San Diego (23-12, 9-6 WCC)  •  BYU (20-14, 6-6 WCC)
Miller Park (2,204) • Provo, Utah
Radio  •  BYU Radio  | Live Stream • BYUtv |  Live Statistics  •   BYUCougars.com
Social  •  Twitter.com/USDBaseball  •  Instagram.com/USDBaseball

PROVO, Utah — After securing a stirring series win over Loyola Marymount last weekend and wrapping up a season sweep of local D-I competition in dominant fashion on Monday, San Diego baseball (23-12, 9-6 WCC) will travel to BYU (20-14, 6-6 WCC) on Thursday to resume West Coast Conference play against the Cougars.

The series is set to run from Thursday through Saturday at Miller Park, with games one and two starting at 5 p.m. PST, followed by a 12 p.m. PST first pitch in the series finale on Saturday.

All three games will be broadcast live on the BYU Sports Network and BYU Radio.

Live statistics will be available on BYUCougars.com.

LAST TIME OUT
CITY CHAMPS: The Toreros earned a "City Championship" last time out on Monday, rolling to an emphatic 15-1 win at crosstown rival San Diego State that secured USD a season sweep over local Division I programs after taking all four games in 2022 against UC San Diego and SDSU.

• The Toreros jumped out to an early lead with an eight-run third and never looked back, putting together an offensive onslaught that was led by a season-high 16 hits, a tally that marked the 21st time San Diego has racked up 10 hits or more in 2022.

• Redshirt sophomore Ryan Kysar turned in the best start of his young college career to date on the mound, tossing 5.0 innings while allowing just one run on three hits, walking only one, and striking out four en-route to receiving his first college win to move to 1-0.

• True freshman righty Morgan Lunceford, junior right-hander Jack Dolak (St. Augustine High School), sophomore lefty Cole Colleran (Canyon Crest Academy), and junior righty Jake Reed all teamed up for four innings of one-run ball out of the bullpen, allowing zero earned runs as Dolak led the way with a pair of strikeouts.

STAYING UP LATE: Prior to its Monday night win at Tony Gwynn Stadium, San Diego willed its way to a wild series victory over LMU at Fowler Park last weekend, beating the Lions with back-to-back walk-off wins on Thursday and Friday to take two of three before dropping a tough series finale on Saturday.

• The Toreros erased a six-run deficit in game one of the series, plating six runs in the bottom of the fourth to tie the game at seven runs apiece before bringing home one more in the bottom of the ninth to tie it again at eight to force extra innings.

• A pair of graduate students proved to be key in extending the game to the longest San Diego has played so far in — utility player RJ Teijeiro, who notched a game-tying single in the bottom of the ninth, and lefty Ian Churchill, who fired six hitless innings with two walks and three strikeouts after entering in the top of the eighth.

• Teijeiro and Churchill pushed the contest right up to Fowler Park's curfew, which forbids a new inning from beginning after 10:30 p.m. It resumed the following afternoon at 3:00 p.m., and after sophomore righty Ivran Romero fired a 1-2-3 top of the 14th and sophomore centerfielder Dustin Allen notched his first career walk-off hit with an RBI single, San Diego had itself a hard-fought 9-8 victory in game one that spanned two different days.

WALK-OFF CITY: Thirty minutes after it concluded its longest game of 2022, USD began its shortest, entering into a pitcher's duel with Loyola Marymount that a single run would decide.

• Sophomore left-hander Brycen Mautz turned in the most dominant performance by a San Diego starter in recent memory, throwing a masterful complete-game shutout against Loyola Marymount as he single-handedly steered USD to a crucial 1-0 win over the Lions.

• San Diego ensured Mautz's brilliant outing was not in vain in the bottom of the ninth, rallying for a 1-0 walk-off win (sophomore utility player Angelo Peraza's RBI single) against Lions starter Diego Barrera, who traded zeros with Mautz all afternoon but was unable to match his scoreless ninth.

