University of San Diego Official Athletic Site

May 27, 2008

ON DECK: The University of San Diego baseball team (41-15) will hit the road and head to Long Beach, Calif. to compete in the Long Beach State NCAA Regional. The Toreros earned a No. 2 seed in the bracket and will open play on Friday against No. 3 seeded University of California at 2 p.m. The two other teams in this bracket are No. 1 seed Long Beach State University and No. 4 seeded Fresno State University. Should USD win, they will play the winner of the LBSU/FSU game on Saturday at 6 p.m., or should USD not defeat Cal in game one they will play on Friday at 2 p.m. against the loser of the LBSU/FSU game. All games in this regional will be played at Blair Field.

TOREROS ON THE AIR: Fans can catch all the NCAA Regional action from Long Beach this weekend live on www.usdtoreros.com. The voice of the Toreros Jack Murray will bring fans all the live play-by-play action with John Cunningham providing color commentary.

LAST TIME OUT: The University of San Diego baseball team recorded a clean sweep over Pepperdine University in the WCC Championship series at Cunningham Stadium this past weekend. After the rain postponed game one from Friday to Saturday, the Waves and Toreros had to play a double-header on Saturday and USD recorded 10-1 and 12-4 wins to take the series and earn the WCC's automatic bid into the post season. In Saturday's first game, Brian Matusz was once again dominate on the mound as he allowed one unearned run on five hits, while striking out nine batters. Offensively for the Toreros, James Meador led the way as he went 2-for-4 with one home run and two RBI. Kevin Muno was also solid at the plate for USD as he went 3-for-5 with one double, one triple and one RBI. Sean Nicol, Kevin Hansen and Jose Valerio all recorded multiple hits on the day as well. In the second game, it was a sea saw battle at first, then with the game at 4-3 in favor of Pepperdine, the Toreros went on to score nine unanswered runs to claim the 12-4 win. Muno led the offense as he went 5-for-6 with three RBI, Valerio went 3-for-5 with one home run and three RBI and Victor Sanchez, Meador, Sean Nicol and Logan Gelbrich all recorded multiple hits in the win.

SCOUTING THE GOLDEN BEARS: Cal enters the Regional with an overall record of 33-19-2 and finished fifth in the PAC-10 with a 11-12 mark in conference games. The Golden Bears captured the only meeting between the two programs this season with a 9-8 win back on Mar. 2. Cal is led offensively by senior Josh Satin, who is hitting a team-best .388 with 73 hits, has 11 doubles, one triple, 18 home runs and 52 RBI. On the mound, the Golden Bears turn to junior right-hander Tyson Ross, who is 7-3 with a 4.40 ERA.

SCOUTING THE BEACH: Long Beach State enters the Regional with an overall record of 39-17 after taking two-of-three from Cal State Fullerton this past weekend to earn a share of the Big West Conference championship. USD won both meetings between the two programs this season, the first was a 5-3 win at Blair Field and the second was a 4-2 win at Cunningham Stadium. The Dirtbags offense is led by junior first baseman Shane Peterson, who has a team-leading .399 batting average, has 81 hits, 16 doubles, two triples, seven home runs and 50 RBI. On the mound, LBSU turns to senior right-hander Andrew Liebel, who is 8-3 with a 1.81 ERA.

SCOUTING THE BULLDOGS: Fresno State will appear in the same Regional as USD for the third consecutive season, after putting together a 37-27 overall record and winning their third consecutive WAC championship. The Toreros met FSU back on Feb. 29 and San Diego came out on top with a 5-2 win. Fresno State leads the all-time series 15-5, including 3-0 in NCAA tournament play. Offensively, the Bulldogs are led by sophomore infielder Alan Ahmady, who is hitting .389 with 93 hits, 13 doubles, one triple and 12 home runs. On the mound, FSU will look to Justin Wilson, who is 4-2 with a 4.29 ERA.

21 AND COUNTING: Sophomore outfielder James Meador is currently riding a career-high 21 game hitting streak. In USD's 7-2 win over UC Riverside back on April 9, Meador was hitless going 0-for-4, since then however Meador is 38-for-84 (.452) with seven doubles, two triples, five home runs and 28 RBI. On the season, Meador is the team's leading hitter with a .385 batting average, has a team-best 75 hits, has the team-lead in doubles with 16, has two triples, six home runs and a team-leading 51 RBI.

