The 4-seed Fresno State Bulldogs defeated the 2-seed San Diego in the finals of the Long Beach Regional on Monday night. The Bulldogs survived a three error night to advance to the Super Regionals. The Toreros grabbed a 1-0 lead in the top of the fifth inning after the Toreros’ number eight hitter catcher Logan Gelbrich started off the inning with a double. Gelbrich would score on a fielding error by Fresno State first baseman Alan Ahmady. The Bulldogs responded though in the bottom of the inning scoring two runs after leadoff hitter Tommy Mendonca was hit by a pitch and Danny Grubb walked with one out. Both runners advanced on a groundout by Danny Muno and Grant Hedstrom singled to drive in both runners and give the Bulldogs a 2-1 lead. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 2008 Long Beach Regional, 2008 NCAA Tourney, Fresno State, University of San Diego

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCES

Freshman right-hander Kyle Blair tossed a gem and the Torero bats exploded for 13 hits to help the University of San Diego baseball team save off elimination and advance to the regional final with a 15-1 victory over Fresno State University Sunday evening in the Long Beach Regional at Blair Field.

With the win, the Toreros set a new program record with their 44th win of the season, moving to 44-16 overall, and have advanced to the regional final for the first time in program history. USD will now play Fresno State at 6 p.m. on Monday in the regional final at Blair field to determine who will advance to the Super Regional round.  With the loss, the Bulldogs fall to 39-28 overall.
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Tags: 2008 Long Beach Regional, 2008 NCAA Tourney, Fresno State, University of San Diego

The 2-seed San Diego Toreros bounced top seed and regional host Long Beach State 5-1 on Sunday afternoon. The Toreros got on the board in the first inning and again in the third inning to take a 2-0 lead. The Dirtbags answered with a run in the bottom of the third inning to cut the Torero lead in half at 2-1. Neither team would score until the top of the ninth inning when the Toreros iced the game scoring three more runs to take a 5-1 lead. The Dirtbags went down in order in the bottom of the ninth and saw their season come to a close.

San Diego will now face 4-seed Fresno State in the regional championship game at 5:00 p.m. PDT. Fresno State defeated San Diego 6-0 last night.

Tags: 2008 Long Beach Regional, 2008 NCAA Tourney, Long Beach State, University of San Diego

GAME ONE - #1 LONG BEACH STATE VS. #3 CALIFORNIA
Top seed Long Beach State bounced back from their opening round loss to 4-seed Fresno State and eliminated 2-seed Cal winning 9-2. The Dirtbags scored in four straight innings starting in the second inning. Long Beach State scored one in the second, one in the third, three in the fourth and two in the fith to take a 7-2 lead. The Dirtbags added two more in the top of the eighth to take a 9-2 lead. Cal was unable anything together in the final two innings and saw their season come to a close.

Brett Lorin picks up the win for the Dirtbags going five innings giving up the only two runs scored by Cal. Craig Bennigson took the loss for the Golden Bears going three innings giving up two runs.

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Tags: 2008 Long Beach Regional, 2008 NCAA Tourney, Cal, Fresno State, Long Beach State, University of San Diego

GAME ONE - #2 SAN DIEGO VS. #3 CALIFORNIA
San Diego ace Brian Matusz pitched a complete game three-hit shutout in the opening game of the Long Beach Regional against 3-seed Cal on Friday afternoon. Matusz struck out ten Golden Bears and gave up just one walk. The Toreros and Bears were deadlocked in a scoreless game heading into the bottom of the sixth inning when Josh Romanski reached on a walk with two out. Sean Nicol came to the plate and doubled to center field scoring Romanski all the way from first to put the Toreros a 1-0 lead. The Toreros broke the game wide open in the bottom of the seventh inning scoring four runs, three of them unearned. Matusz retired six of the final seven batters he faced to complete the victory.

With the win Matusz improves to 12-2 on the season and improves his ERA to 1.58. Tyson Ross takes the loss for Cal giving up five runs on nine hits in 6.2 innings.
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Tags: 2008 Long Beach Regional, 2008 NCAA Tourney, Cal, Fresno State, Long Beach State, University of San Diego

#1 LONG BEACH STATE VS. #4 FRESNO STATE

Long Beach State (37-19)
The Dirtbags are 37-19 and are the top seed in the Long Beach regional. LBSU boasts the Coach of the Year in Mike Weather, tri-Pitcher of the Year Andrew Liebel and co-Player of the Year in first baseman Shane Peterson. Peterson led the league in hitting with a .399 average and an .510 on base percentage. Liebel went 8-3 on the season with a 1.81 ERA in 109.2 innings pitched.

The Dirtbags earned a share of the Big West title and the automatic bid after taking two of three games from #8 Cal-State Fullerton to end the season.

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Tags: 2008 Long Beach Regional, 2008 NCAA Tourney, Big West, Cal, Fresno State, Long Beach Regional, Long Beach State, Pac 10, University of San Diego, WAC, West Coast Conference

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE
STARKVILLE, Miss. (NCBWA) - Five of college baseball’s top relief specialists have been selected as finalists for the fourth annual National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Stopper of the Year Award, the NCBWA announced Thursday.

