San Diego (13-4, 2-1 WCC)  •  USC (9-6, 3-0 Pac-12)
San Diego  •  Pacific
Dedeaux Field (2,500) •  Los Angeles, California | Fowler Park (1,700) •  San Diego, California
Live Stream  •  Pac-12 Network Plus / WCC Network |  Live Statistics  • USCTrojans.com / USDToreros.com
Social  •  Twitter.com/USDBaseball  •  Instagram.com/USDBaseball

LOS ANGELES — San Diego baseball (13-4, 2-1 WCC) begins a busy week on Tuesday with its 15th non-conference game of the 2021 season, traveling to Dedeaux Field to take on USC (9-6, 3-0 Pac-12) on Tuesday before returning home to Fowler Park on Friday to resume West Coast Conference play against Pacific.

USD's matchup with USC is the front half of a two-game home-and-home series  between the two programs that will see the Trojans travel to Fowler Park later this season on April 6.

First pitch on Tuesday evening versus USC is set for 6 p.m., and the Toreros' three-game WCC set against the Tigers will consist of another 6 p.m. start on Friday, a 4 p.m. game on Saturday, and a 1 p.m. series finale on Sunday.

Tuesday's game in Los Angeles will be streamed on the Pac-12 Network Plus, and all three of USD's home contests this weekend will be streamed on the WCC Network, with longtime Torero broadcaster Jack Murray on the call.

ALL-TIME SERIES VERSUS USC
•USD is 6-19 against the Trojans all-time, with the two programs' most recent meeting coming on March 3, 2017, an 8-3 San Diego win in Los Angeles.

•The Toreros have gone 3-7 in their last 10 matchups with USC, but are an even 3-3 at Dedeaux Field in that span.

ALL-TIME SERIES VERSUS PACFIC
•USD is 17-7 against the Tigers all-time, with the two WCC programs' most recent meeting coming on May 12, 2019, a 4-2 San Diego win at Fowler Park.

•The Toreros have gone 7-3 in their last 10 matchups with Pacific, and are 5-1 at home versus the Tigers in that span.

FOR STARTERS (PROBABLE)

TUESDAY: True freshman Cole Colleran will make his first career college start on Tuesday night, marking just his second appearance of the 2021 season.

•Colleran, a 6-0 lefty from Solana Beach, California, recorded 1/3 of an inning in his first and only previous outing, throwing just three pitches in an abbreviated relief appearance.

•He set records in career wins (17) and career strikeouts (175) at local Canyon Crest Academy.

FRIDAY: Sophomore right-hander Jake Miller will be the Toreros' Friday night starter for the sixth week in a row when he takes the mound in game one against the Tigers.

•Miller is 3-1 with a 3.18 ERA in a tied-for-team-high 22.1 innings pitched this season, and his 31 total strikeouts are second on the USD roster. His three wins is tied for most in the WCC.

•In his most recent outing on March 19 at Saint Mary's, Miller threw 3 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing just one hit against four strikeouts and five walks.

SATURDAY: Redshirt sophomore Conner Thurman will reprise his role as San Diego's Saturday starter in game two against Pacific, making his third consecutive mid-weekend start.

•Thurman, who earned WCC Pitcher of the Week honors on March 16, is 2-1 with a 1.99 ERA in six appearances so far this season and has recorded a team-high 36 strikeouts. His 22.1 innings pitched through 3/22 is tied for most on the team with Miller, and his ERA is second to only true freshman Ivran Romero, who has yet to allow a run in 2021.

•In his most recent outing on March 20 at Saint Mary's, he threw six innings and surrendered four runs (two earned) behind eight strikeouts and a walk.

SUNDAY: Freshman Brycen Mautz (Westview High School) will start on the mound for USD in the series finale, marking the third consecutive week the San Diego native has been called on to start a game.

•The 6-3 lefty is 2-0 with a 5.54 ERA in five appearances so far in 2021.

•His first start of the year (3/13 vs. UCR) saw him strike out the first seven batters he faced enroute to five no-hit innings, nine total strikeouts, and no walks.

•In his most recent outing on March 21 at Saint Mary's, he tossed 3.2 innings, scattering three hits against five strikeouts and two walks to surrender two earned runs.

LAST TIME OUT
•The Toreros took two games out of three from conference foe Saint Mary's on their road trip to Moraga, California last weekend, beating the Gaels by scores of 7-0 (3/19) and 5-4 (3/21), rebounding from a tough 4-3 defeat in the middle game (3/20) to take the series.

•USD has now won 13 of its last 15 games, a span that includes four series victories in a row (CSUF, UCR, UCSD, SMC).

