San Diego (5-1-1, 0-0 WCC)  •  Oregon (4-3, 0-0 Pac-12)

PK Park (4,000) • Eugene, Oregon

Live Stream • Pac-12 Network |  Live Statistics  • GoDucks.com

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EUGENE, Ore. — After a dominant season-opening homestand that saw it take a series from Nebraska and beat both Hawaii and UNLV, San Diego baseball (5-1-1, 0-0 WCC) is set to play its first road games of 2023 this week, traveling to Oregon for a four-game set opposite the Ducks at PK Park.

The Toreros' series at Oregon will get started on Thursday evening with a 3:05 p.m. first pitch, followed by another 3:05 p.m. start on Friday, a 2:05 p.m. start on Saturday, and a 12:05 p.m. start in the series finale on Sunday.

All four matchups will be broadcast live on the Pac-12 Network. Live statistics will be available on GoDucks.com.

ALL-TIME SERIES AGAINST OREGON
• The Toreros are 5-7 all-time against the Ducks, with the two teams' most recent meeting coming last February in both programs' first series of 2022.

• USD took three games of four from Oregon that weekend (February 18-21), beating the Ducks by scores of 11-1, 10-4, and 5-4 before squandering an eighth-inning lead in the series finale and falling by a 21-11 margin.

• San Diego last played at PK Park in April of 2014, suffering a tough 4-3 loss. They are 0-2 at the venue all-time.

FOR STARTERS (PROBABLE)
Thursday:
• Sophomore left-hander Austin Smith is set to toe the rubber for the Toreros in game one in what will mark his first start in a San Diego uniform.

• Smith, a native of nearby El Cajon, California (Granite Hills High School), transferred to USD this season from nearby UC San Diego, where he posted a 3.18 ERA across 17 innings pitched with 20 strikeouts against five walks.

• He has pitched for San Diego just once so far this season, a dominant one-inning save against Nebraska in which he worked around a bloop double by striking out the side.

• Through six games, Smith has also excelled at the plate, starting each of the Toreros' first six contests in left field while batting .348 (8-for-23) with six RBIs, a double, five runs scored, and three walks.

Friday:
• Redshirt junior righty James Sashin is set to make his third start of the season and the fourth of his career when he takes the mound against the Ducks in game two on Friday.

• Sashin, a Oak Bluffs, Massachusetts native who spent time with both USD's football and club baseball programs before joining USD's Division I baseball team as a walk-on, has posted a 1.17 ERA through 7.2 total frames so far in 2023, striking out five while working around 10 walks.

Saturday:
• Graduate right-hander Garrett Rennie will begin Saturday's game on the mound for the Toreros in what marks his third start of 2023 and the 14th of his career.

• Rennie set a career-high in strikeouts last time out against UNLV, fanning nine Hustlin' Rebels across six innings of work while allowing three runs (zero earned) on five hits while walking just one batter.

• He appeared in 15 of San Diego's games last season (11 starts), going 2-4 with a 4.01 ERA, 50 strikeouts, and 25 walks in 67.1 total innings pitched, which was the second-most on the USD roster.

• Rennie started each of the Toreros' first eight Friday night games in 2022 and threw five or more innings on seven occasions.

• He joined USD in 2020 from Long Beach City College, where he earned 2018 First Team All-South Coast Conference honors and was named both the 2019 LBCC Pitcher of the Year and the 2019 South Coast Conference Pitcher/Athlete of the Year.

Sunday:
• The Toreros' starter for Sunday's series finale is To Be Announced.

LAST TIME OUT - TONY GWYNN LEGACY
• The Toreros won two out of three games last weekend as part of the Tony Gwynn Classic at Fowler Park, taking down Hawaii on Friday by a 14-2 margin before beating UNLV on Sunday in a 6-5 walk-off win. USD closed out its Tony Gwynn tournament slate with a tough 14-6 loss to UC Irvine.

FRIDAY - San Diego 14, Hawaii 2
• Two home runs from Jack Costello headlined an offensive barrage for San Diego baseball on, earning the Toreros a dominant 14-2 win over Hawaii at Fowler Park as part of the Tony Gwynn Legacy tournament.

• USD scored two in the first, three in the third, one in the fourth, five in the sixth, and three in the seventh to secure a victory in which they never trailed.

