SAN DIEGO — Walk by Fowler Park at any given hour when there's not a game or a practice, and you'll likely hear it. It comes from the first-base side of the field, just past the visitor's dugout, and it doesn't matter whether it's day, night, or something in between — odds are, you'll hear it. 

THWACK. THWACK. THWACK.

The sound of baseballs hitting bats fills the northern valley of Alcala Park frequently, but perhaps no player has contributed to the cacophony more over the last few years than the Toreros' star shortstop. Which is why on a cool February morning, it's no surprise that Cody Jefferis is alone in the batting cage, getting some extra work in. An interview with the Valencia, California native is easy enough to set up, and requires only one caveat — tracking him down. 

"Fowler Park works," he texts the night before to confirm the meeting's location before adding a helpful hint. "I'll probably be hitting."
  Different people use different words to describe Jefferis, but they all seem to get at the same thing. "Trustworthy" is new head coach Brock Ungricht's word of choice. Teammate Will Worthington raves that he's "incredibly consistent." "Steady Eddy" is the junior's nickname around the coaching staff, a moniker bestowed on him after a dynamic sophomore season that saw him start all 45 of San Diego's games at shortstop while batting .341 (59-for-173) with 11 doubles, 36 runs scored, 32 RBIs, and 75 total bases en-route to an All-WCC Second Team Selection. 

"That guy will show up, he's not going to say a word, but he will be the best player at that position day in and day out," Ungricht said of Jefferis, who was the only San Diego player to start every game at the same position last season. "Because he believes in himself, he has confidence."

At 5-foot-8 and 165 pounds and often stone-faced in his on-field demeanor, Jefferis isn't the first player you'll notice, at least stature-wise as you survey the Toreros, but an inning of watching him play defense quickly changes that. He gets to balls he shouldn't get to. He makes throws that belie his size. After a particularly impressive showing last April versus San Francisco, one that saw Jefferis stop a last-chance Dons rally in its tracks by beating a baserunner to third and making an acrobatic, mid-air, between-the-legs tag for the out, one coach likened his omnipresence on the diamond to the Padres' Fernando Tatis Jr. Several inches and about 40 pounds separate the two, but the point remains — at any given moment, Jefferis can tip the balance of the contest with his glove.

"Defense, for sure, has always been a part of my game," he says in a mid-February interview. "It's always been the backbone of my game, it's always been there for me, it's always come naturally, and I've always taken pride in improving it. It's fun to surprise yourself with the plays you can make."

Few have had a closer vantage point to his success up the middle than sophomore Will Worthington, who started 15 games at second base last season opposite Jefferis and has taken extensive reps at first base as he gears up for the 2022 campaign. Though his new spot on the corner has cut into how much he can watch his teammate as he works, he admitted that it's still hard to keep his eyes off of Jefferis.

"Some of the plays that guy makes are just breathtaking," Worthington said with a smile, eager to wax poetic about his fellow infielder. "Sometimes I think the ball's gonna go through and it'll be an automatic hit, then all of a sudden I get to the bag and (his throw) is right in front of me. What he does for this program, at that position, is simply amazing…he's a huge part of our success."

Numbers-wise, Jefferis' aptitude defensively is eclipsed only by his prowess with the bat. All those extra reps in the cage translated to a big season in 2021 at the dish, one that gave him the second-best batting average on the team (behind only WCC Player of the Year Thomas Luevano) and the fourth-best mark in the West Coast Conference in more than 173 at-bats. Despite the eye-popping numbers, Jefferis insists that any stats he accumulates at the plate are a by-product of his ultimate goal — to help the team win, no matter what it takes.

"Every time I get up to the plate I think, 'How can I get on base?''' he describes. "How can I find a way to score a run for our team? How can I find a way to do something to help the team out? The goal is to win the game, not go four-for-four."

Modesty aside, Jefferis gets it done with a balanced approach, one that's characterized by using the whole field, putting the ball in play, a healthy dose of speed on the base paths, and a dash of power, evidenced by his timely home run at Saint Mary's last March that keyed off a 7-0 win. 

"That's a guy you go to when the game's on the line," Ungricht added of Jefferis' presence in the batter's box. "He's got the talent. He's a dream for a college coach to have in his program…you can put him at the top of the order every day."
  Jefferis batted with the game on the line countless times in 2021, notching more than his fair share of big hits, but perhaps no moment exemplified his selfless approach at the plate more than the Toreros' series finale against UC Riverside in mid-March. He was 1-for-4 on the afternoon with a hit and a run scored, but his most important action, the play of the game, hardly registers in the box score. With the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the 10th at Fowler Park, he strode to the box and took three straight balls. Took a strike to make it 3-1. Then, with the game in the balance and every chance in the world to swing out of his shoes and punctuate the comeback with a big hit, Jefferis calmly watched the fifth pitch of the at-bat sail slightly wide. Ball four. Stoic as ever, he put his head down and jogged up the line to first base. As he rounded the bag, his helmet came off, and something came across his face that you'll rarely see from him between the lines — a smile, from ear to ear as his team mobbed him on the infield grass in celebration. For the day at least, the job was done, his ultimate goal achieved — his team had won. What wasn't to smile about?

"A lot of people say I don't show enough emotion, or I look like I play angry, but it's just a matter of keeping everything under control, because that could make or break an at-bat or or make or break a season," Jefferis says of his mental approach to the game. "I'm never too high, I'm never too low…always just riding it out, it's always been a way that I've played."

Minutes later, as he sat in the visitor's dugout at Fowler Park, with opening day just over two weeks away and a full contingent of fans set to descend on the stadium for the first time in nearly two years, Jefferis considered what he wanted the Torero faithful to know about him. 

"That I enjoy the game, that I have fun," he says earnestly. "I try to take it all in and enjoy what I'm doing, because you never know when it's gonna end. It's baseball, it's supposed to be fun. I hope people don't think that I take it too serious."

With that, the interview concludes, and Jefferis sets back off toward the batting cage, where he'd left his batting gloves and bat. The workout, clearly, was not yet finished. Come February 18, when the Toreros open their 2022 season in San Diego against Oregon, the time for practice will be done, but it's likely that when the game's on the line and USD needs a spark, Jefferis will be doing the same thing he's always doing.

He'll probably be hitting.