MATUSZ NAMED MOST OUTSTANDING PITCHER: Junior All-American Brian Matusz was named the Most Outstanding Pitcher of the WCC Championship series after putting on yet another dominating pitching performance. Matusz (11-2) won his career-high 11th game of the season as he allowed one unearned run on five hits, while striking out nine batters. With the nine strikeouts, Matusz moves his season total to 131 and his career total to 386, just seven behind the all-time record at USD.

MUNO NAMED MOST OUTSTANDING PLAYER: Sophomore outfielder Kevin Muno was named the Most Outstanding Player of the WCC Championship Series after propelling the Toreros offense to a combined 22 runs. Muno went 8-for-10 with one double, one triple and four RBI against Pepperidne for the series. On the season, Muno is hitting .332 with 73 hits, 12 doubled, three triples, four home runs and 27 RBI, while also leading the team with 21 stolen bases.

THE POLLS: The University of San Diego baseball team remains in the top-10 as they moved up one spot to No. 6 in the latest Collegiate Baseball top-30 poll. The Toreros jumped up four spots in the latest Baseball America top-25 poll to No. 7. Long Beach State is ranked No. 11 in the latest Collegiate Baseball top-30 poll and No. 22 in the latest Baseball America top-25 poll. Cal checks in at No. 17 in Collegiate Baseball and No. 20 in Baseball America. Fresno State is the only team in the Regional not ranked in any of the top-25 polls.

BACK-TO-BACK 40 WIN SEASONS: San Diego enters the Regionals with a 41-15 overall record, marking the second consecutive season of 40 or more wins and also marks only the second time in program history the 40-win plateau has been reached with the 2007 team setting the all-time mark with a 43-18 record.

BACK-TO-BACK WCC CHAMPIONSHIPS: For only the second time in program history, the Toreros have won back-to-back West Coast Conference Championships, as USD posted a 16-5 record in conference action this season, 1.5 games ahead of Pepperdine for first place. The 2002 and 2003 seasons marked the first time USD had won back-to-back championships. The Toreros also won its second consecutive WCC Championship series, which moves USD to a perfect 4-0 in the championship series all-time.

MR. STRIKEOUT: Junior All-American left-hander Brian Matusz rung up nine batters on Saturday vs. Pepperidne to move his career-total to 387, only trailing the all-time leader Gary Myron (1968-71) by seven for the all-time lead. On the season, Matusz is 11-2 overall, and is bolstering an impressive 1.88 ERA and leads the team with 131 strikeouts.

GRIFFIN ACCEPTS USA INVITE: Sophomore All-American closer AJ Griffin of the University of San Diego baseball team is one of 12 players in the nation who has accepted an invitation to play for Team USA this upcoming summer. This marks the second consecutive season that the Toreros have sent someone to Team USA with both Brian Matusz and Josh Romanski playing this past summer. Griffin, a 6-5 sophomore from El Cajon, Calif., has become the all-time leader in career-saves at USD with 24, 13 of which have come during this season. Griffin has been named the WCC Pitcher of the Week twice this season and has a 1-1 record with a 1.96 ERA in 41.1 innings of work this season.

YOU CAN'T BEAT ME: Junior All-American Josh Romanski finished the regular-season with a perfect 9-0 record. Romanski has been pitching exceptionally well as of late, as the two-way star has been one of the best Toreros pitchers in his last five outings. Romanski has posted a 3-0 record in theses games, while posting a 2.73 ERA and averaging 7.5 innings per outing. Romanski has one complete game in these outings, a one run six hit performance against No. 13 Pepperdine on May 3. Overall Romanski has now lowered his ERA to 3.76. With his 9-0 record, Romanski has now moved his career record to 23-5 (.821), which gives him the best all-time record for a pitcher in USD history.

2008 GAMETRACKER AVAILABLE: All of San Diego's NCAA Regional games, can be followed live via Gametracker on the Toreros athletic web site at www.usdtoreros.com. Gametracker is a service of Online College Sports, the official web provider for San Diego athletics, and is a real time update of the action.

TOREROS IN THE REGIONALS: This will mark the third consecutive trip and fifth overall trip to the NCAA Regionals at the division I level. In these Regionals, USD has posted an overall record of 3-8.

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