Complete Release in PDF Format

ON DECK: The University of San Diego baseball team (17-12, 9-3 WCC) will return home this week to begin a 10-game home stand with five games in six days beginning on Tuesday night with a 6 p.m. non-conference game against Cal State Fullerton at Fowler Park. Then on Wednesday, USD will play a make-up non-conference game against UC Riverside at 6 p.m., and this weekend USD welcomes the University of the Pacific to town for a three-game West Coast Conference series. On Friday and Saturday, the games will begin at 6 p.m., and on Sunday first pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m.

SCOUTING THE TITANS: Cal State Fullerton enters the game with an overall record of 16-14 after taking two of three from Cal Poly this past weekend. The Titans lead the all-time series 64-20-3, however USD did take the first meeting this season up in Fullerton back on March 10 by a final of 9-4. With that win against CSF, USD has now won three consecutive in the series for the first time during the Division I era. Fullerton's offense is paced by David Olmedo-Barrera, who is hitting .303 with 27 hits, five triples, four home runs and 23 RBI. On the mound, USD will square off against RHP Connor Seabold, who is 2-2 with a 2.79 ERA.

LAST TIME VS. FULLERTON: The University of San Diego baseball team continued its hot streak, as they knocked off No. 12 Cal State Fullerton, 9-4, on March 10, 2015 in a non-conference game at Goodwin Field. With the win, the Toreros improve to 7-7 overall, and had then won five of their last six games, all against ranked opponents. With the loss, the Titans fell to 9-6 overall and saw their eight-game winning streak come to an end. Offensively for the Toreros, Ryan Kirby led the way, as he went 3-for-5 with a home run and three RBI. Kyle Holder, Jesse Jenner, Austin Bailey, and Bryson Brigman also had good days, as they each recorded multiple hits. Jacob Hill (4-1) picked up the win on the mound for the Toreros, as he allowed one run on one hit in 3.2 innings of work. Fullerton's Kyle Murray (1-1) was saddled with the loss for the Titans, as he allowed four runs on three hits in 1.0 innings of work.

SCOUTING THE HIGHLANDERS: UC Riverside enters the week with an overall record of 10-22, and have now lost their last nine games heading into a Tuesday game at Loyola Marymount before coming to San Diego. The Highlanders lead the all-time series at 56-52-2 dating back to the Division II days. The Highlanders offense is paced by Drake Zarate, who is hitting .326 with 31 hits, three doubles, and 12 RBI. On the mound, USD will square off against right-hander Keaton Leach, who is 2-4 with a 4.67 ERA.

LAST TIME VS. UCR: The University of San Diego baseball team rallied from behind to claim a 7-6 win on a walk-off wild pitch over UC Riverside on April 22, 2014 in a non-conference game at Fowler Park. With USD and UCR locked at 6-runs apiece heading into the bottom of the ninth, the Toreros once again looked for some Fowler Park ninth inning magic, and they got just that. With one out, Andrew Daniel got things started, as he hit a single to right field, then the Riverside right fielder misplayed the ball, allowing Daniel to reach third. Two batters later, Jesse Jenner was intentionally walked, to bring Kyle Holder to the plate. On the very first pitch to Holder, the ball bounced in front of the catcher, and jumped towards the Torero dugout, allowing Daniel to score from third, giving USD the 7-6 win.

THIS WEEK'S BROADCAST SCHEDULE: This Tuesday night's non-conference game against Cal State Fullerton will be available for view live on TheW.tv. This will be a full high definition broadcast with multiple cameras, graphics and complete with a pre-game show prior to first pitch. So tune in at 5:50 p.m. for the pre-game show on Tuesday, with the voice of the Toreros Jack Murray and Hall of Fame Head Coach John Cunningham. Providing all the play-by-play will be Murray, and providing color commentary will be coach Cunningham. This will be one of many full production broadcasts from Fowler Park this season. The remaining games this week will have one-camera shoot with Murray and Cunningham bringing fans all the live action.

SCOUTING THE TIGERS: Pacific enters the week with an overall record of 6-23, and they are 5-7 in the WCC after dropping two of three to Pepperdine this past weekend. The Toreros lead the all-time series at 5-4, but the Tigers did manage to take two of three from USD this past season in Stockton. The Tigers will take on Stanford on Monday evening before heading down to San Diego this weekend. Pacific's offense is paced by Louis Mejia, who is hitting .361 with 35 hits, five doubles, one triple, and 12 RBI. On the mound, Will Lydon is anchoring down the rotation, as he is 1-6 with a 3.91 ERA.

LAST TIME VS. PACIFIC: The University of San Diego baseball team held on to claim a 6-4 win over the University of the Pacific on April 27, 2014 in a West Coast Conference game at Klein Family Field. Offensively for the Toreros, Conner Joe led the way, as he went a perfect 3-for-3 with a home run and one RBI. PJ Conlon (7-2) was credited with the win on the mound for the Toreros, as he allowed three runs, two earned, on four hits in 5.1 innings of work. Josh Goossen-Brown picked up his fourth save of the season, as he allowed one unearned run, on two hits in 2.0 innings of work. Pacific's Will Lydon (2-4) was saddled with the loss on the mound for the Tigers, as he allowed four runs on six hits in 2.0 innings of work.

WALTNER STILL SWINGING IT WELL: Sophomore catcher/outfielder Colton Waltner continues to propel the Torero offense, and this past week was no different. Waltner led the USD offense hitting .467 with seven hits, two doubles and two RBI. Waltner continues to lead the Toreros in the RBI category with 27, while having the second highest batting average on the team at .359, and he leads the team in doubles with 13, and is second in home runs with two.

