USD Baseball 2007

will be Blake Tagmyer. He is a freshman from Grandview High School in Centen– nial, Colo. He was a two-time first-team All-Centennial League selection and as a senior he hit .520 with eight home runs, while helping his team make a trip to the Elite 8 of the playoffs. Steve Winnick comes to the Toreros after a standout career at Horizon High School. He helped lead his team to four consecutive Coastal League champion– ships. As a senior he hit .525 en route to being selected first-team All-State for small schools, and a first-team AII-CIF Di– vision IV. One of the keys to the Toreros earning an at large bid into the Regionals in 2006 was their strength of schedule. 2007 is no different, as once again Hill and his coach– ing staff have put together another strong schedule. Should USO win these tough non-conference games and not win the wee championship, they should have a ) Texas to take on the Texas Longhorns in the second week of the season. The fol– lowing weekend the Toreros will head to Los Angeles, to take on parental power Southern Cal in a three game set, two in L.A. and one in San Diego. Add the Colonial Athletic Association perennial power Virginia Commonwealth , followed by Wake Forrest at home, then a rematch with the school that knocked USO out of the NCAA Regionals, a very strong Fresno State team in Fresno, Calif. To close out the non-conference portion of the schedule the Toreros will have to face an always strong University of Hous– ton team and one of the top teams in the Mountain West in UNLV. Once this non-conference portion of the schedule is over, USO must face a vastly improving wee slate with Pepperdine, Loyola Marymount and San Francisco, all of who, year in and year out, are tough op– ponents. Now add in Santa Clara who has one of the better recruiting classes according to Hill as well as Gonzaga and Saint Mary's, and San Diego's schedule is as tough as it has ever been. "The key is to just take care of business in conference. Last year, I thought the conference was the best that I had seen in my 13 years of coaching in this confer– ence," said Hill. This year, we may not be as strong from top to bottom, but there is way more parity." 2007 wee PRESEASON COACHES POLL good chance at earning another at large ~~ - be1h~me of the highlights of the San Diego (J '1 /JA schedule include a trip to Round Rock, ri 'V/t,

success of this team," said Hill. "They have the potential to eat up a good number of in– nings. Both of those guys could pitch a lot on weekends and either one of them cou ld start on Tuesday's." Looking at some of the newcomers who could see time on the mound as well are San Diego Player of the Year in 2006, freshman AJ Griffin from Grossmont High School. As a senior he posted an 11-3 record, had a 1.49 ERA with 110 strikeouts in 91 innings of work. As a junior he was selected as the San Diego Pitcher of the Year after posting an 8-3 record and a 1.99 ERA. Chad Blauer is another member of the bull– pen who could see some time as well. The freshman comes to USO after a stand-out ca– reer at Edison High School as an outstanding two-way player. As a senior he hit .375 and as a junior he hit .410 en route to earning a first– team All-Sunset League distinction . Darrin Campbell is another potential fresh– man that cou ld have a big impact on the To– reros. Campbell was a member of the Aliso Niguel baseball team. He missed the last two seasons as he was recovering from Tommy John surgery. He has fully healed and is ex– pected to see action this season . Some returners are also expected to see time on the mound as well. Russell Holzhauer makes his return to the Toreros for his junior season. As a sophomore, he posted a 2-3 re– cord with an ERA of 6.91 . Fellow classman, Luke Roniger, makes his return for San Diego after a sophomore season that saw him post a 4.50 ERA while making three appearances. Sophomore right-hander Scott DeNault also returns for the Toreros as he had an im– pressive freshman campaign. In 2006, De– Nault posted a 1-1 record with an ERA of 5.09. DeNault saw more action as the season pro– gressed and became a valuable middle relief pitcher for USO down the stretch. Michael Lugo also makes his return for the Toreros as a utility player. Lugo saw limited action in 2006 primarily serving as a pinch run– ner. He, like Valerio, had a huge hit against Santa Clara to help lift the Toreros to a three– game sweep over the Broncos as he went 1- for- 1 with one run scored. USD's final returner was a redshirt from this past season, Brent Planck. Planck was named the Harbor League Player of the Year award and named first-team All-Harbor League as a senior at Madison High School. USO has several other newcomers that could help them make thei r return to the NCAA postseason. One of these newcomers is a freshman out of Thousand Oaks, Calif. , Kevin Muno. As a senior at Loyola High School , he was named first-team Al l-Mission League af– ter hitting .400 and registering 30 stolen bases and helping his team advance to the quarterfi– nals of the CI F playoffs. Chris Viegas is the next new face in a To– rero uniform this season. He hails from Ather– ton, Calif., and is a graduate of Saint Francis High School. As a senior he hit .378 with two home runs en route to being selected second– team AII-WCAL. As a junior he was named third-team AII-WCAL after posting a .352 bat– ting average. Another key newcomer to the USO squad

team All-State after hitting .510 with 12 home runs. San Diego's pitching will once again be solid as two of the starting three pitchers from this past season make their return. Sophomore south paw Brian Matusz is projected to be USD's Friday starter. As a freshman , Matusz was named a freshman All-American by both Collegiate Baseball and Baseball America. He posted a 4-3 record with an ERA of 4.25 and fanned 93 batters in 89 innings of work in 2006. This season Matusz has already garnered indi– vidual attention as he was named to both the Roger Clemens Award watch list and the Wallace Award watch list. As mentioned before Romanski is pro– jected to be the Saturday starter and USO will conclude its weekend rotation with the return of junior right-hander Matt Couch. Couch is coming off one of his most impres– sive seasons as he posted a 4.00 ERA and had a record of 7-5, while throwing in 108 complete innings. For his efforts this past season, he took home AII-WCC honorable mention honors. USO doesn't have a prototypical closer; Hill and the coaching staff are loaded with talent in the bullpen , which could bear well for the Toreros. USO wil l look to Slama and sophomore Ricardo Pecina for some solid innings of middle relief or as a pos– sible midweek starter. Slama finished his injury plagued season with a 6.18 ERA and a record of 2-0. He was drafted in the 39th round by the Minnesota Twins, but has re– turned to try and improve his draft status. Pecina returns to the Toreros after a solid 2006 freshman campaign as he posted a 4.42 ERA and had a record of 4-4. Pecina came up huge for the Toreros in the NCAA Regionals. In the final game of the season against Fresno State, Pecina came in for some relief work and was lights out as he threw four scoreless innings allowing USO to climb back into the game. "Anthony Slama and Ricardo Pecina are probably two of the biggest keys to the

1. Pepperdine - 47 (6) 2. SAN DIEGO - 41 (1) San Francisco - 41 (1) 4. LMU-28 5. Gonzaga - 25

6. Santa Clara - 19 7. Saint Mary's - 16 8. Portland - 8 (First place votes)