meidroth fielding

Baseball

Crosstown Rivals Set to Meet at Fowler Park

San Diego baseball to host San Diego State for midweek non-conference matchup

San Diego (19-11, 7-5 WCC)  •  San Diego State (7-24, 1-14 Mountain West)
Fowler Park (1,700) • San Diego, California
Live Stream  •  WCC Network |  Live Statistics  •   USDToreros.com
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SAN DIEGO — San Diego baseball (19-11, 7-5 WCC) will return home for the first time in more than two weeks on Tuesday night, hosting San Diego State (7-24, 1-14 Mountain West) for a crosstown rivalry matchup at Fowler Park.

The midweek non-conference matchup is set to get underway at 6 p.m., and will be streamed live on the WCC Network with Jack Cronin and Braden Surprenant on the call. Live statistics will be provided on USDToreros.com.

LAST TIME OUT
• The Toreros took one game out of three at Portland on Tuesday night, falling to the Pilots 6-2 on Friday before splitting a Saturday doubleheader at Joe Eztel Field that saw them prevail 8-6 in game one, then drop a tough 5-4 decision in an extra-innings finale.

ALL-TIME SERIES VERSUS SAN DIEGO STATE
• The Toreros are 58-76-2 against the Aztecs all-time, with the two programs' last meeting coming in February of 2021, a wild 16-12 San Diego win at Fowler Park.

• USD and SDSU met three times that season — once at Fowler Park and twice at Tony Gwynn Stadium.

• The Toreros are 2-8 against San Diego State at Fowler Park since the venue opened in 2013, with the two wins coming last year, and in March of 2014.

FOR STARTERS (PROBABLE)
• Redshirt freshman right-hander Ryan Kysar is set to take the mound for the Toreros on Tuesday night in what will mark his fourth start and seventh overall appearance of 2022.

• The Valencia, California native has posted a 5.50 ERA in 18.0 total innings pitched so far this season, striking out 20 batters against nine walks.

• He last appeared on April 3 at San Francisco, allowing one run on three hits across 1.1 frames while striking out three and walking two.

• Kysar last started a game on March 20 at Pepperdine, tossing 3.2 frames of two-run ball while scattering five hits, walking two, and striking out two.

• He last pitched at Fowler Park on March 6 versus Dallas Baptist, throwing 1.2 scoreless innings while working around a walk and two hits with a trio of strikeouts.

IN THE RANKINGS
• San Diego checked in at No. 16 in the NCAA Division I RPI this Monday, and boasts a win over the ranking's No. 2 team (Dallas Baptist, March 4) in addition to three wins over the team directly ahead of it at No. 15 (Oregon, February 18, 19, and 20).

• In late February, the Toreros were ranked at No. 22 in the Perfect Game Top 25, and placed at No. 26 in Collegiate Baseball Newspaper's NCAA Div. I Baseball Poll on both March 28 and April 4.

ABOVE AVERAGE
• Five qualified San Diego players enter Tuesday night's action with batting averages above .300 — sophomore infielder Chase Meidroth (.368), junior catcher Caleb Ricketts (.347), sophomore utility player Jack Costello (.328), sophomore infielder Kevin Sim (.325), and redshirt sophomore outfielder Camden Vasquez (.318).

•As a team, the Toreros aren't too far behind, batting .290 (299-for-1030).

POWER SURGE
•San Diego leads the WCC with .93 home runs per game entering Tuesday night's action and sophomore infielder Kevin Sim (Torrey Pines High School) leads the team with 10 longballs, a mark that tops the conference and is 40th in the country.

GOLD GLOVES
•The Toreros' .978 team fielding percentage through 30 games so far in 2022 leads the conference and ranks 26th in the country.

STRIKEOUTS GALORE
•USD's 3.21 strikeout-to-walk ratio leads the conference and ranks 17th in the nation, and the team's mark of 10.6 strikeouts per nine innings is just 0.1 off Santa Clara's mark of 10.7 for the conference lead.

RED-HOT RICKETTS IN MIDSEASON FORM
•Junior catcher Caleb Ricketts continued to tear it up last week, going 8-for-18 (.444) with a double, three home runs, nine RBIs, and a walk across a game at UC San Diego and three at Portland.

• The Newport Beach, California native was a dominant 4-for-5 on Tuesday versus the Tritons, clobbering a home run and a double as he drove in four and came around to score a run.

• He kept things rolling on Friday at Joe Etzel Field, homering again as he drove in a pair and scored a run.

