San Diego (31-11, 17-7 WCC)  •  Gonzaga (32-15, 19-5 WCC)
Patterson Baseball Complex (2,000) • Spokane, Wash.
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SPOKANE, WASH. — San Diego baseball 31-11 (17-7 WCC) concludes its regular season schedule with a crucial West Coast Conference series this weekend at Gonzaga (32-15, 19-5 WCC), taking on the Bulldogs in a three-game set at the Patterson Baseball Complex that will determine the conference champion and advance one team to an NCAA Regional with the WCC's automatic bid.

The conference showdown is set to begin on Thursday evening with a 6 p.m. start, followed by another 6 p.m. start in the series' middle game on Friday and a 12 p.m. first pitch in both teams' regular-season finale on Saturday afternoon. All three contests will be streamed live on the WCC Network.

The Toreros were originally scheduled to play Gonzaga from April 30 to May 2 in Spokane, but the series was postponed to May 27-29th due to COVID-19 protocols within the Zags program.

USD enters the weekend two games back of first-place Gonzaga in the WCC standings, and could claim the WCC title for the first time in six years with a sweep of the Bulldogs.

San Diego last captured a regular-season WCC championship in 2015, when the team went 32-22 (19-8 WCC) to take the conference crown, and last appeared in an NCAA Regional in 2013, when the Kris Bryant-led Toreros won the WCC Tournament after going 37-25 (15-9 WCC) and went on to record a pair of victories in the postseason.

At 31-11 (17-7 WCC) in 2021, USD is out to its best 42-game start since 2012, when the team went 32-10 through its first 42 games before it finished the year 40-17 (15-9 WCC) and appeared in an NCAA Regional.

ALL-TIME SERIES VS. GONZAGA
• San Diego is 49-40-1 all time against the Bulldogs, with the two programs' most recent meeting coming on March 31, 2019, an 11-9 Gonzaga win in Spokane.

• The Toreros are 4-6 in their last 10 matchups with the Zags, a span that dates back to May 2016.

• USD is 6-15 in Spokane since the Patterson Baseball Complex opened in 2007.

FOR STARTERS (PROBABLE)
THURSDAY: Sophomore right-hander Jake Miller is slated to make his team-best 10th start in game one of a series when he takes the mound on Thursday night versus the Bulldogs.

• Miller is 6-1 with a WCC-best 2.06 ERA in 11 appearances so far this season (all starts), and ranks second on the USD roster in both strikeouts (75) and innings pitched (56.2).

• Last time out versus Portland (May 20), Miller turned in 5.2 solid innings, allowing just one earned run while walking two, scattering five hits, and recording 4 strikeouts.

• On May 3, the Newbury Park, California native was named the WCC Pitcher of the Week after throwing six shutout innings with eight strikeouts against Pepperdine.

FRIDAY: USD's Friday night starter is TBA.

SATURDAY: USD's Saturday afternoon starter is TBA.

LAST TIME OUT
• San Diego took two games out of three from conference foe Portland last weekend, beating the Pilots by scores of 7-1 and 4-3 on Thursday and Friday night before dropping a tough 6-2 loss in the series finale on Saturday afternoon.

ON THURSDAY (7-1 WIN):
• Freshman Will Worthington kicked off the scoring in the bottom of the second, notching his 14th RBI of the year by sending a sacrifice fly to right field that plated senior Adam Lopez. A batter later, true freshman Kevin Sim launched his first college home run to deep left-center field, scoring sophomore Caleb Ricketts to give San Diego an early 3-0 lead.

• Ricketts notched a couple RBIs of his own in the third, singling through the right side of the infield to drive in graduate student Thomas Luevano and junior Shane McGuire and push the USD advantage to 5-0. The catcher/first baseman turned in the Toreros' most complete offensive performance of the contest, going 3-for-4 with a double, two RBIs, and a run scored. 

• McGuire, in turn, punctuated the Toreros' productive evening at the plate by driving in a pair of runs with a triple, splitting the right-center field gap with a line drive that brought home true freshman Jack Costello and sophomore Cody Jefferis and moved the score to 7-1 in favor of USD.

• Sophomore Jake Miller started the game on the mound for San Diego and went 5.2 innings while allowing just one run. The right-hander scattered four hits, walked two, and struck out four in his outing, earning the win to move to a team-best 6-1 on the year.

