STOCKTON, Calif. — San Diego baseball's penultimate regular-season series of 2026 takes it to California's Central Valley this weekend, with the Toreros (17-28, 9-12 WCC) traveling to Stockton for a three-game set against the Pacific Tigers (20-26, 12-9 WCC) at Klein Family Field.

USD and UOP's WCC clash will begin with a 6:00 p.m. first pitch on Friday night, followed by a 3:00 p.m. start on Saturday and a 1:00 p.m. series finale on Sunday. All three matchups will be streamed live on ESPN+ with Dennis Ackerman on the call. Live statistics will be provided on PacificTigers.com.

LAST WEEKEND: Toreros Take One of Three at Portland
• San Diego won one of its three games last weekend at Portland, sandwiching an 8-4 Friday night win with a 9-6 loss on Thursday night and a 9-5 defeat in the Saturday finale.

• The Toreros took an early 4-0 lead over UC Irvine in their ensuing midweek matchup on Tuesday night (May 5), but could not hang on to secure the victory, suffering a tough 9-4 loss to the Anteaters at Fowler Park in what marked their final non-conference contest of 2026.

CJ MORAN NAMED WCC PLAYER OF THE WEEK
• Sophomore first baseman/outfielder CJ Moran has been named the WCC Player of the Week for May 4, 2026, the West Coast Conference announced on Monday afternoon.

• Moran batted .615 (8-for-13) at Portland last weekend, tallying two doubles, four RBI, four runs and a stolen base.

• Moran produced multiple hits in all three of the Toreros' games against the Pilots, including three in both Thursday and Friday's contests. He also got on base at a .600 clip and slugged .769.

• The Toreros now own two conference player of the week awards this season (Andrew Gauna, April 6).
 

ALL-TIME SERIES AGAINST PACIFIC  

• The Toreros are 31-8 against the Tigers all-time, and have won 15 of their last 16 games versus Pacific dating back to May 2019, including six straight wins over UOP entering Friday night's action.

• USD and Pacific most recently faced off last season, from May 15-17, 2025 at Fowler Park.

• San Diego swept that series, and secured a share of the 2025 WCC Regular Season Championship with its seven-inning, 13-1 run-rule victory over the Tigers in the first game of the weekend (May 15, 2025).

• The Toreros went on to prevail by 2-1 and 9-3 margins in the following two contests.

• Aden Howard provided the finishing blow in that 2-1 triumph in game two (May 16, 2025), slapping a game-winning RBI single into right field in the bottom of the ninth to earn the first of two WCC walk-offs he delivered last year as he helped his team secure the outright 2025 regular-season WCC title. 

• USD last visited Klein Family Field from March 28-30, 2024, when it outscored the Tigers 40-14 across a dominant three-game sweep in Stockton that saw the Toreros prevail by 9-4, 17-4, and 14-6 margins.

• The Toreros' most recent loss to the Tigers was back on March 19, 2023, when Pacific starting pitcher Grant Stevens threw a 135-pitch complete game that saw him scatter eight hits and work around three walks to earn his team a 5-2 victory at Fowler Park.

• San Diego last lost at Klein Family Field back on March 18, 2018, when it suffered a narrow 9-7 defeat to the Tigers in Stockton.

FOR STARTERS (PROBABLE)
Friday: Graduate right-hander Diego Gutierrez (5-3, 5.65 ERA) will take the mound for the Toreros in the series opener in what will mark his 13th start of the season.

• Gutierrez turned in a strong performance in his most recent outing, earning a win on May 1 at Portland after allowing only one run on five hits across six innings while working around three walks and striking out seven.

• 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 (72) and innings pitched (57.1) so far this year.

• Gutierrez also ranks third in the WCC in Strikeouts Per Nine Innings (11.30), and his 72 total strikeouts through 12 appearances (all starts) in 2026 are the fourth-most among WCC players.

• After striking out four on Opening Night at Charlotte on February 13, Gutierrez has gone on to notch six or more strikeouts in eight of his 11 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 four games in which he has struck out six batters.

• Gutierrez's seven strikeouts last Friday (May 1) at Portland were his most in a single game since he fanned eight on March 27 at Pepperdine.

• 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.

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

Sunday: San Diego's starting pitcher for Sunday'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 one behind Jayden Lobliner for the USD lead.

• His five homers in WCC play are tied with teammate Andrew Gauna for the third-most in conference play this season.

• No WCC freshman has hit more home runs in 2026 conference contests thus far than Gonzalez, who is also the only first-year player to rank inside the league's Top 10 for total home runs during 2026 WCC games.

GRAND LARCENY
• The Toreros rank second in the WCC with 57 stolen bases and an average of 1.27 stolen bases per game in 2026.

THEY GET ON BASE
• USD ranks third in the WCC with a .409 team on-base percentage entering Friday night's game.

SLUGGING AWAY
• USD's .409 team slugging percentage, 264 runs scored, and average of 5.9 runs per game thus far in 2026 are all the third-highest marks in the WCC.

SELFLESS
• The Toreros rank second in the WCC and 34th nationally with 31 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 0.19 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 eight homers entering Friday 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 .987 fielding percentage through 45 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 .276 (50-for-181) with 29 runs scored, 13 doubles, one triple, 30 RBIs, five hit by pitches, and 15 walks.

• He is slugging ..492 this year, is getting on base at a .348 clip, and is a perfect 5-for-5 stealing bases of his own.

OUCH!
• Despite missing San Diego's last 12 games due to injury, graduate utility player Gabe Springer still leads the WCC and ranks 19th nationally with 21 hit by pitches thus far in 2026.

• Springer has been hit by a pitch in 16 of the 33 games he's played in this season.

• 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 58th nationally with a remarkable 81 total hit by pitches in 2026.
 

THREE WINS AWAY FROM 150

• USD head coach Brock Ungricht enters Friday night's action with a 147-118-1 career record across his five seasons at the helm in San Diego. 

• With a sweep over the Tigers 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.