• The Toreros jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the series finale on Saturday but could not hang on for the win, dropping a tough 8-1 decision to the Lions at Fowler Park.

ALL-TIME SERIES VERSUS BYU
• San Diego is 24-7 against the Cougars all-time, with the two programs' most recent meeting coming in May of 2021, a 13-12 walk-off Torero win at Fowler Park.

• USD last played in Provo in April of 2018, rallying to take two of three from BYU by scores of 11-6 and 9-5 after dropping the series opener by a 9-1 margin.

• The Toreros, who are an even 5-5 in their last 10 overall matchups with the Cougars, are 9-3 at Miller Park since the venue opened in 2001.

FOR STARTERS (PROBABLE)
THURSDAY: Senior righty Garrett Rennie will make his ninth career start in game one of a series on Thursday when he takes the mound against the Cougars.

• Rennie threw a season-low 1.1 innings last time out on April 16, surrendering an earned run on two hits while walking a batter.

• Each of his first seven outings in 2022 saw him throw at least five innings, and he allowed three runs or less in six of his first seven starts.

• 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 3.75 ERA and 38 strikeouts in 48.0 total innings pitched, a mark that ranks second on the Torero roster.

FRIDAY: Sophomore left-hander Brycen Mautz, who was named the WCC Pitcher of the Week on Monday after turning in the Toreros' most dominant pitching performance in more than two years last weekend, is set to reprise his role as the Friday night starter for his team in game two.

• Mautz tossed a dominant complete-game shutout last time out against the Lions (April 15), scattering six hits, walking just two, and striking out eight on his way to his team-best sixth victory of the season.

• He successfully stranded seven different baserunners that game, including one that came via a leadoff single in the top of the ninth as his start wound to a close.

• San Diego ensured Mautz's brilliant outing was not in vain in the bottom of the ninth, rallying for a 1-0 walk-off win against Lions starter Diego Barrera, who traded zeros with Mautz all afternoon but was unable to match his scoreless ninth.

•The San Diego, California native has posted a team-best 6-1 record and 3.45 ERA so far this season in a team-high 57.1 innings pitched against just 13 walks and leads the WCC in strikeout-to-walk ratio (6.62), strikeouts per nine innings (13.50), and total strikeouts (86), categories in which he's 31, 16th, and 4th in the country, respectively.

• He's one of four WCC pitchers to turn in a complete game, has tossed at least five innings in each of his nine starts so far this season, and has surrendered three runs or less in six of those nine 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: Redshirt freshman lefty Kyle Carr is set to make his fourth career pitching appearance (all starts) on Saturday in the series finale after making his college debut earlier this season.

• Carr, who missed all of the 2021 season and the first 11 games of 2022 due to injuries, last appeared over the weekend vs. LMU in game one of the Toreros' series, surrendering five runs (four earned) on five hits while walking none and striking out two.

•The San Marcos, California native (San Marcos High School) is 0-0 with a 7.20 ERA in 5.0 total innings pitched so far this year with seven strikeouts under his belt against a single walk.

FOWLER MAGIC
• San Diego's five total walk-off wins (March 4 vs. Dallas Baptist, March 22 vs. UC Irvine, March 25 vs. Saint Mary's, and April 14 and 15 vs. Loyola Marymount) so far this season has already surpassed the team's remarkable walk-off total from 2021 (4).

• USD has twice walked-off in back-to-back contests (March 22 and March 25, April 14 and 15) and has done so via a bases-clearing double (Kevin Sim, March 4), an RBI fielder's choice (Justin DeCriscio, March 22), a two-run homer (RJ Teijeio, March 25), and a pair of RBI singles (Dustin Allen and Angelo Peraza, April 14 and 15).

• Three of the five walk-off winners for San Diego in 2022 have come in extra innings (the team is 3-1 in extra-innings contests) and USD has rallied for a combined nine runs from the bottom of the ninth inning on in those games.