• On Saturday in game one of the Toreros' doubleheader he was successful at the plate yet again, notching his third consecutive multi-hit game as he went yard for the third straight game, driving in three and coming around to score twice.

• And on Saturday in the series finale he stayed productive, coming around to score a run in addition to drawing a walk.

•Ricketts enters Tuesday night's action batting .348 (42-for-121) with eight doubles, six home runs, two triples, and 24 RBIs, and has hit safely in 23 of the Toreros' 30 games so far this season while putting together 12 multi-hit performances.

• His 11-game hit streak from March 22 to April 9 is the longest by any San Diego player this season.

•Ricketts, who was named to the 2022 Buster Posey National Collegiate Catcher of the Year Watch List on March 10, has thrown out 10 of 16 would-be base stealers so far this season.

MEIDROTH LEADS THE WAY
•Sophomore infielder Chase Meidroth continued to shine at the top of the San Diego lineup over the weekend, going 5-for-13 (.384) with a run scored and an RBI at Portland as he notched a pair of multi-hit games at Joe Etzel Field.

• He notched a go-ahead RBI in the top of the ninth of game two of the Toreros' doubleheader with the Pilots on Saturday, plating junior shortstop Cody Jefferis with a ground ball to third base that gave USD a 4-3 lead.

•Meidroth, who was selected to the 2021 Northwoods League All-Star Game last summer, is batting a team-high .368 (43-for-117) with 22 runs scored, six doubles, four home runs, 22 RBIs, and a team-leading 21 walks so far in 2022.

• He has reached base in 28 of his 29 games so far, is tied with sophomore utility player Jack Costello for the Toreros' second-longest hit streak so far this season (10 games), leads the team in multi-hit games (15) and boasts a team-leading .471 on-base percentage in addition to a .521 slugging percentage on the year, which among qualified San Diego batters is second only to sophomore infielder Kevin Sim and Ricketts.

•Meidroth is one of three USD players to be named WCC Player of the Week this season (March 21).

CONSISTENT COSTELLO KEEPS CRUSHING IT
• Sophomore utility player Jack Costello has picked up right where he left off this season after a dynamic college debut a year ago, hitting safely in all but five of the Toreros' 30 games so far in 2022.

• Costello, who has hit safely in 57 of the 73 games he has played in so far at USD and has reached base in 29 of the Toreros' 30 games in 2022, added a trio of hits over the weekend at Portland as he came around to score a single run.

• Since going hitless in his first two college appearances on February 21 and 27, 2021, he's been hitless just 14 times, and 30 of his 73 college games so far have resulted in a multi-hit performance, including 13 multi-hit games out of 30 total contests so far in 2022, a mark that's two games off the team lead (Chase Meidroth, 15).

• Costello, who was named a Freshman All-American (2021), an All-WCC Freshman Team  member, an All-WCC Honorable Mention (2021), and a 2022 All-WCC Preseason Team selection, is batting .328 (41-for-125) so far this season with a tied-for-team-high eight doubles, three home runs, 18 RBIs, and 58 total bases.

•His .464 slugging percentage and .393 OBP place fourth among qualified USD batters, and his 10-game hit streak earlier this season is one game shy of the Toreros' season-long (Caleb Ricketts, 11).

A STRONG START FOR SIM
•Sophomore infielder Kevin Sim has put together a strong start to the 2022 season, batting .325 (38-for-117) through all 30 of the Toreros' games thus far with a team and conference-high 10 home runs along with a team-high 34 runs batted in that is two RBIs off the conference lead (Diego Baquero, LMU, 36).

•The San Diego, California native (Torrey Pines High School) set forth a monster performance a week ago at crosstown opponent UC San Diego, going 3-for-4 with three RBIs, two walks, and a career-high five runs scored at Triton Ballpark before he added a double, two runs scored, an RBI, and a walk at Portland over the weekend.

• Sim, who was named the WCC Player of the Week on March 14, leads both San Diego and the conference with a .641 slugging percentage, and his .444 on-base percentage is third among qualified USD batters.

•His 10 home runs and average of .33 home runs per game rank 40th and 52nd in the nation, respectively.

TEIJEIRO HEATING UP
•Graduate utility player RJ Teijeiro put together a stellar series against Portland this past weekend, going a remarkable 6-for-8 (.750) with three RBIs and three runs scored in the Pacific Northwest.

• In game two of Saturday's doubleheader against the Pilots he finished a home run shy of the cycle, going 4-for-5 with a single, two doubles, a triple, an RBI, and a run scored, including a game-tying RBI in the top of the eighth that knotted the game at three.