POLL POSITION
•USD received a national ranking for the first time this season on Monday, coming in at No. 29 in the Collegiate Baseball national poll. The Toreros' recent ranking marks 15 years in a row of the team being nationally ranked by at least one national college baseball publication.

COSTELLO STAYS HOT
•True freshman utility player Jack Costello extended his hit streak to 11 games over the weekend at Saint Mary's, recording two hits in each of the Toreros' three games against the Gaels.

•The Simi Valley, California native was 6-12 in the series with two total runs scored, an RBI, and a walk. 

His 11-game tear has included nine multi-hit performances and streaks of five (3/6-3/13) and four (3/14-present) consecutive contests with more than one hit.

•Costello is batting a team and conference-high .429 (21-49) in 15 games in his first college season with six doubles, a triple, a home run, and seven RBIs, and his .653 slugging percentage and .455 on-base percentage are both third-best on the team as of Sunday.

REMARKABLE START CONTINUES FOR ROMERO
•True freshman Ivran Romero (Poway High School) has now thrown 16.1 consecutive scoreless innings to begin his college career.

•He was crucial in both of San Diego baseball's wins this past weekend at Saint Mary's, throwing 2.1 combined scoreless innings in relief across the Toreros' 7-0 win on Friday and their 5-4 win in the series finale on Sunday.

•On Friday, Romero entered in the bottom of the fourth inning with a runner on base and his team leading by a 2-0 margin, stranded the runner, and went on to pitch 1.2 scoreless frames.

•And on Sunday, the San Diego native was called on in the bottom of the ninth with the bases loaded and one out as USD clung to a one-run, 5-4 lead. He dispatched the first batter he saw with a swinging strikeout on three pitches, then earned his second save of the season after getting the next Gael he faced to fly out to center field.

KUNST KEY IN GAME ONE WIN
•Paul Kunst recorded a team-high four hits in his team's victory over Saint Mary's on Friday, going 4-5 with a double, two RBIs, two runs scored, and a stolen base.

•After missing the Toreros' first four games of the season with an injury, the graduate student is batting .415 (17-41) with 11 RBIs and nine runs scored while adding plus defense in center field.

JEFFERIS NOTCHES FIRST HOME RUN
•Cody Jefferis launched his first home run of the 2021 season on Friday, a towering two-run shot to deep right field at Louis Guisto Field in Moraga that gave his team a 5-0 lead. He finished the day 3-4 with three RBIs and two runs scored, and has 15 RBIs and 15 runs scored to his credit so far this season.

•His .386 (27-70) batting average is third-best in the conference and his eight doubles is tied with Tora Otsuka for the San Diego lead.

•The sophomore shortstop is one of just five players on the USD roster to have played in every game, and he is the only Torero to have started every game at the same position.

LUEVANO LIGHTS IT UP (AGAIN)
•Thomas Luevano was the Toreros' most productive hitter in the team's final two games at Saint Mary's this past weekend, going 4-11 across Saturday and Sunday's contests with two doubles, two RBIs, and a run scored.

•Luevano leads all WCC players with six home runs, 26 RBIs, and 46 total bases.

TORERO BATS LEAD THE WAY
•San Diego's 151 runs scored through Sunday leads the WCC by a 23-run margin, and the team's offense as a whole has topped the charts in several categories within the conference.

Those categories include:
Hits (192), First in WCC
Doubles (51), First in WCC
RBIs (139), First in WCC
Batting average (.320), First in WCC
On-base percentage (.412), First in WCC
Slugging percentage (.500), First in WCC

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE
•USD's hot start at the plate has also propelled the team to the top 20 of the national leaderboards in eight categories, and the national lead in one category (doubles).

Those categories include:
Batting average (.320), 9th in the NCAA
Total hits (192), 13th in the NCAA
On Base Percentage (.412), 20th in the NCAA
Slugging Percentage (.521), 11th in the NCAA
Runs scored (151), 12th in the NCAA
Doubles (51), 1st in the NCAA
Doubles per game (3.00) 1st in the NCAA
Hit by Pitch (39), 2nd in the NCAA
Sacrifice Flies (14), 3rd in the NCAA

BEST IN THE WEST (COAST CONFERENCE)
•From the beginning of the 2019 season until now, no team in the West Coast Conference has had a better record than San Diego baseball. Combining their 2019 record (32-21), their abbreviated 2020 totals (12-4), and their 13-4 mark so far this year, the Toreros are a conference-best 57-29 (.662) in that 86-game span.

• Next best within that timeframe are Saint Mary's (53-39, .576) and BYU (49-37, .569).