GOLD GLOVES
• USD leads the conference and ranks 18th in the nation with a .979 fielding percentage through its 35 total games so far in 2022.

THEY GET ON BASE
• The Toreros lead the West Coast Conference with a .381 team on-base percentage entering Thursday night's action.

• They're second in both batting average (.286) and slugging percentage (.413).

ABOVE AVERAGE
• Five qualified San Diego players enter Thursday night's action with batting averages above .300 — junior catcher Caleb Ricketts (.341), sophomore infielder Chase Meidroth (.338), redshirt sophomore Camden Vasquez (.338), sophomore infielder Kevin Sim (.326), and sophomore utility player Jack Costello (.317).

•As a team, the Toreros aren't too far behind, batting .286 (346-for-1210).

TEIJEIRO TAKES CONTROL
• Graduate utility player RJ Teijeiro led the Toreros with eight hits (8-for-18, .444) across the team's four games last week against Loyola Marymount and San Diego State, driving in four while walking three times and coming around to score twice.

• The Foster City, California native was 3-for-6 with a pair of RBIs, including a game-tying single in the bottom of the ninth inning on April 14 against LMU, added a walk in game two against the Lions, was 2-for-4 with another walk in the series finale, and turned in a 3-for-6 night on Monday at crosstown rival San Diego State with a pair of RBIs, a home run, and two runs scored.

• Teijeiro is batting a team-high .389 (21-for-54) so far in 2022 with three doubles, a triple, and two home runs along with 11 RBIs and 32 total bases.

•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.

SIM STILL RAKING
•Sophomore infielder Kevin Sim has put together a strong start to the 2022 season, batting .326 (44-for-135) through all 35 of the Toreros' games thus far with a team and conference-high 10 home runs along with a team-high 37 runs batted in that is two RBIs off the conference lead (Diego Baquero, LMU, 39).

•The San Diego, California native (Torrey Pines High School) kept things rolling last week against Loyola Marymount and San Diego State, batting .333 (5-for-15) with two runs scored, three RBIs, and three walks.

• He notched hits in all four of the Toreros' games, going 2-for-5 with a pair of walks on Thursday vs. LMU, 1-for-4 on Friday, 1-for-3 with a run scored in the series finale on Saturday, and 1-for-2 with a run scored, three runs batted in, and a walk at crosstown rival San Diego State on Monday.

• Sim, who was named the WCC Player of the Week on March 14, leads San Diego with a .628 slugging percentage, and his .427 on-base percentage is third among qualified USD batters.

•His 10 home runs and average of .29 home runs per game lead the conference.

RICKETTS IS ROLLING
• Junior catcher Caleb Ricketts continued his hot streak last weekend, notching a hit in each of the Toreros' games against Loyola Marymount as he drove in a run, scored a run, and drew two walks.

• The Newport Beach, California native was 1-for-5 on Thursday night against the Lions, went 2-for-4 and scored the middle-game's winning run in the bottom of the ninth after beginning the frame with a clutch double, and finished the weekend with a 1-for-2 performance in the series finale on Saturday as yet another clutch double drove in San Diego's lone run on the day to give USD a short-lived lead.

•Ricketts enters Thursday night's action batting .341 (46-for-135) with 10 doubles, six home runs, two triples, and 25 RBIs, and has hit safely in 26 of the Toreros' 35 games so far this season while putting together 13 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 13 of 22 would-be base stealers so far this season.

PERAZA HEATING UP IN RETURN FROM INJURY
• Sophomore utility player Angelo Peraza (St. Augustine High School) has notched a hit in each of his last four games, going 5-for-15 (.333) with three RBIs, four runs scored, and two walks last week against Loyola Marymount and San Diego State.

• The Chula Vista, California native, who missed 20 games from March 8 to April 9 before making his return last Tuesday versus San Diego State, went 1-for-5 on Thursday night with two runs scored, and a walk, including the game-winning run in the bottom of the 14th, went 1-for-4 with the game-winning RBI (a single in the bottom of the ninth) in game two, was 1-for-3 with a walk in the series finale on Saturday, and notched his third multi-hit game of the season on Monday at crosstown rival San Diego State while adding two RBIs and two runs scored.

