane, Wash. The Dons are led offensively by freshman outfielder Connor Bernatz, who has a team-best .382 batting average, has 63 hits, 10 doubles, one triple, two home runs and 26 RBI. On the mound, the Dons turn to junior left-hander Evan Fredrickson to anchor things down. On the season, Fredrickson is 5-2 with a 5.20 ERA. San Francisco is under the direction of 11th-year head coach Nino Giarratano.
LAST TIME OUT: The Toreros posted a 2-2 record this past week as they saw their program-best 16-game winning streak come to an end with a 12-3 loss to No. 9 Cal State Fullerton on Tuesday, then dropped the series opener against No. 13 Pepperdine, 5-2, on Friday and bounced back with 9-1 and 2-0 wins over Pepperdine on Saturday and Sunday to claim the series and clinch a berth in the WCC Championship Series. In Tuesday's game, Kevin Hansen led the way as he went 3-for-4 with one double as the only USD player to record multiple hits. On Friday, USD only recorded five hits to see their 12-game WCC winning streak come to an end. In Saturday's win, Josh Romanski dominated on the mound as he went the distance allowing one run, while scattering six hits, striking out five and not issuing a single walk in 9.0 innings of work. Then on Sunday, freshman Kyle Blair pitched USD to victory as he allowed one run on two hits, while striking out seven in 7.2 innings of work to lead USD to victory.
IN COMPARISON: The Toreros opened the season with a disappointing 7-7 record through their first 14 games, struggling at the plate, on the field and on the mound. During the first 14 games, USD was only hitting .239 and the pitching staff was posting a 5.39 ERA. Over the last 36 games however, the Toreros have been the complete opposite, as they have posted a 30-6 record, are hitting .328 and the Toreros pitching staff is bolstering a 2.70 ERA. During the last 36 games, James Meador went from hitting .222 to hitting .400 and Logan Gelbrich went from hitting .188 to hitting .345.
MAGIC NUMBER IS ONE: San Diego is now one win away from claiming at least a share of the WCC regular-season championship and the right to host the WCC Championship series. Should USD win two games they will claim the WCC title outright.
BLAIR NAMED WCC PITCHER OF THE WEEK: Freshman right-hander Kyle Blair of the eighth-ranked University of San Diego baseball team has been named the West Coast Conference Pitcher of the Week. This is the second time this season Blair has earned this award. Blair, a 6-3 freshman from Monte Sereno, CA, helped lead USD to a series win over No. 13 Pepperdine University Sunday afternoon in one the best games of his young career. Blair was dominating on the mound for the Toreros as he didn't give up his first hit of the game until the top of the fourth inning, and then only surrendered one more hit for the remainder of his outing. Blair finished his day allowing no runs on two hits, while striking out seven in 7.2 innings of work. On the season, Blair is 6-3 with a 3.86 ERA and is second on the team in strikeouts with 84.
MATUSZ NAMED WCC PITCHER OF THE MONTH: Junior All-American Brian Matusz was tabbed a the WCC Pitcher of the Month for April, marking the second consecutive month Matusz has earned this honor. Matusz continued his dominance of opposing lineups during the month of April, posting a perfect 4-0 record, and notching a miniscule 1.24 ERA. The junior rung up 36 strikeouts in just 29.0 innings of work during April, and held opponents to a .225 batting average. In his four starts against conference opponents, the Cave Creek, AZ native allowed 11 runs, and just four earned runs, while surrendering just 25 total hits. Matusz struck out nine batters in a win at Portland on April 11, before collecting 10 strikeouts in a win over Saint Mary's on April 18. He closed out the month with nine strikeouts in seven innings against LMU on April 25.
MEADOR NAMED WCC PLAYER OF THE MONTH: Sophomore outfielder James Meador has been named the West Coast Conference Player of the Month for April. Meador helped lead San Diego to a 16-2 record during the month of April, including a program-record 16-game winning streak for the Toreros. The sophomore batted a team-best .413 (31-for-75) on the month, while clubbing five home runs and driving in a conference-best 29 runs. Meador also contributed with 16 runs scored, five doubles, and two triples, en route to leading San Diego to the top of the conference standings. The Ramona, CA native was named WCC Co-Player of the Week on April 21, after batting .438 (7-for-16) and leading USD to a series sweep of Saint Mary's. Meador enters the month of May batting a team-best .370 (60-for-162) with a team-high 46 RBI.
CLOSING IN ON 40 WINS: San Diego enters the week with an impressive 37-15 overall record, just three wins shy of marking back-to-back 40-win seasons, something that has never been done before at USD. Last season's team became the first USD squad to reach the 40-win mark, and USD has four remaining games in the regular season to try and reach 40-wins. Should USD win all four, they will tie the 2007 team for most regular-season wins with 41.
MEADOR GOING STREAKING: Sophomore outfielder James Meador is currently riding a career-high 15 game winning streak. In USD's 7-2 win over UC Riverside back on April 9, Meador was hitless going 0-for-4, since then however Meador is 27-for-61 (.443) with five doubles, two triples, four home runs and 25 RBI. On the season, Meador is the team's leading hitter with a .372 batting average, has a team-best 64 hits, is tied for the team-lead in doubles with 14, has two triples, five home runs and a team-leading 48 RBI.
