San Diego (20-11, 7-5 WCC)  •  Loyola Marymount (11-20-1, 8-4 WCC)
Fowler Park (1,700) • San Diego, California
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SAN DIEGO – Fresh off a hard-fought win over a crosstown rival, San Diego baseball (20-11, 7-5 WCC) will resume West Coast Conference play this weekend with a three-game set against Loyola Marymount (11-20-1, 8-4 WCC) at Fowler Park.

The series will get going on Thursday night with a 6 p.m. first pitch, followed by a 5 p.m. start on Friday, and a 1 p.m. series finale on Saturday.

All three games will be broadcast live on the WCC Network, and live statistics will be available on USDToreros.com. Jack Cronin will have the solo play-by-play call on Thursday night while Braden Surprenant attends to other broadcasting obligations before the duo reunites for the series' final two games on Friday and Saturday.

LAST TIME OUT
• The Toreros earned a convincing victory before their largest crowd of the season (1,484) last time out on Tuesday, beating San Diego State by an 8-3 margin at Fowler Park.

• They did so with a patient approach at the plate, drawing 10 walks as a team as they rallied to score six unanswered runs from the fifth inning on.

• Redshirt freshman righty Ryan Kysar started the game on the mound for San Diego and turned in a solid start, surrendering three runs on three hits as he walked two against a trio of strikeouts.

• A trio of local sophomore relievers closed things out for the Toreros, with righty Jack Hyde (Grossmont High School), righty Ivran Romero (Poway High School), and lefty Cole Colleran (Canyon Crest Academy) all firing scoreless frames to secure USD the win.

ALL-TIME SERIES AGAINST LOYOLA MARYMOUNT
• The Toreros are 91-107-1 against the Lions all-time, with the two programs' most recent meeting coming in April of 2021 in Los Angeles, a 4-2 USD loss at Page Stadium.

• USD's lone win over the Lions last season came in that series' middle game, a 6-0 decision that allowed San Diego to take one game out of three in LA.

• The Toreros last faced off with Loyola Marymount at Fowler Park in April of 2018, beating the Lions 18-6 as they took two out of three in San Diego.

FOR STARTERS (PROBABLE)
THURSDAY: Redshirt freshman left-hander Kyle Carr is set to begin the series on the mound for the Toreros on Thursday in what will mark his third outing of the season (all starts) after making his college debut earlier this year.

• Carr, who missed all of the 2021 season and the first 11 games of 2022 due to injuries, last appeared over the weekend at Portland in game one of the Toreros' Saturday doubleheader, tossing a pair of scoreless frames in the first and second innings as he worked around two hits with four strikeouts.

• The San Marcos, California native (San Marcos High School) is 0-0 with a 0.00 ERA in 3.0 total innings pitched so far this year with five strikeouts under his belt against a single walk.

FRIDAY: Sophomore lefty Brycen Mautz, who leads the West Coast Conference and ranks fourth nationally with 78 total strikeouts, will start the middle game of the Toreros' weekend series for the ninth consecutive week on Friday when he takes the mound against the Lions.

• Mautz last appeared in game two of the Toreros' doubleheader against the Pilots last Saturday, surrendering six earned runs on eight hits across 5.2 innings of work, walking two as he struck out nine batters for the second game in a row.

• The San Diego, California native has posted a team-best 5-1 record and 4.10 ERA so far this season in a team-high 48.1 innings pitched against just 11 walks and leads the WCC in both strikeout-to-walk ratio (7.09) and strikeouts per nine innings (14.52), categories in which he's 28th and 9th in the country, respectively.

• He has tossed at least five innings in each of his seven starts so far this season, and has surrendered three runs or less in five of those eight outings.

•  Mautz, who attended nearby Westview High School, went 3-1 with a 4.67 ERA and 26 strikeouts in 27 innings pitched last year, including five perfect frames and nine Ks against UC Riverside in mid March.

SATURDAY: Senior right-hander Garrett Rennie will make his ninth start of 2022 on Saturday in the series finale after starting game one of each of the Toreros' previous eight series.

• Rennie most recently appeared last Friday at Portland, allowing five runs on a season-high eight hits in a season-low 4.1 innings of work, walking just one but failing to strike out a batter.

• Each of his seven outings prior to his matchup with the Pilots saw him toss at least five innings, and he allowed three runs or less six of his seven starts before taking the mound in Portland last weekend.

• Rennie joined USD from Long Beach City College, where he was named the 2019 South Coast Conference Pitcher/Athlete of the Year, the 2019 LBCC Pitcher of the Year, and to the 2019 First Team All-State Team.

