SAN DIEGO — San Diego baseball has received the West Coast Conference's automatic bid to the postseason and will compete in the Corvallis NCAA Regional in Corvallis, Oregon at Goss Stadium, as announced this morning on the 2022 NCAA Baseball Championship Special on ESPN2.

San Diego will play Vanderbilt (36-21) on Friday, June 3 at 1:00 p.m. PT to begin the regional. The matchup will be televised live on ESPNU.

The Toreros' NCAA Regional berth marks the ninth time USD has appeared in a regional in program history after also doing so in 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2012, and 2013, when the Kris Bryant-led Toreros made a postseason run.

This year's squad earned the bid after securing the second WCC Tournament Championship in program history with a stunning four-game sweep through the bracket at Banner Island Ballpark from May 25-May 28, beating six-seed San Francisco 10-5 on Wednesday in a play-in game before demolishing two-seed Portland by a 22-8 margin on Thursday. The Toreros then took a pair of hard-fought contests from one-seed No. 12 Gonzaga to secure the conference crown, beating the Bulldogs 5-3 on Friday before completing a thrilling comeback in the championship contest for a 15-12 decision in extra innings.

Junior catcher Caleb Ricketts was named the 2022 WCC Baseball Tournament Most Outstanding Player after batting .588 (10-for-17) in the event with eight runs scored, a double, five home runs, 12 RBIs, two walks, and two hit by pitches in just four games. He was joined by sophomore utility player Jack Costello, junior shortstop Cody Jefferis, and sophomore right-handed pitcher Ivran Romero, who were all named to the 2022 WCC Baseball All-Tournament Team.

San Diego (36-18, 17-10 WCC) entered the event as the number three seed after finishing tied for second with Portland in the WCC's regular-season standings but dropping the head-to-head tiebreaker with the Pilots in the regular-season series.

The conclusion of USD's regular-season campaign saw Ricketts earn WCC Player of the Year Honors following a dynamic junior campaign, marking the second consecutive year that a Torero has won it (Thomas Luevano, 2021), and the 10th time in program history that it has gone to a USD player.

Seven other San Diego players joined Ricketts — who was also selected to the All-WCC First Team — in earning an end-of-year conference accolade. Sophomore left-handed pitcher Brycen Mautz (Westview High School), and sophomore infielders Chase Meidroth and Kevin Sim (Torrey Pines High School) also landed on the All-WCC First Team, followed by graduate lefty Ian Churchill on the All-WCC Second Team, redshirt junior right-hander Ryan Robinson and graduate utility player RJ Teijeiro as All-WCC Honorable Mentions, and redshirt freshman Ryan Kysar on the All-WCC Freshman Team.