This year’s finalists include NCAA saves leader Tyler Conn of Southern Miss, Scott Bittle of Mississippi, Joshua Fields of Georgia, A.J. Griffin of the University of San Diego and Eric Pettis of UC Irvine. All five relief aces helped their respective teams advance to the 64-team field of the 2008 NCAA Baseball Tournament, which begins this weekend at 16 regional sites across the nation.
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Tags: 2008 Top Players, Conference USA, Georgia, National Awards, NCBWA, Ole Miss, SEC, Southern Miss, Stopper of the Year, University of San Diego, West Coast Conference

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCES

Game 1: San Diego 10 Pepperdine 1

SAN DIEGO, Calif. – Junior All-American Brian Matusz dominates on the mound and the Torero bats explode as the seventh-ranked University of San Diego baseball team cruised to a 10-1 win over No. 13 Pepperdine University in the first game of a double-header in the West Coast Conference Championship Series Saturday afternoon. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 2008 NCAA Tourney, Pepperdine, University of San Diego, West Coast Conference

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCE
SAN DIEGO, Calif. - The West Coast Conference baseball Championship Series scheduled between No. 7 University of San Diego and No. 13 Pepperdine University for Friday afternoon at 3 p.m. has been postponed due to inclement weather in the San Diego area. The two teams will now play a double-header on Saturday with the first pitch scheduled for 11 a.m.. Game two will begin 30 minutes after the conclusion of game one.

Free Video Webcast is available here.

Tags: Pepperdine, University of San Diego, West Coast Conference

By Willie Nicklaus

Thought this would be a good time to do a follow up on some of the freshmen who have been contributing to their respective teams, as the regular portion of the season has concluded and conference tourneys are ready to begin.

I like to use OPS percentage as a gauge as the equation includes power factors as well as on-base frequency. I have also included the HR and Extra-base hits frequencies to show a player propensity for delivering a big hit. With the conferences getting ready to do battle this week, we included the overall batting averages and also batting averages in conference play only. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 2010 Top Players, ACC, Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Big 12, Big East, Big South, Big West, Cal State Fullerton, CBB Column, Coastal Carolina, Conference USA, Florida, GT, Kent State, LSU, MAC, Middle Tennessee, Rice, SEC, Tennessee, Texas, University of San Diego, West Coast Conference, West Virginia

Six Zags Record Multiple-Hits In 7-4 Victory
Los Angeles, Calif. - The bottom four batters in Gonzaga University’s line-up accounted for 10 of the Bulldogs’ 14 hits Friday as the Zags posted a 7-4 victory over Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. Tyson Van Winkle led GU at the plate, going 3-for-5 with a double and one run scored. The game was the opening contest of a three-game West Coast Conference series with the Lions.

With two games remaining in the season, Gonzaga (29-22 overall, 9-9 WCC) is now one game short of 30-wins. Should the Zags hit the mark, it would mark the second consecutive season with 30-plus wins. It would also mark the first time in27 years that GU has won 30 or more games to back-to-back years. Gonzaga last accomplished the feat during the 1981 and 1982 seasons.

Bulldog starter Matt Fields (8-3) posted an impressive outing to earn the win. The junior threw a perfect game through four innings and did not surrender a hit until the sixth inning, as Fields finished the contest allowing three runs on five hits, while striking out seven over 7.2 innings. CJ McClure earned his second save of the season for GU, allowing only one hit during the final 1.1 frames of the game. LMU (22-31 overall, 6-13 WCC) starter Martin Viramontes (3-6) suffered the loss, allowing five runs on nine hits, seven walks, over 6.0 innings.

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Tags: Dallas Baptist University, Saint Mary's, Santa Clara, University of San Diego

FROM CBB NEWS SOURCES
(DURHAM, N.C.) – USA Baseball announced today its initial list of 12 collegiate players who have accepted invitations for the 2008 National Team Trials held June 11-23 throughout the northeast and southeast United States. The list is comprised of eight sophomores and four freshmen. In all, 32 players will be invited to the National Team Trials with 22 of those players being selected for the National Team roster. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 2009 Top Players, Arizona, Arizona State, Auburn, Big 12, Big West, Cal State Fullerton, Missouri, Oklahoma State, Pac 10, SEC, Team USA, Tennessee, University of San Diego, Vanderbilt, West Coast Conference

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Junior left-hander Ricardo Pecina tied a career-high with 11 strikeouts and senior second baseman Kevin Hansen recorded his first collegiate home run to help lead the eighth-ranked University of san Diego baseball team to a 5-3 win over UCLA Tuesday evening in a non-conference game at Jackie Robinson Stadium.

Pecina (5-2) pickup the win on the mound for the Toreros has he came on in relief in the first inning and allowed no runs on four hits in 5.2 innings of work. AJ Griffin recorded his 12th save of the season as he allowed no runs on one hit in 2.2 innings of work.

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Tags: Pac 10, UCLA, University of San Diego

Crow or Matusz, Matusz or Crow? That seems to be the question. Fortunately for comparison sake, the only similarity they really share is they are both studs.

I am not going to get into college numbers when comparing them, because most college numbers are useless. The fact that Matusz struck out 16 against San Fransisco really does no good in his future projection. Something I will bring up is the K/BB ratio because I feel it is important no matter what division or league a pitcher is in that they throw strikes and have dominating stuff; Matusz with a 71:15 ratio and Crow with a 67:11. But, Crow plays against better competition blah blah blah that it why I do not want to get into comparing college stats. They are both dominating the college ranks, enough said. Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: 2008 Top Players, Big 12, Missouri, MLB Draft, University of San Diego, West Coast Conference

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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Tags: Loyola-Marymount, University of San Diego, West Coast Conference