San Diego (36-18, 17-10 WCC)  •  Vanderbilt (36-21, 14-16 SEC)
Goss Stadium (3,587) • Corvallis, Oregon
Television • ESPNU |  Live Statistics  • NCAA.com
Social  •  Twitter.com/USDBaseball  •  Instagram.com/USDBaseball

CORVALLIS, Ore. — San Diego baseball (36-18, 17-10 West Coast Conference) will make its return to the NCAA postseason on Friday with a matchup against one of the nation's most storied college baseball programs, taking on Vanderbilt (36-21, 14-16 SEC) in a 1 p.m. PT matchup at Goss Stadium.

The game will be broadcast nationally on ESPNU with John Schriffen (play-by-play) and Kevin Stocker (analyst) on the call. Live statistics will be provided on NCAA.com.

HOW THEY GOT HERE
• The Toreros earned a spot in the NCAA Corvallis Regional after securing an automatic bid via the second WCC Tournament Championship in program history. They took home the trophy 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.

BACK AFTER NEARLY A DECADE
• USD's 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.

ONE GAME BETTER
• San Diego's WCC tournament title and subsequent NCAA Regional appearance also avenged a bitter ending to the 2021 season and made good on a year-long rallying cry for the Toreros: being "One Game Better."

• With no WCC Tournament last season due to the COVID-19 pandemic, USD was left on the outside looking in during the postseason in 2021 after it finished a game back of first-place Gonzaga in the conference's regular season standings and failed to secure the WCC's automatic bid to a regional, a result that came despite outscoring the Zags 19-12 as it took two of three in the season series and finishing with an RPI of 59.

• Last week's results in Stockton represented the culmination of a year-long goal and refrain that was commonly heard at Fowler Park throughout 2022, with San Diego beating the Bulldogs on back-to-back occasions to secure a winning record (4-3) in the season series and ensure they would not be denied a postseason bid again.

THE RESILIENCE IS REAL
• San Diego continued to display its never-say-die attitude at Banner Island Ballpark, rallying to erase three different three-run deficits, a four-run deficit, and a one-run deficit over the course of the week, the final of which came in the 11th inning as USD swept its way through the WCC Tournament.

• San Diego also has 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, which 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 Teijeiro, 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 4-1 in extra-innings contests) and USD has rallied for a combined 12 runs from the bottom of the ninth inning on in those games.

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 35-18 record so far in 2022, the Toreros are a conference-best 113-55 (.672) in that 168-game span.

•Next best within that timeframe are Gonzaga (108-67, .627), BYU (99-73, .575) and Saint Mary's (96-89, .518).

BIG BATS
•The Toreros finished the 2022 regular season leading the West Coast Conference in nearly every major offensive category, including batting average (.286), on-base percentage (.381), slugging percentage (.429), and runs scored (328) while striking out the least of the league's 10 teams (314). USD finished second in total hits (496) and RBIs (302), tied for second in total home runs (46), and third in both walks (210), and stolen bases (60).

•Additionally, four qualified San Diego players enter Friday afternoon's action batting .300 or better.

Those players include:
•Caleb Ricketts, .375 (81-for-216)
•Chase Meidroth, .338 (73-for-216)
•Jack Costello, .310 (70-for-226)

• One more, Kevin Sim, enters USD's matchup with Vanderbilt batting .298 (64-for-215).

GOLD GLOVES
• USD leads the conference and ranks 13th in the nation with a .980 fielding percentage through its 54 total games so far in 2022.

ALL-TIME SERIES VS. VANDERBILT
• The Toreros are 3-9 against the Commodores all time, with the two teams' most recent matchup coming in February of 2017, an 8-2 San Diego loss at Fowler Park.

• USD last beat Vanderbilt in game one of its 2017 campaign, defeating the Commodores 3-2 at Fowler Park in its season opener.

• San Diego's other two wins against Vanderbilt came in back-to-back contests in March of 2012, prevailing by 2-1 and 9-7 margins in Nashville for a series win.

FOR STARTERS (PROBABLE)
• Sophomore left-hander Brycen Mautz is set to start for the Toreros against Vanderbilt, marking his second Friday night outing of the season after also beginning May 20th's series-opening matchup against No. 10 Gonzaga on the mound.

• Mautz last appeared on May 27 in San Diego's 5-2 victory over Gonzaga in the West Coast Conference Tournament. He threw five innings while allowing three runs on six hits that day, walking two, and striking out nine to earn the win.

• The lanky lefty also made his first relief appearance of 2022 up in Stockton, entering in the top of the eighth with two outs and a runner on first to face a single batter — which he promptly struck out to end the inning.

• The San Diego, California native leads the Toreros with 14 games started in 2022 and has posted a team-best 9-2 record and 4.09 ERA so far this year in a team-high 83.2 innings pitched against just 21 walks and ranks second in the WCC with 124 strikeouts, which ranks 9th nationally.