• Led by a career-high 4.2 strong innings from redshirt junior starter James Sashin, four Toreros teamed up on the mound to hold Hawaii to just two runs on two hits..

• Costello (3-for-4), Peraza (3-for-5), and Justin DeCriscio (3-for-4) each had a team-high three hits, with Angelo Peraza setting a new career-high and DeCriscio tying his career-high.

• Costello hit two home runs for the second consecutive game, and Peraza homered for the second consecutive game.

• Peraza and Costello each had a team and career-high four runs scored, while Costello paced the USD offense with a career-high six RBIs.

• Will Worthington and James Arakawa joined Costello in notching multiple RBIs (two), while Peraza, Kevin Sim, and Smith each drove in one.

• Allen walked twice and scored two runs, and Costello, Sim, and Smith all walked once.

• Nick Suspenzi and Mason Schmidt each threw a scoreless inning in their college debut, while Aídan Gonzalez earned his first college win to move to 1-0.

• USD's 14-2 victory over Hawaii was its first since 2008, when All-American left-handed pitcher
Josh Romanski led the Toreros to a 6-1 victory in Honolulu.

SUNDAY - San Diego 6, UNLV 5
• Another remarkable performance from Costello kept San Diego baseball undefeated, using a little bit of "Fowler Magic" to earn a thrilling 6-5 walk-off win over UNLV as part of the Tony Gwynn Legacy tournament.

• Costello gave the Toreros their first lead of the evening in the bottom of the fifth on a go-ahead two-run homer, then put his team up for good in the bottom of the ninth when he delivered a one-out walk-off single.

• Bolstered by a standout performance out of the bullpen from redshirt junior righty Ryan Robinson, graduate right-hander Garrett Rennie paced San Diego's efforts on the mound with a six-inning, career-high nine-strikeout performance.

• Costello paced the San Diego offense for the second consecutive game, going 2-for-5 with a home run, a run scored, and three runs batted in, including a walk-off single.

• Ariel Armas was next with a pair of RBIs, which came on a two-RBI double that marked his first hit of the 2023 season.

• DeCriscio joined Costello and Armas in driving in a run on Sunday night by going 1-for-4 with an RBI double. He now has a hit in each of his last four games.

• Allen, Arakawa, and Smith all had a single hit on Sunday. Arakawa now has a hit in each of the Toreros' first six games, including two multi-hit performances.

• Peraza, Allen, Jack Gurevitch, and Armas all drew a single walk on Sunday.

• Peraza, Allen, Costello, Arakawa, Smith, and Armas all scored a single run on Sunday.

• Peraza now has scored the winning run on a walk-off hit on three occasions: March 4, 2022 against Dallas Baptist, April 15, 2022 against Loyola Marymount, and tonight, February 26, 2023 against UNLV.

• The Chula Vista, California native also has two walk-off hits of his own: February 19 against Nebraska and April 15, 2022 against Loyola Marymount.

• Rennie's nine strikeouts were a career high, eclipsing his previous best of eight that he set on March 25, 2022 against Saint Mary's.

Monday - UC Irvine 14 San Diego 6
• San Diego baseball struck first for an early lead but couldn't hang on to complete an undefeated season-opening homestand on Monday night, falling to UC Irvine by a 14-6 margin at Fowler Park for its first loss of 2023 as it concluded play in the Tony Gwynn Legacy tournament.

• Costello notched both a hit and an RBI for the fifth consecutive game, going 2-for-4 with two runs scored, an RBI, and a walk.

• Allen notched his first multi-hit game of 2023 with a 2-for-4 performance of his own that saw him score twice and walk once.

• Arakawa was 1-for-4 with an RBI and now has hit safely in each of San Diego's first seven games.

• Sophomore shortstop Justin DeCriscio extended his hit streak to five games with a 1-for-4 evening and a run scored.

• Smith (1-for-4, 2 RBIs) was the only Torero to drive in multiple runs on Monday.

• Freshman infielder Jack Gurevtich recorded his first hit since February 18 vs. Nebraska and scored a run.

• Sim was 1-for-4 with an RBI and a walk.

• Redshirt sophomore right-hander Chase Minor finished the game on the mound for the Toreros with a scoreless ninth, retiring the Anteaters in order with a groundout, a pop-out, and a strikeout.

• San Diego finished its seven-game season-opening homestand 5-1-1.

