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Road Non-Conference Slate Ends In Irvine

San Diego baseball to take on Anteaters in final midweek away game of 2022

San Diego (27-15, 13-8 WCC)  •  UC Irvine (24-17, 10-8 Big West)
Anteater Ballpark (3,408) • Irvine, California
Radio • KUCI.org • Live Stream • ESPN+ |  Live Statistics  • UCIrvineSports.com
Social  •  Twitter.com/USDBaseball  •  Instagram.com/USDBaseball

IRVINE, Calif. — Two days after a dominant series win over conference foe Santa Clara, San Diego baseball will conclude its road non-conference schedule on Tuesday evening with a matchup at UC Irvine.

First pitch at Anteater Ballpark is set for 6 p.m., and the game will be streamed live on ESPN+. Live statistics will be available on UCIrvineSports.com.

LAST TIME OUT
The Toreros took two of three from the Broncos over the weekend, beating SCU 8-3 on Friday and 17-4 on Saturday in a nationally televised (ESPNU) matchup before falling in a close 3-2 decision on Sunday in the series finale.

GAME ONE: Three massive home runs and a pair of brilliant outings on the mound proved to be key. Sophomores Chase Meidroth, Kevin Sim, and Jack Costello all went yard, and redshirt freshman Ryan Kysar and graduate lefty Ian Churchill shined on the mound, with Kysar turning in a career-high six innings to earn the win before Churchill turned in a clutch performance out of the bullpen that saw him leave the bases loaded in the seventh.

GAME TWO: San Diego scored eight runs in the bottom of the first and never looked back before a hearty crowd at Fowler Park and a national audience watching at home on ESPNU. Meidroth homered twice and was joined by Costello and Ricketts in leaving the building.

Six different Toreros compiled a multi-hit game, five different USD players drove in a run, nine different players had a hit, and nine different players scored runs.

Lefty Brycen Mautz struck out nine across six innings of four-run ball to earn the win before Jack Hyde, Jack Dolak, Jake Reed, and Cole Colleran all set forth scoreless frames out of the bullpen to close things out.

GAME THREE: Sophomore Dustin Allen and junior Caleb Ricketts each drove in a run but a late-game comeback fell short. Redshirt freshman left-hander Kyle Carr began the game on the mound for the Toreros in what marked his fourth career start and turned in a career-high 3.0 innings while surrendering two runs, working around four hits and a walk with four strikeouts, which tied his career high.

He was relieved by redshirt junior righty Ryan Robinson, who set forth two scoreless frames while allowing a hit and recording three strikeouts, and Rennie (senior right-hander), who put together USD's longest outing of the day when he finished the game with four innings while allowing just a single unearned run, three hits, a walk, and a strikeout.

ALL-TIME SERIES AGAINST UC IRVINE
• San Diego is 49-60-1 against the Anteaters all-time, with the two programs' most recent meeting coming earlier this season, a wild 6-5 USD win in 10 innings at Fowler Park.

• With runners on second and third and two outs in the bottom of the 10th, true freshman infielder Justin DeCriscio delivered a walk-off ground ball to third base, slapping the first pitch he saw on a high bounce to UCI's third baseman, who elected to throw home as Ricketts dashed toward the plate. The throw sailed high as Ricketts slid safely to evade a tag that never came, earning DeCriscio the game-winning RBI and the Toreros a hard-fought 6-5 victory.

• Sim homered that evening and Colleran started the game on the mound for USD with two perfect innings.

• San Diego last played at Anteater Ballpark in March of 2019, dropping a 17-7 decision to UCI.

• The Toreros are 10-7 at Anteater Ballpark since the venue opened in 2002 and last won there in May of 2017, a 14-inning affair that went to USD by a 5-1 margin.

FOR STARTERS (PROBABLE)
• Sophomore lefty Cole Colleran (Canyon Crest High School) is set to begin Tuesday night's game on the mound for the Toreros in what will mark his fourth career start, third start this year, and 15th overall outing this season.

• Colleran last appeared on Saturday (April 30) in the Toreros' 17-4 win over Santa Clara. He closed the game out with a run-free ninth as he worked around a hit with a strikeout.

• His last start came the last time USD faced UC Irvine: March 22nd at Fowler Park. The Solana Beach, California native turned in two perfect innings that evening, striking out two without walking a batter on 39 pitches.

• For the season Colleran is 0-1 with a 1.84 ERA in 14.2 total innings pitched and has 12 strikeouts to his credit against 10 walks.

BIG BATS
• Seven USD players enter Tuesday night's action batting .300 or better, and the Toreros lead the West Coast Conference with a .293 (429-for-1465) team batting average, a .430 slugging percentage, and a .385 on-base percentage.