• Miller was relieved by freshman Brycen Mautz, redshirt sophomore Ryan Robinson, and graduate student Kieran Shaw, who teamed up to throw 3.1 scoreless frames to end the game and secure a 7-1 victory for USD. Shaw led the way for Torero relievers, recording a pair of strikeouts in his 1.2 frames of work.

ON FRIDAY (4-3 WIN):
• The Toreros fell behind early and trailed until the game's fifth frame, when graduate student Paul Kunst singled and sophomore Cody Jefferis and junior Shane McGuire walked to load the bases for Luevano, who leads the WCC in runs batted in. The Santa Clarita, California native promptly tied the game by hammering a bases-clearing triple deep into the right-center field gap, erasing the Pilots' three-run advantage with one swing of the bat by earning his 57th, 58th, and 59th RBIs of 2021. A batter later, Luevano came around to score as sophomore Caleb Ricketts reached on an error by Portland first baseman Sam Brown, and USD had a 4-3 lead that it would not relinquish.

• Freshman Carter Rustad started the game on the mound for the Toreros, surrendering two earned runs in 3.2 innings of work. He was relieved by fellow freshman Lucas Braun, who notched a key strikeout with the bases loaded to end the top of the fourth and extinguish the Pilots' scoring threat without incident. Braun was followed by senior Grady Miller, who threw an inning while allowing a run on three hits.

• The Toreros' evening on the mound was headlined, however, by a commanding effort out of the bullpen from Conner Thurman. The right-hander threw four scoreless frames to conclude the game, striking out five while walking only one and allowing just two hits.

ON SATURDAY (6-2 LOSS):
• The Toreros again fell behind early, allowing five unearned runs in the game's first two frames as the Pilots staked out an 6-0 lead. USD answered back with two runs of its own in the bottom of the fourth when sophomore Cody Jefferis scored on a wild pitch and sophomore Caleb Ricketts reached on an error to plate junior Shane McGuire, but it would get no further.

• Ivran Romero turned in the Toreros' longest outing of the evening on the mound, throwing 4.2 innings of one-run ball while allowing just one earned run on four hits with nine strikeouts. True freshman Cole Colleran followed him with an impressive 1-2-3 frame in the seventh before graduate student Kieran Shaw tossed a pair of scoreless, one-hit innings to end the game.

FOWLER MAGIC
• San Diego's final home record stands at 22-5, the most home wins in a single season since Fowler Park opened in 2013.

• USD won six series at home (Fullerton, UC Riverside, Pacific, San Francisco, Pepperdine, and Portland) in 2021, and executed three sweeps (UC Riverside, Pacific, and Pepperdine).

• The Toreros notched four walk-off victories at home in 2021 (2/27 vs. Fullerton, 4/14 vs. UC Riverside, 5/2 vs. Pepperdine, and 5/8 vs. BYU), rallying for a combined 13 runs in the ninth and 10th innings of those games for comeback wins.

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 31-11 mark so far this year, the Toreros are a conference-best 75-36 (.675) in that 111-game span.

• Next best within that timeframe are Gonzaga (69-49, .584), and Saint Mary's (68-56, .548)

LUEVANO BY A MILE
• Graduate student Thomas Luevano continued to separate himself from the rest of the West Coast Conference at the plate last weekend, adding his 57th, 58th, and 59th RBIs of the season in San Diego's win over Portland on Friday with a bases-clearing triple in the fifth inning.

• Luevano, who went 3-for-12 in the series with two runs scored and three RBIs, is batting .348 this season with 10 home runs and 59 RBIs. His batting average ranks third in the WCC, his RBIs are first by an 18-run margin, and his homers are fifth.

• His 59 RBIs in 2021 also rank 10th in all of NCAA Division I, and his 1.4 runs batted in per game are third.

• Luevano, a native of Santa Clarita, California, has started all 42 of USD's games in 2021 (one of only three players to do so), appearing in 15 at second base, one in left field, and 26 as the team's designated hitter.

• He transferred to San Diego from Creighton, where he played his junior and senior years as a two-year starter at shortstop.

• Prior to Creighton, Luevano spent two seasons at Moorpark College (2015-16), utilizing a redshirt in 2016 due to injury.

MCGUIRE STAYS HOT VERSUS PILOTS
Junior catcher Shane McGuire also enjoyed a productive series against Portland, going 3-for-9 with, two RBIs, three walks, and two runs scored from May 20 through May 22nd.

• The Kent, Washington native was 1-for-3 with a single, two RBIs, a run scored, and a walk on Thursday night, went 2-for-2 with a run scored and two walks on Friday, and came around to score a run in the series finale on Saturday.