• His 5.90 strikeout to walk ratio leads the conference and ranks 29th nationally and his average of 13.34 strikeouts per nine innings ranks first WCC and is 10th nationally.

• The 6-foot-3 lefty is one of four WCC pitchers to turn in a complete game, has tossed at least five innings in 13 of his 14 starts so far this season (the lone exception being the 4.2-inning effort in San Diego's 9-6 win over Pacific), and has surrendered three earned runs or less in 9 of those 14 outings.

• Mautz, who joined USD as a walk-on and 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.

•He was one of four Toreros select to the All-WCC First Team on May 23, was named WCC Pitcher of the Week on April 18, and was selected as a Collegiate Baseball National Player of the Week on March 7.

RICKETTS SETS FORTH LEGENDARY PERFORMANCE IN STOCKTON
• Junior catcher Caleb Ricketts put together the performance of a lifetime in last week's WCC Tournament at Banner Island Ballpark, 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. 

• The Newport Beach, California native played a key role in each of the Toreros' four wins, hammering a go-ahead solo shot in game one against San Francisco as part of a two-homer performance before he homered again, drove in four, and scored a pair of runs in San Diego's rout of the Pilots.

• He proceeded to tie USD's first contest of the week against Gonzaga on Friday with a massive three-run homer, then delivered a trio of hits, two RBIs, and two runs scored in the WCC championship game on Saturday.

• For his efforts Ricketts was selected as the 2022 WCC Tournament' Most Outstanding Player, an honor that came after being named as the 2022 WCC Player of the Year, to the 2022 All-WCC First Team, the WCC Player of the Week (March 28), and one of 16 semifinalists for the 2022 Buster Posey National Collegiate Catcher of the Year Award.

• He's batting a conference-best .375 (81-for-216) through 53 games so far in 2022 and has 46 runs scored, 13 doubles, two triples, a conference-high 16 home runs, 53 RBIs, and 14 walks alongside a team-high 25 multi-hit games and a team-high 14 multi-RBI games.

• His .676 slugging percentage leads the conference and his .427 OBP is fourth, and he enter's Friday afternoon's regional action on an 11-game hit streak, the longest by any Torero player in 2022.

• On Thursday morning he was selected by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper as a Third-Team All-American, the second consecutive season that a Torero has earned the honor after 2021 WCC Player of the Year Thomas Luevano was selected.

JEFFERIS HEATING UP AT THE RIGHT TIME
• Junior shortstop Cody Jefferis enjoyed a well-timed hot streak last week, batting .314 (5-for-16) across all four games in Stockton with six runs scored, three doubles, a home run, and five RBIs.

• Jefferis' longball — which marked just the third of his career and his second since 2020 — marked perhaps the most important hit of the season for San Diego, pushing a perilous 13-12 USD lead to 15-12 with a towering two-run, no-doubt shot that landed atop Banner Island Ballpark's right field porch.

• The Valencia, California, who earned All-WCC Preseason Team honors in February and was one of 30 student-athletes nationwide who were named a candidate for the 2022 Senior CLASS Award (celebrates excellence in one's community, classroom, character and competition) has started 167 of USD's 168 total games since 2019, including 160 starts.

• He was one of three Toreros named to the 2022 WCC Baseball All-Tournament Team last Saturday and he enters Friday afternoon's action on an eight-game hit streak.

ALLEN CLUTCHES UP
• Sophomore center fielder Dustin Allen joined Ricketts and Jefferis with a big week of his own in USD's conference tournament, batting .333 (5-for-15) with five runs scored, a double, a home run, five RBIs, and three walks.

• Like Jefferis, Allen's lone home run of the event was a big one, a scorching line-drive three-run shot on Wednesday afternoon versus San Francisco that erased a three-run deficit in game one and tied the game at five runs apiece.

• Allen, who is the lone Torero to start all 54 games at the same position (center field) and bat in the same spot (9th) in each contest so far this season, has posted a .288 (64-for-215) batting average with 38 runs scored, eight doubles, two triples, two home runs, and 36 RBIs.

• His 15 stolen bases (27 attempts) lead the Toreros and are sixth in the WCC, and his .417 OBP ranks fourth among qualified San Diego batters.

HE GETS ON BASE
• Sophomore infielder Chase Meidroth finished with a blistering .455 (5-for-11) batting average last week in the WCC Tournament, but perhaps more impressive than his average was his patience at the plate and his .636 on-base percentage.

• The Manhattan Beach, California native drew a remarkable eight walks and was hit by three pitches in just four total games at Banner Island Ballpark, coming across to score nine runs alongside a pair of doubles and a pair of runs batted in.