• Peraza is batting .326 (14-for-43) this season with four doubles, a home run, and eight RBIs.

MEIDROTH LEADS THE WAY
•Sophomore infielder Chase Meidroth, who has anchored the top of the San Diego lineup with a dynamic start to his 2022 season, has two hits, two runs scored, a walk, and an RBI in his last two games.

• He went 1-for-5 in Saturday's series finale, then added a 1-for-2 performance with two runs scored, an RBI, and a walk on Monday at San Diego State.

•Meidroth, who was selected to the 2021 Northwoods League All-Star Game last summer, is batting a team-high .338 (46-for-136) with 26 runs scored, six doubles, four home runs, 23 RBIs, and a team-leading 23 walks so far in 2022.

• He has reached base in 31 of his 34 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 .445 on-base percentage in addition to a .485 slugging percentage on the year, which rank second and third on the USD roster, respectively.

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

CONSISTENCY FROM COSTELLO
• 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 seven of the Toreros' 35 games so far in 2022.

•Costello, who has hit safely in 60 of the 78 games he has played in so far at USD and has reached base in 33 of the Toreros' 35 games in 2022, added a trio of hits on Monday at San Diego State, tying the game-high with a 3-for-4 performance that saw him score two runs in addition to driving in a pair.

• Since going hitless in his first two college appearances on February 21 and 27, 2021, he's been hitless just 16 times, and 31 of his 78 college games so far have resulted in a multi-hit performance, including 14 multi-hit games out of 35 total contests so far in 2022, a mark that's one game 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 .317 (46-for-145) so far this season with a team-high 10 doubles, three home runs, 22 RBIs, and 65 total bases.

•His .448 slugging percentage ranks fourth and his .379 OBP places fifth 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).

CHURCHILL CONTINUES TO EXCEL OUT OF 'PEN
• Graduate left-handed pitcher Ian Churchill continued his success out of the bullpen last Thursday night in USD's extra-innings win over Loyola Marymount, throwing six no-hit, shutout innings and striking out three against just two walks after he entered in the top of the eighth.
•Churchill, who joined San Diego as a transfer from the University of Arizona, has allowed just four earned runs in his last 23.1 innings pitched (two starts and six relief appearances) and has racked up 29 strikeouts across that timeframe.

MAUTZ NAMED WCC PITCHER OF THE WEEK
• After turning in the most dominant pitching performance by a Torero in recent memory last weekend, sophomore left-hander Brycen Mautz was named the WCC Pitcher of the Week, the West Coast Conference announced on Monday.

•Mautz threw a complete-game shutout against LMU on Friday, single-handedly steering USD to a crucial 1-0 win. He went the distance in the series' middle game, scattering six hits across nine scoreless innings as he worked around a pair of walks with eight strikeouts to secure his team-best sixth win of the season. The San Diego, California native (Westview High School) successfully stranded seven different baserunners on Friday before San Diego rallied for a walk-off win against Lions' starter Diego Barrera, who traded zeros with Mautz all afternoon but was unable to match his scoreless ninth.

• For the season, Mautz is 6-1 with a 3.45 ERA and a team and conference-high 86 strikeouts in 57.1 innings of work.

• Mautz is the fourth San Diego player to earn a weekly conference honor in 2022 and the team's first pitcher after Kevin Sim (March 14), Chase Meidroth (March 21), and Caleb Ricketts (March 28) were named WCC Player of the Week in back-to-back-to-back weeks last month. Mautz was also named a Collegiate Baseball Newspaper National Player of the Week on March 7.

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 23-12 record so far in 2022, the Toreros are a conference-best 100-49 (.671) in that 149-game span.

•Next best within that timeframe are Gonzaga (96-61, (.611), and Saint Mary's (92-75, .550).