San Diego (1-2)  •  Cal State Fullerton (2-1)
Fowler Park (1,700) •  San Diego, CA
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SAN DIEGO — San Diego baseball continues its 2021 season with play in the Tony Gwynn Legacy tournament this weekend, welcoming Cal State Fullerton to Fowler Park for a three-game series. The Toreros are co-hosting the tournament with San Diego State.

USD (1-2, 0-0 WCC) will face the Titans (2-1, 0-0 Big West) on Friday at 3 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m., and Sunday at 1 p.m. All three games will be streamed on the West Coast Conference Network, with longtime Torero baseball broadcaster Jack Murray on the call.

Due to current state and county guidelines, fans will not be permitted inside Fowler Park. Fans can watch this weekend's contests by tuning into the WCC Network or by following along with live statistics coverage on USDToreros.com.

LAST TIME OUT
• San Diego lost its first two games against crosstown rival San Diego State last weekend by scores of 14-7 and 19-18 (10 innings) but rallied to win the series finale on Sunday at Fowler Park in its season opener. The 16-12 victory saw the Toreros come back from a nine-run deficit, scoring 13 unanswered runs to power past the Aztecs.

HISTORIC OFFENSIVE START TO SEASON
• San Diego has scored a remarkable 41 runs in the three games they've played so far in 2021, the most it has scored in three games to open a season since the program moved to Division I in 1980. The last time the Toreros scored more than 41 runs in three games to begin a season was in 1962, when the team put up 43 combined runs between one game against Point Mugu Naval Air Station and two versus Miramar Naval Air Station (13 in game one, 20 in game two, and 10 in game three). USD won all three of those contests back in 1962, and finished 14-11 that season under head coach Mike Morrow.

LUEVANO LIGHTING IT UP
• Thomas Luevano was instrumental in the team's comeback late Sunday afternoon, delivering a game-tying single in the eighth that capped a 3-4 day for the graduate student in which he was a triple short of the cycle. Luevano, an infielder from Santa Clarita, California, went 6-for-13 in San Diego's weekend series versus SDSU, recording two home runs on back-to-back days, two doubles, two stolen bases, six RBIs and 14 total bases, scoring eight runs in the process.

MORE BIG BATS
• Luevano wasn't the only Torero to put together an impressive weekend at the plate from February 19-21. He was joined by six teammates — Caleb Ricketts, Kevin Sim, Tora Otsuka, Shane McGuire, Cody Jefferis, and Adam Lopez — in notching at least four hits in the three-game set, with all six of them finishing the series with a batting average of .300 or better. Two more — Jefferis and Adam Lopez — will enter Friday's matchup with the Titans sporting averages of .500 or higher.

• Jefferis recorded a team-best seven hits, which included the go-ahead blow in the eighth inning against SDSU on Sunday that pushed the score to 13-12 in favor of the Toreros.

• Lopez delivered a decisive grand slam in Saturday's contest which at the time capped a seven-run USD comeback and gave his team a 12-10 lead. The Grossmont High School and Southwestern College product was 4-7 in the two games he started (Feb. 19 and Feb. 20) at third base.

• Sim, a local talent out of Torrey Pines High School, started his USD career in style, going 4-13 with a run scored and an RBI in his first three college appearances. He was the designated hitter for the first two games, then got the nod to start at third base in the series finale on Sunday.

• McGuire was 4-12 (.417) with a double, a triple, and a home run, good for five RBI.

ROMERO IMPRESSES
• Freshman right-handed pitcher Ivran Romero (Poway High School) turned in the Toreros' best pitching performance of the season so far late Sunday, going three scoreless frames while allowing just one hit. He struck out three batters and walked none in what marked the second appearance of his college career.

ALL-TIME SERIES VERSUS CAL STATE FULLERTON
• USD is 15-63-3 all-time against the Titans dating back to the two programs' first meeting in 1965.

• San Diego enters Friday's game having won its last two games against Fullerton (3-19-2019, 6-2, 4-17-2018, 10-4).

• Since Fowler Park opened in 2013, the Toreros are 4-2 at home against the Titans, while they are just 1-4 on the road at Fullerton in that span. Three of USD's wins versus CSUF in that timeframe — both at home and on the road — have been while the Titans are ranked in the Top 25.

• The last 10 matchups between the teams have been split, five wins apiece.

SAME TRIO TO START
• USD head coach Rich Hill will call on the same three starting pitchers this weekend that he did in the season opening series against the Aztecs: sophomore Jake Miller, freshman Carter Rustad, and senior Grady Miller.

• Jake Miller, a 6-2 righty out of Newbury Park, California, went 3 1/3 innings in the Toreros' first game of the 2021 season last Friday at San Diego State. He surrendered six runs on eight hits. Miller will look to return to his 2020 form this Friday afternoon, a season that saw him throw a complete game no-hitter while leading USD with 29 total strikeouts in the pandemic-shortened campaign.

• Rustad, a 6-5 right-hander from Kansas City, Missouri, will also reprise his role from a weekend ago, again taking the mound in his team's Saturday afternoon offering. The 2021 All-WCC Preseason Team honoree went 1 1/3 innings last time out, allowing six earned runs on five hits.  He too will look to find his groove and pick up where he left off in 2020, when he was named a Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-American while leading USD with a minuscule 0.84 ERA, five total hits allowed, and four wins.

• Grady Miller, a 6-4 lefty from Wenatchee, Washington, is slated to close out the series for San Diego on the mound. Last Sunday, the senior pitched 3 1/3 innings versus the Aztecs, which is tied for the longest outing by any Torero pitcher in 2021 so far. He surrendered six runs on eight hits. Miller made five starts for San Diego last year, collecting 23 strikeouts in 23.0 innings of work before he finished with a 3.13 ERA and a 2-0 record.

STAYING LOCAL
• The Toreros' series against Cal State Fullerton this weekend continues a four-game homestand for USD, as well as a stretch of 14 consecutive games in the San Diego area to begin the season. Additionally, each of USD's first 14 games are against California public schools.

That stretch includes:
• Two away games at San Diego State
• One home game versus San Diego State
• Three home games versus Cal State Fullerton
• Two away games at UC San Diego
• Two home games versus UC San Diego
• Four home games (one doubleheader) versus UC Riverside