HILL CONTINUES DOMINANCE: Junior right-handed pitcher David Hill continues to be a dominate force on the mound for the Toreros. This past Friday Hill picked up his sixth connective win, as he had another masterful performance on the mound for the Toreros, as he allowed four runs, two earned, on five hits in 8.0 innings of work, while striking out 10. Over his last six outings, Hill has now allowed just three earned run to cross the plate, to bolster a 0.59 ERA in 46.0 innings of work. During this stretch, Hill has recorded 53 strikeouts, issued only 14 walks, while opponents are only hitting .149 off of the right-hander. Hill has done this against No. 8 Texas, No. 7 Mississippi State, Portland, Santa Clara, BYU and Gonzaga. On the season, Hill is 6-2 with a 1.73 ERA and leads the team in strikeouts with 67, which is seventh best in the nation.

THE LAST 21 GAMES: San Diego, who began the season 2-6, has been on a tear ever since, winning 15 of its last 21 games. It all started with a two-game sweep of, then No. 7 Texas, followed by taking two of three on the road against, then No. 7 Mississippi State, followed by a road win at, then No. 12 Cal State Fullerton. During this stretch, Kyle Holder is pacing the offense hitting .423 with 33 hits, five doubles, one triple and 12 RBI, while Bryson Brigman is not far behind at .405 with 32 hits, six doubles and 10 RBI. As a team, USD is hitting .302, while holding its opponents to just a .221 batting average. San Diego pitching has been lights out, as they are bolstering a 3.38 team ERA, highlighted by David's Hill's 0.59 ERA and 6-0 record. USD's opposing pithing staffs have an ERA of 5.30.

RECRUITING CLASS RANKED NO. 4 NATIONALLY: Collegiate Baseball has ranked the University of San Diego baseball team's 2014 recruiting class No. 4 nationally. The No. 1 recruiting class goes to LSU, followed by Wichita State, then Florida, and in fourth place comes San Diego. Rounding off the top 10 are Oklahoma State, Mississippi State, Texas, Stanford, Virginia and Cal State Fullerton. USD is one of three non-BCS schools in the top-10 baseball recruiting class ranking. San Diego got eight of the nine players who signed a NLI to actually arrive on campus. Joining the Toreros in 2015 will be: Riley Adams (Encinitas, Calif., Canyon Crest HS), Bryson Brigman (San Jose, Calif., Valley Christian High School), Gary Cornish (Scottsdale, Ariz., Palomar College), John Grimsley (Tomball, Texas, Concordia Lutheran HS), twin brothers David Hill and Jacob Hill (Orange, Calif., Orange Coast College), Hunter Parkinson (Santa Cruz, Calif., Soquel HS), and Jonathan Teaney (Palmdale, Calif., Quartz Hill HS). Six of these incoming new players were drafted in this past June's draft, but decided to forgo a professional career at this point to come to USD and helped the Toreros reach their goals of winning the West Coast Conference championship and making USD's inaugural trip to the College World Series.

TOP 100: The University of San Diego baseball team had five players selected to Perfect Game's top 100 prospects in each of their respective classes. Junior's Kyle Holder, and David Hill were named to top 100 juniors list, and freshmen Riley Adams, Bryson Brigman, and Jonathan Teaney were selected as top-100 freshman.

TWO TOREROS NAMED TO PRESEASON ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM: Senior catcher Jesse Jenner and junior LHP pitcher PJ Conlon were selected to the preseason All-WCC team. Jenner, an All-WCC first team selection a year ago, has the highest batting average (.348) of any returner for the Toreros. Conlon, a 2013 Freshman All-American, went 7-2 in 2014, striking out 60 batters in 78.2 innings. He is the lone lefty to make the preseason team. All told, eight of the 10 WCC schools are represented on the preseason All-West Coast Conference team, led by Loyola Marymount which placed two position players and a pitcher on the squad. BYU, Gonzaga, Pacific, San Diego and Santa Clara each placed two on the preseason list.

PICKED SECOND: The USD baseball was picked to finish third in the preseason WCC Coaches Poll, the conference office announced on February 11, 2015. This breaks a string of seven consecutive seasons where the Toreros have been pegged as the preseason favorite to win the WCC. Loyola Marymount was picked to finish first, picking up six first place votes, and Pepperdine, the 2014 champs, were picked to finish second with three place votes. Following USD (63 points) in the preseason poll was Gonzaga with 56 points, followed by Pacific (45 points), and BYU (40). Santa Clara (38), San Francisco (31), Saint Mary's (18), and Portland (10) rounded out the poll.

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 2015 spring season will be Hill's 28th year as a head coach at the collegiate level, and 17th at USD, having enjoyed 24 winning seasons in 27 years. Since taking over at USD in 1999, Hill has been remarkable in leading the Toreros to 16 winning campaigns, rewriting the school record book en route to claiming five West Coast Conference Championship titles in 2002, 2003, 2007, 2008 and 2010, and one WCC Tournament Championship in 2013. Under his leadership San Diego has averaged 35 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 Coach 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 Toreros into the championship game of the Long Beach Regional, marking the first time USD had reached that game in a NCAA Division I Regional.

2015 LIVE STATS AVAILABLE: All of San Diego's home games, and select road games can be followed live via Stat broadcast on the Toreros athletic web site at www.usdtoreros.com. Statbroadcast is a real time update of the action.

CAN YOU SEE ME?: 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. Simply go to the baseball schedule page and click on the WATCH link to view that days game. The voice of the Toreros, Jack Murray, will be providing live play-by-play of all home games as well as select road games this season.