JACK COSTELLO NAMED NCAA NATIONAL PLAYER OF THE WEEK
• After a dominant week at the plate that saw him earn WCC Co-Player of the Week honors, Jack Costello was named the NCAA National Player of the Week, the NCAA announced on Monday evening (February 27).

• His big performance marked the second consecutive week that a Torero has earned the WCC's honor after junior infielder Kevin Sim took home the award on February 20. It's the first conference or national weekly honor of Costello's career.

• He put on an offensive tour de force from February 20 to February 26 for San Diego, crushing five home runs in three games while batting a blistering 7-for-14 (.500) with seven runs scored and a remarkable 16 RBIs against the Cornhuskers, Rainbow Warriors, and Hustlin' Rebels.

• The Simi Valley, California native got his week started on Monday (February 20) by going 2-for-5 with two home runs and seven RBIs in the Toreros' series finale opposite the Cornhuskers. His first longball of the day was a go-ahead grand slam, then he completed a stunning six-run seventh-inning comeback with a towering, game-tying three-run shot to even the score at 16 in what was ultimately the game's final inning due to Nebraska's travel schedule.

• Costello continued his torrid week with two more homers on Friday against Hawaii, going 3-for-5 with six RBIs and four runs scored in the Toreros' 14-2 blowout of the Rainbow Warriors.

• He then finished strong with another massive performance on Sunday night, putting USD up over UNLV with a fifth-inning two-run shot that gave his team a 5-4 lead as it battled with the Hustlin' Rebels before he delivered a clutch walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth that put the Toreros up for good to preserve their undefeated record.

• Since starting the season 0-for-8 he is batting .476 (10-for-21) with a team-high five home runs,  18 RBIs, 11 runs scored, and three walks.

• Overall, he is batting .345 (10-for-29) so far in 2023, and enters Thursday evening's action on a five-game hit streak and a four-game RBI streak. He has had more than one hit in four of the Toreros' six games thus far in 2023.

PLAYERS TO WATCH
Sophomore SS Justin DeCriscio
• Enters Thursday evening's action batting a team-high .360 (9-for-25) with five runs scored, two doubles, three RBIs, and a walk.

• Has hit safely in each of his last five games dating back to February 19 versus Nebraska (8-for-19 in that span.

• Won the Trinity League Gold Glove as a senior at Orange Lutheran High School in 2021

Junior OF Angelo Peraza
• Enters Thursday evening's action batting .348 (8-for-23) with a double, two home runs,11 runs scored, six RBIs, six walks, and a tied-for-team-high three hit by pitches.

• Homered in back-to-back games from February 20 (Nebraska) to February 25 (UNLV), has two multi-hit performances so far in 2023.

• Has two career walk-off hits: February 19, 2023 against Nebraska and April 15, 2022 against Loyola Marymount.

• Has also scored the winning run on a walk-off hit on three occasions: March 4, 2022 against Dallas Baptist, April 15, 2022 against Loyola Marymount, and tonight, February 26, 2023 against UNLV.

• Is a native of Chula Vista, California and attended St. Augustine High School, where he played three seasons as the Saint's starting varsity quarterback.

Graduate INF James Arakawa
• Is batting .333 (9-for-27) after hitting safely in each of USD's first seven games.

• Has tripled, scored four runs, driven in four more, and been hit by three pitches.

• Transferred to USD after four years at WCC foe Pacific, where he earned an All-WCC honors

• Pronounced are-uh-K-AHHH—wuh - not COW-UH

Sophomore INF Kevin Sim
• Is batting .304 (7-for-23) with three home runs, a double, 10 RBIs, a team-high 12 runs scored, and a tied for-team high six walks to go with a single hit by pitch.

• Homered in three consecutive games at Fowler Park to begin the 2023 season (February 17-19 versus Nebraska).

• Attended Torrey Pines High School in San Diego, California.

Redshirt Junior RHP Ryan Robinson
• 6.2 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 13 K, one save, one win out of bullpen so far in 2023 (3 appearances)

• Transferred to USD from Ohlone College in 2020

• Two-time All-WCC Honorable Mention (2021 and 2022)

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, their 37-20 record in 2022, and their 5-1-1 totals so far in 2023, the Toreros are a conference-best 120-59-1 (.670) in that 179-game span.

• Next best within that timeframe are Gonzaga (109-79, .579), BYU (101-79, .561) and Portland (81-73, .525).