• McGuire is batting .274/.386/.494 (45-164) so far this season with 32 RBIs, 12 doubles, six home runs, and a team-best 44 runs scored that ranks second in the West Coast Conference.

• One of three players to have started all 42 of USD's games so far this season, including 34 of them at catcher, McGuire boasts a .991 fielding percentage and has caught 10 of 22 would-be base stealers along with his WCC-leading 387 total putouts. 

• Named the WCC Player of the Week on March 30 and a member of the 2021 All-WCC Preseason Team, McGuire has notched four separate four-game hit streaks in 2021 and is the 21st-toughest player to strike out nationally.

JEFFERIS STEADY AS EVER AT SHORTSTOP
• Sophomore shortstop Cody Jefferis has been perhaps the Toreros' most consistent hitter thus far, posting a .342 (55-161) batting average with 30 RBIs, 33 runs scored, 10 doubles, and 70 total bases through all 42 of San Diego's games.

• One of just three USD players to have started every game and the only one to have started every game at one position, Jefferis kept up his productive ways at the plate against Portland, notching a pair of hits in the weekend series while coming around to score a run in all three contests.

• His. 342 batting average ranks fifth in the WCC.

• The Valencia, California native has also provided plus defense up the middle, frequently saving runs and taking hits away with his diving stops.

CALEB CONTINUES TO HIT AGAINST PORTLAND
• Sophomore catcher/first baseman Caleb Ricketts continued his steady improvement at the plate against Portland, notching three hits against the Pilots alongside two RBIs and a run scored.

• The Orange County, California native has raised his batting average 71 points since March 30, and now has a .293 (46-157) average in 2021 through 40 games with a pair of home runs, 13 doubles, and 21 RBIs to his credit.

CONSISTENCY FROM COSTELLO
• True freshman Jack Costello has impressed in his first college season, batting .331 (48-145) with 20 RBIs, 13 doubles, two triples, and two home runs so far in 2021.

• His hot start to the season has included a 12-game hit streak (3/4-3/23), two three-game hit streaks (3/30-4/3 and 4/16-4/18), and 15 multi-hit games.

• The Simi Valley, California native's 12-game hit streak included strings of five games in a row with two hits (3/5-3/13), and  four games in a row with two hits (3/14-3/21), and concluded with a five-hit night on 3/23 at USC.

• This past weekend against Portland, Costello turned in another solid series, adding a pair of doubles in three games against the Pilots.

• His .331 batting average ranks ninth in the WCC and is first among all qualified first-year players in the conference.

• On March 25, Costello was one of ten players named to Baseball America's Freshman of the Year award watch list.

TORERO BATS LEAD THE WAY
• San Diego's offense as a whole is also either first or second in several categories within the conference.

Those categories include:
• Batting average (.299), First in the WCC
• Doubles (98), Second in the WCC by two doubles to Gonzaga
• RBIs (283), First in the WCC
• On-base percentage (.383), Second in the WCC by .01 to Gonzaga
• Slugging percentage (.442), First in the WCC
• Runs scored (310), First in the WCC
• Additionally, San Diego's 174 total strikeouts at the plate are the fewest in the WCC by a 101-strikeout margin.

BUT WAIT, THERE'S MORE
USD's team batting average (.299) ranks 24th in the nation, and the Toreros' hot start at the plate has propelled the team into the top 25 of multiple offensive categories within all of NCAA Division I.

Those categories include:
• Batting average (.299), 24th in the NCAA
• Doubles per game (2.33) 5th in the NCAA
• Hit by Pitch (83), 9th in the NCAA
• Sacrifice Flies (33), 5th in the NCAA
• Scoring (7.4 runs per game), 23rd in the NCAA

RBI MACHINES
• San Diego's explosive start at the plate in 2021 has helped vault four Toreros to the top 20 of the WCC's offensive leaderboards.

• Graduate student Thomas Luevano (first, 59 RBIs), senior Adam Lopez (tied for fifth, 36 RBIs), junior Shane McGuire (tied for 10th, 32 RBIs), and sophomore Cody Jefferis (tied for 15th, 30 RBIs) each own a spot on the conference's list of top RBI producers.

QUALITY AT-BATS
• Similarly, three Toreros have found themselves ranked in the NCAA's top 25 list of "Toughest players to Strike Out."

• Adam Lopez leads the team with a ranking of No. 13, Shane McGuire checked in at No. 21, and Jack Costello came in at No. 25.