SAN DIEGO — San Diego baseball will conclude its 2026 regular-season schedule this weekend by hosting Loyola Marymount at Fowler Park.

The Toreros (17-30-1, 9-14-1 WCC) will begin their series against the Lions (12-41, 3-21 WCC) at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday night, followed by another 6:00 p.m. start in game two and a 1:00 p.m. series finale on Saturday, which will mark USD's Senior Day as it honors its 14 graduating players in a pregame onfield ceremony.

All three games will be streamed live on ESPN+ with Braden Surprenant (Play-By-Play) and Mike Gosling (Analyst) on the call.

A live audio simulcast will be available on USDToreros.com, and live statistics will be provided via StatBroadcast.

LAST TIME OUT
• San Diego lost its first two games at Pacific last weekend on Friday, May 8 and Saturday, May 9 by scores of 6-4 and 18-6 (seven innings) before finishing the Sunday (May 10) finale in a 11-11 tie after eight innings due to mutually agreed upon time constraints associated with the Toreros' travel arrangements.

ALL-TIME SERIES AGAINST LMU
• The Toreros are 100-112-1 against the Lions all-time.

• The two teams most recently met back on May 23, 2025 during last year's West Coast Conference Tournament at Las Vegas Ballpark, when USD prevailed by a 14-8 margin in an elimination game. That victory came after the Lions stunned the Toreros the night before by dealing them an 8-3 defeat in the tournament's second round.

• LMU took two of three in the last regular-season series between the two teams, which took place at Page Stadium in Los Angeles from March 21-23, 2025. San Diego bookended an 11-1 mercy-rule victory on Saturday with 9-4 and 5-4 defeats on Friday and Sunday.

• Loyola Marymount last visited Fowler Park from April 5-7, 2024, when the Toreros earned a three-game sweep by scores of 5-3, 6-1, and 15-12.

FOR STARTERS (PROBABLE)
Thursday: Graduate right-hander Diego Gutierrez (5-4, 6.03 ERA) will take the mound for the Toreros in the series opener in what will mark his 14th start of the season.

• Gutierrez allowed six earned runs on six hits at Pacific in his most recent outing, which saw him walk two and strike out six.

• A native of Norwalk, California, Gutierrez spent the first four years of his college career at CSUN before transferring to USD ahead of the 2026 season.

• He leads the Toreros in both strikeouts (78) and innings pitched (62.2) so far this year.

• Gutierrez also ranks third in the WCC in both Strikeouts Per Nine Innings (11.20) and Total Strikeouts (78).

• After striking out four on Opening Night at Charlotte on February 13, Gutierrez has gone on to notch six or more strikeouts in nine of his 12 outings since, including back-to-back eight-strikeout efforts on February 20 (versus Utah) and February 27 (versus Michigan).

• His 2026 campaign has included three eight-strikeout outings, one seven-strikeout performance, and five games in which he has struck out six batters.

• His longest and most effective start as a Torero thus far came in San Diego's home opener against Utah. Gutierrez turned in six strong innings against the Utes, scattering four hits while allowing only two runs, walking none, and striking out eight.

Friday: San Diego's starting pitcher for Friday's game has not yet been announced.

Saturday: San Diego's starting pitcher for Saturday's game has not yet been announced.

FRESHMAN PHENOM
• First-year infielder Diego Gonzalez has shown some prodigious power as of late, hammering five homers since April 19, when he launched two longballs against Seattle U.

• Gonzalez, a native of El Dorado, California, has seven total home runs in 2026, which is just two behind Jayden Lobliner for the USD lead.

GRAND LARCENY
• The Toreros rank second in the WCC with 59 stolen bases and an average of 1.23 stolen bases per game in 2026.

THEY GET ON BASE
• USD ranks third in the WCC with a .381 team on-base percentage entering Thursday night's game.

SLUGGING AWAY
• USD's .420 team slugging percentage and average of 5.9 runs per game thus far in 2026 are both the third-highest marks in the WCC. San Diego's 285 total runs scored in 2026 rank fourth in the league.

SELFLESS
• The Toreros rank second in the WCC and 34th nationally with 33 sacrifice bunts so far this season.

• Freshman infielder Diego Gonzalez leads USD with seven of those sacrifice bunts to his credit, including an average of 0.18 sacrifice bunts per game. Both of those tallies also rank third among all WCC players.

MORE TRIPS TO LOB CITY
• It took senior catcher Jayden Lobliner just 19 games to reach his home run total from 2025 — six — which was achieved across 52 games last season.

• He now has a career-high nine homers entering Thursday night's action, which is the most on the Torero roster this year.

LOBLINER NAMED TO 2026 BUSTER POSEY AWARD MIDSEASON WATCHLIST
• Jayden Lobliner is one of 50 catchers who have been selected for the 2026 Buster Posey National Collegiate Catcher of the Year Award Midseason Watchlist, the Wichita Sports Commission announced on April 1.

• Lobliner, who was named the 2025 West Coast Conference Defensive Player of the Year and to the 2025 All-WCC Second Team, has posted a .988 fielding percentage through 48 games this season, throwing out 10 would-be base stealers while allowing just five passed balls and committing only five errors.

• At the plate, Lobliner has been one of the Toreros' most consistent and powerful bats, batting .283 (54-for-191) with 32 runs scored, 15 doubles, one triple, 33 RBIs, six hit by pitches, a team-high nine home runs, and 16 walks.

• He is slugging .513 this year, is getting on base at a .355 clip, and is 6-for-7 stealing bases of his own.

OUCH!
• Graduate utility player Gabe Springer still leads the WCC and ranks 18th nationally with 2 hit by pitches thus far in 2026.

• Springer has been hit by a pitch in 17 of the 35 games he's played in this season, including an HBP on Friday evening (May 8) in his first at-bat after missing the Toreros' previous 12 games due to injury.

• He was hit by a pitch in six consecutive games from February 14 to February 24, 2026  and drew a HBP in five straight contests from March 21 to March 28, 2026.

• Springer also has three multi-hit-by-pitch games to his credit in 2026, including a three-HBP performance on February 21 versus Creighton.

• As a team, USD ranks first in the WCC and 50th nationally with a remarkable 88 total hit by pitches in 2026.
 
THREE WINS AWAY FROM 150
•USD head coach Brock Ungricht enters Thursday night's action with a 147-120-2 career record across his five seasons at the helm in San Diego. 

• With a sweep over the Lions this weekend, Ungricht would earn his 148th, 149th, and 150th career head coaching victories.

• Ungricht, who was selected as the WCC Coach of the Year in 2024 and 2025, was named head coach of the Torero program on July 3, 2021.