• The Toreros also lead the conference in runs scored (277), hits (429), and RBIs (253) and have struck out the second-least (262 times to WCC leader Gonzaga's 260) in the WCC while ranking third in total walks.

• Junior catcher Caleb Ricketts (.353, 59-for-167) leads the WCC in hitting and is followed by sophomore infielder Chase Meidroth (.359, 59-for-169). Sophomore infielder Kevin Sim leads the league in home runs with 11.

GOLD GLOVES
• USD leads the conference and ranks 25th in the nation with a .978 fielding percentage through its 42 total games so far in 2022.

MEIDROTH NAMED WCC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
• After putting on a dominant power display before a national audience that proved to be key in San Diego baseball's series victory over Santa Clara, sophomore infielder Chase Meidroth was named the WCC Player of the Week, the West Coast Conference announced on Monday afternoon.

• The Manhattan Beach, California native hammered three home runs as part of an 8-for-19 (.421) overall performance on the week that saw him score eight runs and drive in nine more in addition to two doubles and two walks.

• Meidroth, who struck out just once across a game at Cal State Fullerton and three versus the Broncos, got his week going on Tuesday night at Goodwin Field with a 2-for-4 evening, driving in a run and walking alongside a double.

• He kept things rolling right into his Friday night matchup with SCU, going 2-for-5 with two runs scored, two RBIs, a double, and a home run in USD's 8-3 victory.

• Meidroth was essential to San Diego's 17-4 rout of Santa Clara on Saturday in a contest that was televised on ESPNU, turning in a 3-for-5 performance in front of a national audience with a grand slam, a solo home run, and a single alongside four runs scored (a new career-high), seven RBIs (also a career-high) and a walk.

• He then finished the week strong on Sunday, going 1-for-5 with a single and a run scored. For the season Meidroth is batting .349 (59-for-169) with a team-high 12 doubles, eight home runs, 37 runs scored, 37 RBIs, and 95 total bases.

• It's Meidroth's career second weekly conference award after also being selected as the Player of the Week on March 21, and the Toreros' fifth weekly WCC accolade of 2022 after sophomore infielder Kevin Sim (March 14) and junior catcher Caleb Ricketts (March 28) earned player of the week awards of their own, and sophomore lefty Brycen Mautz (April 18) was named the league's pitcher of the week.

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 27-15 record so far in 2022, the Toreros are a conference-best 104-52 (.666) in that 156-game span.

•Next best within that timeframe are Gonzaga (101-64, .612), BYU (89-71, .556) and Saint Mary's (93-81, .534).
 
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Players Mentioned

Jack Dolak

#40 Jack Dolak

RHP
6' 4"
Sophomore
Jack Hyde

#5 Jack Hyde

RHP
6' 2"
Freshman
Brycen Mautz

#42 Brycen Mautz

LHP
6' 3"
Freshman
Chase Meidroth

#15 Chase Meidroth

INF
5' 10"
Freshman
Jake Reed

#9 Jake Reed

RHP
6' 2"
Sophomore
Caleb Ricketts

#19 Caleb Ricketts

UTL
6' 4"
Sophomore
Dustin Allen

#12 Dustin Allen

OF
6' 1"
Freshman
Kyle Carr

#11 Kyle Carr

OF/LHP
6' 1"
Freshman
Cole Colleran

#27 Cole Colleran

LHP
6' 0"
Freshman
Jack Costello

#39 Jack Costello

UTL
6' 1"
Freshman
Ryan Robinson

#38 Ryan Robinson

RHP
6' 3"
Redshirt Sophomore
Kevin Sim

#16 Kevin Sim

INF
6' 2"
Freshman

Players Mentioned

Jack Dolak

#40 Jack Dolak

6' 4"
Sophomore
RHP
Jack Hyde

#5 Jack Hyde

6' 2"
Freshman
RHP
Brycen Mautz

#42 Brycen Mautz

6' 3"
Freshman
LHP
Chase Meidroth

#15 Chase Meidroth

5' 10"
Freshman
INF
Jake Reed

#9 Jake Reed

6' 2"
Sophomore
RHP
Caleb Ricketts

#19 Caleb Ricketts

6' 4"
Sophomore
UTL
Dustin Allen

#12 Dustin Allen

6' 1"
Freshman
OF
Kyle Carr

#11 Kyle Carr

6' 1"
Freshman
OF/LHP
Cole Colleran

#27 Cole Colleran

6' 0"
Freshman
LHP
Jack Costello

#39 Jack Costello

6' 1"
Freshman
UTL
Ryan Robinson

#38 Ryan Robinson

6' 3"
Redshirt Sophomore
RHP
Kevin Sim

#16 Kevin Sim

6' 2"
Freshman
INF