• While at Long Beach City College in 2018 and 2019, Rennie went 14-5 with four saves, one complete game, 142.1 innings pitched, 135 strikeouts, 19 walks, a 8.54 K/9, and a 2.40 ERA.

• For the season he's 2-3 with a 3.66 ERA and 37 strikeouts  in 46.2 total innings pitched, a mark that ranks third on the Torero roster.

IN THE RANKINGS
• San Diego checked in at No. 19 in the NCAA Division I RPI this Wednesday and boasts a win over the ranking's No. 2 team (Dallas Baptist, March 4) in addition to three wins over another team ahead of it at No. 10 (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 (.370), junior catcher Caleb Ricketts (.339), sophomore utility player Jack Costello (.328), sophomore infielder Kevin Sim (.322), and redshirt sophomore outfielder Camden Vasquez (.328).

•As a team, the Toreros aren't too far behind, batting .288 (304-for-1056).

MEIDROTH LEADS THE WAY
•Sophomore infielder Chase Meidroth, who leads the West Coast Conference in hits (44), hits per game (1.47), and batting average (.370) continued to shine at the top of the San Diego lineup this week, going 6-for-15 (.400) with two runs scored, two RBIs, and two walks across three games at Portland and one versus San Diego State.

•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.

• The Manhattan Beach, California native proved to be key again on Tuesday night, bringing home a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth when he reached on a ground ball to shortstop that helped San Diego expand its lead before he added yet another insurance run in the bottom of the eighth with a clutch sacrifice fly to right field.

•Meidroth, who was selected to the 2021 Northwoods League All-Star Game last summer, is batting a team-high .370 (44-for-119) with 23 runs scored, six doubles, four home runs, 23 RBIs, and a team-leading 23 walks so far in 2022.

• He has reached base in 29 of his 30 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 .476 on-base percentage in addition to a .529 slugging percentage on the year, which among qualified San Diego batters is second only to sophomore infielder Kevin Sim and junior catcher Caleb 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' 31 games so far in 2022.

•Costello, who has hit safely in 58 of the 74 games he has played in so far at USD and has reached base in 30 of the Toreros' 31 games in 2022, added a trio of hits over the weekend at Portland before ripping a key double against crosstown rival San Diego State at Fowler Park on Tuesday.

• The Simi Valley, California native delivered a clutch RBI in the bottom of the first against the Aztecs, sending a line drive down the left field line to plate Meidroth and give his team an early 1-0 lead.

• 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 74 college games so far have resulted in a multi-hit performance, including 13 multi-hit games out of 31 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 (42-for-128) so far this season with a team-high nine doubles, three home runs, 19 RBIs, and 60 total bases.

•His .469 slugging percentage and .396 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).

RED-HOT RICKETTS IN MIDSEASON FORM
•Junior catcher Caleb Ricketts continued his hot streak last week, going 4-for-13 (.307) with a pair of home runs, five RBIs, and four runs scored at Portland.

• The Newport Beach, California native was 2-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI after clubbing his fifth home run of the season in Friday's game, went 2-for-5 with two runs scored and three RBIs after homering yet again in game one of Saturday's doubleheader, and finished the series with a productive evening in game two, coming around to score a single run alongside a walk.

• Ricketts enjoyed a similarly productive performance back home on Tuesday night versus SDSU, working another walk and coming around to score another run as the Toreros downed the Aztecs 8-3.

•Ricketts enters Tuesday night's action batting .339 (42-for-124) with eight doubles, six home runs, two triples, and 24 RBIs, and has hit safely in 23 of the Toreros' 31 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.

A STRONG START FOR SIM
•Sophomore infielder Kevin Sim has put together a strong start to the 2022 season, batting .322 (39-for-121) through all 31 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 last Tuesday 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.

• He stayed productive on Tuesday versus San Diego State, going 1-for-4 with a single and a walk against the Aztecs at Fowler Park.

• Sim, who was named the WCC Player of the Week on March 14, leads both San Diego and the conference with a .628 slugging percentage, and his .420 on-base percentage is third among qualified USD batters.

•His 10 home runs and average of .33 home runs per game rank 48th and 65th 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 .361 (13-for-36) 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 last 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 last 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 entering Thursday night's action 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 20-11 record so far in 2022, the Toreros are a conference-best 97-48 (.668) in that 145-game span.

•Next best within that timeframe are Gonzaga (93-59, (.611), and Saint Mary's (91-72, .558).