USD Baseball 2002

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2002 Torero Baseball

The West Coast Conference

200.1 wee DIV I S IONAL F I N I S I IES wee

Con,erence History: The baseball portion of the WCC started with fi ve charter members a nd three associate s as LM U, Pepperdine, Saint Mary 's, San Fran– cisco and Santa Clara were joined by UC Santa Barbara, Pac ific and San Jose State. The conference tem–

2 002 wee DIV I S IONAL ALl6NMENT

Overall w L

w

West Pepperdine Gonzaga Saint Mary's Santa Clara

Pct.

L

West Division Pepperdine San Diego St. Mary 's Portland Coast Division Gonzaga Santa Clara San Francisco L. Marymount

porarily sp lit from 1977-84 into the Northern and Southern Ca li– fo rnia Baseball Associations (so divi sional play isn't completly fo reign to the league), but rea ligned in 1985 to include San Diego and Nevada in a seven-team league. In 199 1, the Wolf Pack de– parted and a six-team loop ex isted until Portland and Gonzaga, full members in all other sports, left the Pac- IO North league to bring the WCC to its full-bodi ed eight-team set in 1996. This is the fifth year of the current eight-team WCC baseba ll alignment but the conference has determined a champion in the sport annuall y si nce 1968. During that time, teams in the WCC have advanced to four Co llege World Series, including a national title in 1992 (Pepperdine).

42 35 18 20

18

.833 .700 .636 .666

5

25 20 IO 9

2 1 36 30

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20

21

Coast San Diego Loyola Marymount San Francisco Portland

26 33 26 37

28 23 28 2 1

.545 .778 .500 .700

13 13 16 22

17 17 14

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Only three of th e current membe rs -- Loyo la Marymount, Pepperdine and Santa Clara -- have represented the WCC in NCAA tournament play. That trio has an all-time record of 70- 72 in the champi onships. Portland is the only other current member with NCAA tourney experi ence, most recently in 1991 as the Pacifie- IO North representative. The WCC sends representatives to NCAA champ ion– ships in each of the 13 league sports. Overall , conference mem– bers have won 32 NCAA team and individual titl es. West Coast Conference baseball enters its 35th season and its fo urth season of divisional play under an eight-team align– ment. Two four-team divi sions, aptly named "West" and "Coast" wi ll play a 30-game schedule. The champions of each division wi ll co llide at the end of the season in a best two-of-three series to determine the WCC's automatic entry into the NCAA Champi– onships. The site of that playoff will be based completely on the outcome of the regular season seri es meeting between the two champions. The wi nner of that three-game regular season colli– sion earns the ri ght to host the championships. Each team will play a total of six games aga inst each team in its own divi sion, three home and three away, and a single three-game series aga inst each team in the oppos ite di vision. Ev– ery two years two teams will swap di visions, effecti ve ly mixing the matchups over an eight-year span. Of note is the fact that traditional loca l ri vals (Ponland-Gonzaga; Saint Mary 's-San Fran– cisco; LMU-Pepperdine and Santa Clara-San Diego) will never be in the same di vision. Last season Gonzaga captured its fi rst divi sion title eventuall y fa lling to Pepperdine two games to one in the third WCC champ ionship seri es. Changes In Store For 2002:

Joey Prast Freshman of the Year

Rick y Barrett A II-WCC 1st Team

Tom Caple AII-WCC 1st Team

Yr. JR SR SR JR so SR SR so SR JR JR so JR JR

Pos.

School

First Team Kris Zacuto Jared Pitney Dan Garcia

C

LMU

18 28 38 ss

Pepperdine Pepperdine

USF

Taggert Bozied

Pepperdine San Diego

Tony Garcia Tom Caple

P/OF

DH OF OF OF OF

Gonzaga

Barry Matthews

Pepperdine Santa Clara Pepperdine Pepperdine Pepperdine San Diego Gonzaga

Dane Ball

Jack Headley

Woody Cliffords

Jared Hertz Noah Lowry Dan Haren Ricky Barrett

p p p

Freshman ofthe Year: Joey Prast, San Diego Coach ofthe Year: Steve Hertz, Gonzaga

Player of the Year:

Dan Haren, Pepperdine

1200 Bayhill Drive, Suite 302 San Bruno, CA 94066 (650) 873-8622 Fax (650) 873-7846

Pitcher ofthe Year:

Noah Lowry, Pepperdine