• Meidroth, who was twice named the WCC Player of the Week in 2022 (March 21 and May 2) and earned All-WCC First Team honors on May 24, is batting .338 (73-for-216) across 53 games so far this season and has 53 runs scored, 19 doubles, 10 home runs, 46 RBIs, 39 walks, and six stolen bases to his credit.

• His .450 on-base percentage leads the WCC, his .565 slugging percentage is third, and his .338 batting average in 2022 is fourth.

• Meidroth, who at one point reached base in 26 consecutive contests this year, has 23 multi-hit games in 2022, which ranks behind only Ricketts (25), and his 13 multi-RBI games are tied for second with sophomore infielder Kevin Sim.

• His 10-game hit streak earlier this year is tied with sophomore utility player Jack Costello for the second longest by a USD player this season.

HOMETOWN HEROES
• San Diego baseball's 2022 roster features nine players who hail from local San Diego high schools.

Those players include:
• Sophomore utility player Angelo Peraza - Chula Vista, CA - St. Augustine High School
• Sophomore right-handed pitcher Jack Hyde - La Mesa, CA - Grossmont High School
• Redshirt freshman utility player Kyle Carr - San Marcos, CA - San Marcos High School
• Freshman catcher Ariel Armas - Chula Vista, CA - St. Augustine High School
• Sophomore left-handed pitcher Cole Colleran - Solana Beach, CA - Canyon Crest Academy
• Sophomore infielder Kevin Sim - San Diego, CA - Torrey Pines High School
• Sophomore left-handed pitcher Brycen Mautz - Westview High School
• Sophomore right-handed pitcher Ivran Romero - Poway High School
• Junior right-handed pitcher Jack Dolak - San Diego, CA - St. Augustine High School

TOREROS IN THE PROS
• At least one San Diego baseball player has been selected in the Major League Baseball draft for the last 32 consecutive years, a span that has seen 143 Toreros either have their name called or ink a professional contract. Most recently, right-handed pitcher Jake Miller (Cleveland Guardians) and catcher Shane McGuire (Oakland Athletics) were selected in the 20th and ninth rounds, respectively.

• As of Friday morning four Toreros were on MLB 40-man rosters: utility player Kris Bryant (Colorado), relief pitcher Paul Sewald (Seattle), utility player Connor Joe (Colorado), and catcher Riley Adams (Washington).

ROMERO AND ROBINSON KEEP ON ROLLING OUT OF BULLPEN
• Sophomore right-handed pitcher Ivran Romero (Poway High School) and redshirt junior righty Ryan Robinson have proved to be a formidable tandem out of the USD bullpen in 2022, with minuscule 1.99 and 1.87 ERAs to their credit, respectively.

• Romero, who was the lone San Diego pitcher named to the 2022 WCC Baseball All-Tournament Team last Saturday, is 4-3 with 43 strikeouts against 14 walks in 45.1 innings pitched so far this season.

• Robinson is 3-0 and has 42 strikeouts against just nine walks in 33.2 innings pitched.

• Both played a key role in USD's success in the WCC Tournament last week, combining for nine innings, eight strikeouts, five walks, and just two runs allowed at Banner Island Ballpark.

RICKETTS NAMED WCC PLAYER OF THE YEAR, EIGHT OTHER TOREROS HONORED
• After a dynamic season on both sides of the ball that saw him rank among the nation's leading catchers, junior Caleb Ricketts was named the 2022 WCC Player of the Year, the West Coast Conference announced on May 24, marking the second consecutive season that a Torero has taken home the league's top honor.

• 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.

• Ricketts, a native of Newport Beach, California, is the 10th Torero to earn conference player of the year honors after Thomas Luevano received the distinction in 2021. He joins Luevano, Riley Adams (2017), Dave Rolls (1988), Kevin Herde (1993), Shane Buschini (2007), James Meador (2009 and 2010), Kris Bryant (2011 and 2013), Connor Joe (2014), and Kyle Holder (2015) in the USD record books.

• The junior led the WCC in hits and slugging percentage in 2022 (71 and .603), and paced the Toreros with a .357 (71-for-199) batting average that was good for second-best in the conference. He hammered 11 home runs (which was tied for the conference lead) alongside 12 doubles, two triples, 38 runs scored, 41 runs batted in, and a .463 on-base percentage.

• Behind the dish Ricketts continued to show his prowess, ranking third in the WCC with 14 runners caught stealing.

• Ricketts, who earned WCC Player of the Week honors on March 28 and was one of 16 players selected as a semifinalist for the 2022 Buster Posey National Collegiate Catcher of the Year Award on May 19, started 49 of San Diego's 50 regular-season games in 2022, including 33 at catcher, 11 in left field, one in right field, and four as the team's designated hitter.

• The WCC Player of the Year award and All-WCC First Team selection are Ricketts' second and third conference accolades after being named to the All-WCC Preseason Team prior to the 2021 campaign.