NO-NO FOR ROMO: Junior All-American Josh Romanski threw his first collegiate no-hitter to help guide the University of San Diego baseball team to a 12-0 win over Harvard University on March 24, 2008. Romanski faced one above the minimum in the game as he retired the first 13 batters he faced, before he hit Harvard's Matt Kramer in the top of the fifth inning. Romanski then retired the remaining 14 batters, while posting a season-high eight strikeouts in the win. The Crimson nearly broke up the no-hitter in the seventh inning on a well hit ball to the left side, but shortstop Sean Nicol dove on the ball to knock it down, then popped up and just made the throw in time to preserve the no-hitter. Romanski's no-hitter is the sixth in program history and first since March 23, 1996, when Bart Miadich no-hit Gonzaga University.
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 2008 spring season will be Hill's 21st year as a head coach at the collegiate level, and 10th at USD, having enjoyed 17 winning seasons in 20 years. Since taking over at USD in 1999, Hill has been remarkable in leading the Toreros to 10 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 taking the title in 2007. Under his leadership San Diego has averaged 34 wins per season, including winning a school record 43 games in 2007, 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.
TOREROS TABBED WCC PRESEASON FAVORITES: San Diego was chosen to repeat as West Coast Conference champion in the 2008 preseason baseball poll, as selected by conference coaches. The Toreros, who have been ranked as high as No. 5 in the national preseason polls, received the maximum number of points, garnering all seven possible first place votes and 49 overall points to take first place in the listing. Pepperdine was picked second with 42 overall points, while Santa Clara received the remaining first place vote and checked in at No. 3 in the poll with 32 points. LMU edged out Gonzaga for the fourth place spot, as the Lions received 29 points and the Zags garnered 28 points to grab the No. 5 spot. San Francisco was tabbed for a sixth place finish with 24 points, while Portland and Saint Mary's were picked to finish seventh and eighth with 12 points and eight points, respectively.
2008 GAMETRACKER AVAILABLE: All of San Diego's home games, as well as select road games, can be followed via Gametracker on the Toreros athletic web site at www.usdtoreros.com. Gametracker is a service of Online College Sports, the official web provider for San Diego athletics, and is a real time update of the action.
LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION: All USD home games, as well as select road games, will be streamed live via video on the athletics department website. Fans can watch all the action live from the comfort of their home by logging onto usdtoreros.com. Once on the home page, click the LIVE button on the top right of the page. The voice of Torero Baseball Jack Murray will be bringing fans all the live play-by-play action all season long. This service a free of charge for all who wish to watch the broadcast. This weekends games will not be streamed live on video, but there will be an audio feed for the games with Murray calling all the action.
RECRUITING CLASS RANKED NATIONS BEST: The University of San Diego baseball team's recruiting class has been tabbed as the nation's best, according to Baseball America's top-25 recruiting classes. According to Baseball America, Kyle Blair, Victor Sanchez and Matt Thomson have already proven ready to face elite college competition, as Thomson ranked as the No. 2 prospect in the Alaska League this summer, while Sanchez and Blair were the top two prospects in the Northwoods League. Steve Kaupang, a former basketball player, has massive raw power. Nick Ousman is another three-pitch mix guy in the mold of USD senior Matt Couch, while Solis has lots of projection to along with a present 88-91 mph fastball and a variation of a knuckle curveball.
TOP BASEBALL PROGRAMS: San Diego was ranked No. 3 by Kendall Rogers in the Rivals Five: Top Overall College Baseball Programs in December, 2007. The Toreros have made significant strides during the past few seasons, but what they accomplished in 2007 was special. In 2005, the Toreros failed to reach the NCAA Tournament with a less than stellar 30-27 overall record. However, their luck took a turn for the better with a 33-25 finish in 2006. Not only did the Toreros finish third in the West Coast Conference, they also competed in the Fullerton Regional. In 2007, the Toreros tallied impressive non-conference series wins over Texas and Wake Forest. They also finished the year with a dominant 18-3 conference record. After making steady progress during the past two seasons, the Toreros now hope to make an even bigger statement in 2008 and beyond.
RISING ROOKIE: Kendall Rogers of Rivals.com selected the Toreros' freshman right-handed pitcher Kyle Blair as one of the nation's top freshman in 2008. Blair was a fifth-round draft choice of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Blair was a second-team All-American as a senior in high school and he was very impressive against experienced college hitters in the Northwoods League this past summer, going 3-3, with a 2.81 ERA, striking out 52 batters and posting 16 walks in 42 innings of work.
MATUSZ HIGHLIGHTS ROGER CLEMENS AWARD WATCH LIST: Seventy-eight of the best pitchers in collegiate baseball have been named to the preliminary watch list for the fifth annual Roger Clemens Award, and the University of San Diego's Brian Matusz highlights this list. Matusz, a preseason All-American, is off to another impressive start to the season, as he is currently 2-1 overall and in his last start against Oklahoma State, Matusz racked up his second double-digit strikeout total of 12. In 2006, Matusz set the new program record with 163 strikeouts, and he appears to be back on track to possibly break his own record.
THREE TOREROS NAMED PRESEASON ALL-AMERICANS: The University of San Diego baseball team had three players named first-team preseason All-Americans by Collegiate Baseball. Junior left hander Brian Matusz was named as a pitcher, while sophomore closer AJ Griffin was selected as a first-team closer and junior utility man Josh Romanski was named to the first-team as a utility player. Matusz, who posted an overall record of 10-3 and an ERA of 2.85 and fanned 163 batters as a sophomore, was also named first-team All-American by the National College Baseball Writers Association and was also named first-team preseason All-American by Baseball America. Romanski, who posted a 9-1 record on the mound with a 3.05 ERA and hit .335 with 75 hits, 10 doubles, two triples, three home runs and 30 RBI, was also tabbed as a second-team All-American by Baseball America and the NCBWA.
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