• Teijeiro, who joined the Toreros as a transfer after graduating from UCLA in three years, made his season debut late last month after missing 53 games across last season and the beginning of 2022 due to injury.

• The Foster City, California native is batting .394 (13-for-33) so far this season with a three doubles, a home run, two walks, and seven RBIs.

• On March 25, he pushed San Diego to an extra-innings win over Saint Mary's with a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 10th, a two-run shot that marked his first college longball.

MAYA SHINES IN THIRD COLLEGE OUTING
• True freshman lefty Gabe Maya turned in an impressive performance out of the bullpen on Friday night at Portland, tossing a career-high 3.0 hitless innings while striking out a career-high five batters and walking none.

• Maya also set forth a strong outing on Tuesday at UC San Diego, striking out the side as he threw a scoreless seventh at Triton Ballpark.

• The Sacramento, California native has yet to allow an earned run in 4.1 total innings pitched in relief and has struck out nine batters against just one walk.

CHURCHILL CONTINUES TO EXCEL OUT OF 'PEN
• Graduate left-handed pitcher Ian Churchill continued his success out of the bullpen in game one of Saturday's doubleheader at Portland, helping San Diego lock down an 8-6 win with 2.1 scoreless frames across the contest's seventh, eighth, and ninth innings that saw him work around two hits and a walk with four strikeouts.

• Churchill, who joined San Diego as a transfer from the University of Arizona, has allowed just four earned runs in his last 17.1 innings pitched (two starts and five relief appearances) and has racked up 26 strikeouts across that timeframe.

SASHIN SHINING
• Redshirt sophomore righty James Sashin has turned in 9.0 consecutive scoreless innings out of the bullpen and has not allowed an earned run since March 15, a stretch that has spanned six appearances.

• Sashin, who joined the Toreros as a walk-on in 2020, kept his hot streak rolling with 2.2 scoreless frames in game two of the Toreros' doubleheader at Portland, working around a single hit with a strikeout and zero walks.

• For the season he's 1-0 with a 4.02 ERA in 15.2 total innings pitched, with 10 strikeouts to his credit against nine walks.

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), their 33-12 mark in 2021, and their 19-11 record so far in 2022, the Toreros are a conference-best 96-48 (.666) in that 144-game span.

•Next best within that timeframe are Gonzaga (93-59, (.611), and Saint Mary's (91-71, .561).
 
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Players Mentioned

Cody Jefferis

#1 Cody Jefferis

UTL
5' 8"
Sophomore
Chase Meidroth

#15 Chase Meidroth

INF
5' 10"
Freshman
Caleb Ricketts

#19 Caleb Ricketts

UTL
6' 4"
Sophomore
James Sashin

#18 James Sashin

RHP
6' 5"
Freshman
Camden Vasquez

#3 Camden Vasquez

UTL
5' 9"
Redshirt Freshman
Jack Costello

#39 Jack Costello

UTL
6' 1"
Freshman
Kevin Sim

#16 Kevin Sim

INF
6' 2"
Freshman
RJ Teijeiro

#41 RJ Teijeiro

INF
6' 1"
Junior
Gabe Maya

#36 Gabe Maya

LHP
6' 2"
Freshman
Ryan Kysar

#30 Ryan Kysar

RHP
6' 0"
Redshirt Freshman
Ian Churchill

#34 Ian Churchill

LHP
6' 2"
Graduate Student

Players Mentioned

Cody Jefferis

#1 Cody Jefferis

5' 8"
Sophomore
UTL
Chase Meidroth

#15 Chase Meidroth

5' 10"
Freshman
INF
Caleb Ricketts

#19 Caleb Ricketts

6' 4"
Sophomore
UTL
James Sashin

#18 James Sashin

6' 5"
Freshman
RHP
Camden Vasquez

#3 Camden Vasquez

5' 9"
Redshirt Freshman
UTL
Jack Costello

#39 Jack Costello

6' 1"
Freshman
UTL
Kevin Sim

#16 Kevin Sim

6' 2"
Freshman
INF
RJ Teijeiro

#41 RJ Teijeiro

6' 1"
Junior
INF
Gabe Maya

#36 Gabe Maya

6' 2"
Freshman
LHP
Ryan Kysar

#30 Ryan Kysar

6' 0"
Redshirt Freshman
RHP
Ian Churchill

#34 Ian Churchill

6' 2"
Graduate Student
LHP