• He was joined on the All-WCC First Team by sophomore left-handed pitcher Brycen Mautz, who earned his first major conference award after leading the WCC in strikeouts with 111, a mark that ranks 10th nationally. The San Diego, California native paced USD with an 8-2 record in 2022 alongside a 4.02 ERA in a team-high 13 games started and 78.1 innings pitched. His 6.00 strikeout to walk ratio led the conference and ranked 29th nationally and his average of 13.10 strikeouts per nine led the WCC and was 13th nationally. The 6-foot-3 lefty was one of four WCC pitchers to turn in a complete game, tossed at least five innings in 12 of his 13 starts so far this season (the lone exception being a 4.2-inning effort in San Diego's 9-6 win over Pacific), and surrendered three earned runs or less in nine of those 13 outings. He was named the WCC Pitcher of the Week on April 18 and was selected as a Collegiate Baseball National Player of the Week on March 7.

• Sophomore Chase Meidroth also earned All-WCC First Team Honors, the first major conference award for the infielder after being selected as the WCC Player of the Week on two occasions in 2022 (March 21 and May 2). Meidroth was second in the WCC with 68 total hits and batted .332 (68-for-205) with 10 home runs (one game shy of the conference lead), 17 doubles (also one game shy of the conference lead), 44 runs scored (second in the conference), 44 runs batted in (fifth in the conference), and 31 walks (sixth in the conference). His .435 on-base percentage ranked fourth among all WCC players and his .561 slugging percentage was fifth.

• Meidroth reached base in 44 of his 49 regular-season games in 2022, was tied with sophomore utility player Jack Costello for the Toreros' second-longest hit streak (10 games), leads the team in multi-hit games (21) and multi-RBI games (13), and owns USD's second-longest on-base streak of the season at 26.

• The Manhattan Beach, California native, who played in just six of San Diego's games as a freshman in 2021, started 49 of the Toreros' 50 contests this season, including 42 at second base and seven at third.

• Sophomore Kevin Sim rounded out USD's First Team selections after a powerful 2022 campaign that saw him bat an even .300 (60-for-200) with 11 home runs and 47 runs batted in, which were tied for the conference lead and second in the conference, respectively. He clubbed 12 doubles, added a pair of triples, and scored 44 runs in 2022, which was tied for second place in the conference with Meidroth. His eight stolen bases ranked second on the USD roster and his .545 slugging percentage was seventh among all WCC hitters.

• The San Diego, California native was one of three players to start all 50 of the Toreros' regular-season games, doing so with 42 at first base and eight as the team's designated hitter.

• Graduate left-handed pitcher Ian Churchill marked San Diego's lone Second Team selection, an honor that came after the Santa Barbara, California native cemented himself as one of the Toreros' most dependable options out of the bullpen.

• Churchill, who transferred to USD after two seasons at Santa Barbara City College and one at the University of Arizona, was 3-2 with a 4.10 ERA in 14 appearances (four starts) and 48.1 innings pitched in 2022, which was good for fourth most on the San Diego roster and the most of any relief pitcher.

• Redshirt junior right-handed pitcher Ryan Robinson was another key piece out of the San Diego bullpen and earned an All-WCC Honorable Mention for the second consecutive season for his efforts. The Livermore, California native pitched his way to a 2-0 record and a 2.01 ERA in 2022, notching 40 strikeouts against just nine total walks as he consistently worked his way through high-leverage situations.

• Graduate utility player RJ Teijeiro also earned an All-WCC Honorable Mention, breaking through after missing 53 games across last season and the beginning of 2022 due to injury to hit .294 (30-for-102) in 30 total contests. He came around to score 12 runs, drove in 19 more, ripped four doubles, and homered twice, including a walk-off winner in the bottom of the 10th on March 25 against Saint Mary's, a two-run shot that marked his first college longball.

• Teijeiro, a native of Foster City, California who transferred to USD after graduating from UCLA in three years, started 26 games for the Toreros in 2022, including five at first base and 21 as the team's designated hitter.

• Redshirt sophomore right-hander Ryan Kysar rounded out the Toreros' 2022 All-WCC accolades with a selection to the All-WCC Freshman team, an honor that came after an impressive college debut that saw him steadily improve as the season progressed.

• The Valencia, California native finished the season with his most impressive college outing yet, tossing 6.0 innings of two-run ball against No. 10 Gonzaga at Fowler Park to earn his fourth win of the season and move to 4-0 in 2022. The outing, in which he worked around a trio of walks with a pair of strikeouts, marked his fifth appearance of five innings or more in 2022, including three straight games with at least six innings pitched to conclude the regular season.

•His final regular-season numbers: 4-0, 4.50 ERA, 50.0 IP, 45 K, 20 BB.