Our good friend Mark Rafferty of PitchFork Nation which is the top Arizona State sports blog on the Internet checked out the weekend series between Arizona State and Loyola Marymount. He has some interesting views on the ASU squad including Mike Leake. The full article is available by clicking here.

SAN DIEGO, Calif. - Junior first baseman Jose Valerio goes yard twice as the ninth-ranked University of San Diego baseball team cruised their way to a 11-3 win over Loyola Marymount University Sunday afternoon in a West Coast Conference game at USD’s Cunningham Stadium.

With the win, the Toreros improve to 35-11 overall, move to 13-3 in the WCC, complete a three-game sweep over the Lions and extend the nation’s longest winning streak to 16 games. With the loss, the Lions fall to 20-23 overall and 5-10 in the WCC.

The Toreros got on the scoreboards first as they scored six runs on six hits in the bottom of the second inning. Logan Gelbrich led off the inning with a double and moved to third on a Victor Sanchez single to centerfield. After Kevin Hansen walked to load the bases, Jose Valerio then hit his first collegiate grand slam over the fight field fence to give USD a 4-0 lead with no outs. Ryan Davis then kept things rolling with a single through the right side and moved to second on a Kevin Muno sacrifice bunt. James Meador then drove in Davis with a run-scoring double to left field and the final USD run of the inning came on a Josh Romanski RBI single through the right side to give USD a 6-0 advantage.

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SAN DIEGO, Calif. - The ninth-ranked University of San Diego baseball team held off a late Loyola Marymount University rally to claim a 6-4 West Coast Conference win Saturday afternoon at USD’s Cunningham Stadium.

With the win, the Toreros improve to 34-11 overall, move to 12-2 in the WCC, claim the three-game series over the Lions and run the nation’s longest winning streak to 15 games. With the loss, the Lions fall to 20-22 overall and 5-9 in the WCC.

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SAN DIEGO, Calif. - Behind another outstanding pitching performance from junior All-American Brian Matusz, the ninth-ranked University of San Diego baseball team cruised their way to a 11-4 West Coast Conference win over visiting Loyola Marymount Friday afternoon at USD’s Cunningham Stadium.

With the win, the Toreros improve to 33-11 overall, move to 11-2 in the WCC and run the nation’s longest winning streak to 14 games. With the loss, the Lions fall to 20-21 overall and 5-8 in the WCC.

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CBB News Sources

(San Francisco, CA) - San Francisco came back from an early deficit and held off a threatening Loyola Marymount (16-13, 3-1 WCC) to earn the 9-5 West Coast Conference victory at Benedetti Diamond on Friday afternoon. USF (18-11, 3-1 WCC) smashed 13 hits in the contest, its 20th game of the season with 10 or more hits.

Freshman designated hitter Stephen Yarrow had a game of firsts, earning his first hit (a lead off double to left in the second), his first run scored (also in the second), and his first multi-hit game as he led off the sixth with a single to center, and later plated in the inning.

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CSF Media Release

Los Angeles - Michael Morrison tossed six innings of one-hit ball and Khris Davis homered, doubled and drove in two as Cal State Fullerton (16-9) snapped Loyola Marymount’s (16-12) five-game winning streak with a 8-2 non-conference win Tuesday afternoon at Page Stadium. Read the rest of this entry »

Here is your Top 25 Rundown for March 6th. There was not much action as it was a typical Thursday schedule. Thanks to NCAA-Baseball.com for providing the links to the Recaps.

Illinois-Chicago 2 at #10 Vanderbilt 1

UIC Recap
Vanderbilt Recap

Santa Clara 7 #21 San Diego 6 (8 innings DARKNESS)

Santa Clara Recap
San Diego Recap

#22 Oklahoma State 3 Loyola Marymount 2

OK State Recap
Loyola Marymount Recap

#24 Coastal Carolina 9 Toledo 8

Coastal Recap
Toledo Recap

We continue to bring you a list of Season Previews. Here are the ones that came out on February 14th.

Vanderbilt: Pitching
Oklahoma: Pitchers and Catchers
Loyola Marymount: Season Preview
UAB: Pitchers
UCLA: Season Preview

The West Coast Conference announced the 2008 Preseason Conference Poll as selected by the coaches. San Diego is selected to finish in first place as they received seven out of a possible eight first place votes with Santa Clara getting the other one. Pepperdine comes in second place followed by Santa Clara in third place. The conference should be decided by these three schools as they all return veteran squads. The rest of the poll is filled with LMU, Gonzaga, San Francisco, Portland, and St. Mary’s. The full press release is available by clicking here.

Conference USA has released their players of the week for the period ending on March 11th. T.J. Hose of East Carolina and Todd McInnis are co-pitchers of the week. Hose set the stage for East Carolina to get a three game sweep over Cal-State Fullerton with a victory on Friday night. He went seven innings while only allowing three hits and only one run. Todd McInnis pitched into the eighth inning with a no-hitter against Alabama on March 6th. Kiki Vazquez of UCF was named the hitter of the week. He led the Golden Knights to a 5-0 record for the week. He hit .500 (7 for 14) with nine RBI and a slugging percentage of 1.000 for the week.

C-USA Release
East Carolina Release
Southern Miss Release
UCF Release

Conference USA has also released a recap of all the games this weekend from the conference which can be read here. I have also linked to some of the recaps from local papers on their respective teams below.

Southern Miss-LSU Series
Friday Recap
Saturday Recap
Sunday Recap

East Carolina sweeps Cal-State Fullerton
LMU takes rubber game from Tulane
Rice goes 3-0 in tourney

The USC Trojans used a nine hit attack to take a 5-2 victory over Loyola Marymount on Tuesday. The Trojans were led by Tommy Milone who gave six strong innings of work while only giving up two runs (both earned). Paul Koss pitched a perfect ninth inning to pick up his third save this season. Nick Buss had a 3-5 performance and JJ Owen went 2-3 to lead the Trojans offense. Eric Farris of LMU continued his strong hitting with a 2-4 night. USC will be back in action on Friday hosting San Diego. LMU will be making the trip to UC Irvine also on Friday.

USC Recap
LMU Recap

The Loyola Marymount Lions will host the Trojans of USC on Tuesday at 2 pm in a battle of the LA area. Eric Farris of LMU was recently named West Coast Conference player of the week after going 8 for 14 in the three game sweep of Sacramento State. Farris was a standout player this past summer in the Cape Cod Baseball League.

USC Game Notes
LMU Game Notes
Farris named POW for the West Coast Conference