SAN DIEGO - As you walk through the players entrance at Fowler Park and Cunningham Field you'll see a small, but important sign. Before you're struck by the grandeur of the venue, the ascending rows of blue stadium seats, the Spanish Renaissance-inspired press box, the big league-quality clubhouse, before you step onto the crisp red dirt and the lush outfield grass, it'll catch your eye.
"COVID-19 FREE FOR ___ DAYS," it reads, complete with a digital counter next to the text like you'd see at a construction site or warehouse. A sobering and prescient reminder of what San Diego baseball is up against in 2021.
The Toreros will try to run that counter up as high as they can this spring, try to string together consecutive days without a positive test like Joe DiMaggio's hit streak in 1941. Fifty-six days would be nice, a lofty goal. Ninety-three days — the time between San Diego's first and last scheduled regular-season games this year — would be even more ambitious, though the team made it through the entirety of the fall season without a COVID-19-related pause.
It'll be worth a shot, even if they fall short. Because if you caught any of USD baseball's games last year, you'd know that the cancellation of the 2020 season was the only thing that stood between the Toreros and a special campaign.
"It was heartbreaking, for sure," right-handed pitcher Conner Thurman recalls of the abrupt end to last year's college baseball calendar. "It was a rainy day, really cloudy, dark, a little ominous…Rich Hill was sitting up in the front of the bus and got a phone call and everyone knew. We pretty much just turned right past the exit for the airport and went right back to USD."
A 12-4 start that included wins over multiple Power-Five programs, a no-hitter, and both the offense and pitching staff performing near the peak of the national stage was stopped in its tracks. A season that could have perhaps concluded at an NCAA Super Regional or in Omaha, Nebraska at the College World Series was instead done in the blink of an eye when the team's charter bus turned around instead of dropping them off for their flight to Portland to begin conference play. Even head coach Rich Hill, who eschews expectations as distractions and preaches staying in the moment to his players, readily acknowledges the unfinished business his team has dating back to last March.
"(Last season) was extremely special," said Hill, now in his 23rd season leading San Diego baseball. "We finished the season with a 24 RPI, which was the best in the conference, we had beaten every Big Ten team that we had played, and we had been the winningest program in the West Coast Conference over the last two years combined — 2019 and 2020 records. Then you combine that with leading the WCC in any sport with community service hours and having an Academic Progress Rate of 1000…I don't know how you get any better than that."
USD will never know what the completion of last season could have held, and it might only be natural to wonder what could have been. But once the 2021 season begins on Friday afternoon, they might not have to. Because nearly all the talent, nearly all the personalities and leadership that made last year's squad so special are set to return, and will have their chance to take care of unfinished business this spring.
On the mound, sophomore righty Jake Miller, who twirled the program's first no-hitter since 2008 last February, will be back. So will 6-foot-5 freshman Carter Rustad, a preseason All-WCC selection who dazzled with a minuscule 0.84 ERA a year ago. Thurman, a redshirt freshman who anchored the back end of the Torero bullpen while leading the conference with four wins, will also don the Torero Blue once again. Add in several more returners and a smattering of newcomers — namely freshman lefty Eddy Pelc, redshirt sophomore righty Ryan Robinson, and graduate transfer right-hander Kieran Shaw — to bolster the staff, and you have a group that inspires both confidence and excitement within San Diego's 39-player roster.
"There's so much depth to our staff as a whole," Thurman said. "It's a very experienced staff, we have a lot of guys that have pitched in big situations."
At the plate, almost the entirety of the firepower that propelled USD to near the forefront of the national college baseball conversation a year ago will be pencilled in on Hill's lineup card again, minus catcher Adam Kerner, a two-time All-WCC selection who signed as an undrafted free agent with the San Diego Padres last June.
Back are preseason all-conference catchers/first basemen Shane McGuire and Caleb Ricketts, who finished No. 7 and No. 6 in batting average and RBI in the WCC last year, respectively. Joining them will be fourth-year outfielder Tora Otsuka, sophomore utility player Cody Jefferis, and senior third baseman Adam Lopez, all of whom have taken significant steps forward in the team's winter workouts, with Lopez being described by Hill as the "surprise of the whole winter camp."
Local talent Kevin Sim, a true freshman out of Torrey Pines High School, could have a chance to make a splash in his first college season. And set to return for his fourth year with the team is graduate utility man Paul Kunst, a savvy leader whose influence during an uncertain offseason was described as invaluable by his teammates.
"We have a ton of older guys who the new guys can look up to as role models," said McGuire, now in his fourth year in San Diego with a bevy of accolades under his belt. "That's big. Not everybody has to look to one or two dudes — we can look to each other. We have an offense that really buys into doing what needs to be done, executing when we need to execute. I think our offense is really gonna stand out from past years."
In a normal season, the Toreros would criss-cross the country as they play out what is typically one of the nation's most strenuous non-conference schedules. This year, however, that will not be the case, with the pandemic pushing San Diego baseball to stay as local as they can. Forty-four of the Toreros' 47 games will be played in California, their only out-of-state series coming in late April and early May in Spokane.
"Anytime you're talking regional teams on the West Coast, you're talking about the best in the country," said Hill, who has amassed more than 1,000 college coaching wins at institutions in the Golden State. "The West Coast region is the best day in, day out baseball in the United States."
Rather than mourning the loss of what likely would have been several exciting long-distance road trips, the Toreros are viewing the modified slate as an opportunity.
"I think our goal this year is to prove that we're the best team in California," McGuire said. "And then let that speak for itself."
The formidable West Coast Conference will be as competitive as ever, with San Diego picked to finish third behind Pepperdine and Gonzaga. Hill noted that while his 2021 roster is both talented and deep, so are the rosters throughout the rest of the conference. Yes, the Toreros are returning a strong group from last season, but so is everyone else, the head coach stresses. Still, to both Hill and McGuire, the WCC title is up for grabs.
"This conference is something different," McGuire said. "I think any team can really win it if they get hot. It's a competitive, 'grindy' atmosphere in this league. I think that just with our leadership on this team…we can really make it a (competitive) year for us."
With just days until the 2021 season begins at crosstown rival San Diego State on Friday, both excitement and intensity are building within the team. Thurman admitted that over the course of a 15-minute phone interview, he had gone from sitting down to pacing around his home, energized as he discussed the upcoming season.
"I'm gonna definitely have to remind myself to look around and take it all in," the hard-throwing righty said. "It's been a long time, and I'm pumped, I'm sure it's that way for a lot of the guys… we didn't even know if this would be possible 11 months ago."
The Toreros' journey in 2021 will begin how their 2020 campaign ended: with a bus ride. This time it'll be just 8.9 miles, 10 minutes or so if they avoid early Friday traffic as they drive down Interstate 8 to Tony Gwynn Stadium. They'll share the same feelings of anticipation as the game approaches, the same desire to put into action what they've been working toward for the last year and a half, the same desire to take care of the unfinished business they were forced to leave behind last spring as they travel toward their destination.
The only difference is that this time, there'll be no turning back.
