Postseason preview: USD Baseball

Toreros look ahead to the WCC tournament & beyond 

MARI OLSON / SPORTS EDITOR / THE USD VISTA

As the University of San Diego baseball team finishes up its regular season, the Toreros are already looking ahead to the West Coast Conference (WCC) tournament and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) playoffs.

After sweeping the University of the Pacific last weekend, USD’s conference record stands at 16-8, putting the Toreros second in the WCC standings. 

USD beat Pacific 9-4 on Friday, May 6, after taking an early 5-0 lead in the third inning. The Toreros never looked back, and sophomore starting pitcher Ryan Kysar earned his third win of the season. 

On Saturday, May 7, the Toreros took another early lead. Pacific didn’t give up easily, blasting a three-run home run over the center field wall to take the lead in the seventh inning. USD fought back immediately, as sophomore Chase Meidroth drove in three runs of his own. The Toreros won 9-6. 

USD rounded out the sweep on Sunday, May 8, with a 12-5 rout of the Tigers. Sophomore Ivran Romero got the win as he pitched a career-high 5.1 scoreless innings.

The Toreros will play one final WCC series against the first-place Gonzaga University Bulldogs on May 20 and 21. The Bulldogs, currently ranked no. 11 in the country, recently defeated the University of Washington at home in a big win for the program. 

Head coach Brock Ungricht is happy with where his team is heading into the final regular season series. 

“We’re one game off of first behind Gonzaga. If you told me at the beginning of the season we’d be here I would definitely be happy with that,” Ungricht said. 

Ungricht isn’t looking to change much about the way his team is playing when they come up against the Bulldogs. 

“We’re going to continue to work on ourselves and continue to play Torero baseball. That’s all we can focus on, just staying consistent,” Ungricht emphasized. 

While the Toreros are not trying to leapfrog this important final series, they are already looking forward to the WCC tournament during the last weekend of May. 

This year, the WCC expanded its baseball tournament from four teams to six teams, so the top six in the final WCC standings will report to Stockton, CA on May 25 to begin play.  

The top two seeds at the end of the regular season receive a first round bye while seeds three through six play a set of single-elimination games on the first day of the tournament. This means one of the team’s biggest goals in the last series is to stay in the top two. 

After the first day, the remaining four teams play two rounds of double-elimination games to determine the WCC champion.

The winners of the tournament automatically receive a spot in the regional round of the NCAA postseason. 

Ungricht discussed his team’s approach heading into the conference tournament. 

“There’s so many good teams out there in our conference and we respect that, so it’s respecting your opponent and staying with our guys,” Ungricht said. “On the offensive side, on the pitching side, on the defensive side, continuing to believe in ourselves and each other and the process.”

Ungricht also said he and the team are feeling confident before the postseason. 

“I think our guys believe they can beat anybody, and it starts with that,” Ungricht said. “With playing a tough non-conference schedule early on, it’s something our guys can go back to and fall back on.” 

Ungricht knows that those early wins over the University of Oregon, Dallas Baptist University, and Grand Canyon University will give the Toreros a lot of confidence coming into the big moments ahead. 

“I think the guys feel really really confident in themselves,” Ungricht said. 

Even if the Toreros don’t win the WCC tournament, they may still have an opportunity to play. Aside from every conference’s winner, 34 teams are offered the final spots of the regional round. These teams receive invitations to these final games based on the success of their season overall, in addition to the difficulty of the season.

For example, the Toreros’ defeat of the University of Oregon during opening weekend of this season boosts their chance of being offered that spot should they miss out on automatic qualification.  

For Ungricht, the main focus after the series against Gonzaga is solely on the conference tournament. 

“Our goal has always been to win the conference championship. We’ll start from there and see where the chips fall after that, check one box at a time, and we’re in position and ready to do that coming up in a couple weeks,” Ungricht said. 

Overall, though, Ungricht is happy with how his team has played and adjusted during the course of the season. 

“It’s the ups and downs that you have and how you respond to it, how you handle it. It’s like anything in life, you’re going to be challenged and tested and it’s the ones who can believe in themselves and keep a good attitude when things aren’t going their way,” Ungricht said. “It’s also, from a team aspect, the guys that can lean on their brothers. I feel like our guys have done an exceptional job of that. I’ve been very proud of them for that.”

Continue to tune in as USD Baseball finishes their regular season in a must-win series against Gonzaga next weekend, and support the team in the last weekend of May as they begin their postseason schedule. 

The WCC tournament will be broadcast from May 25 through May 28 on wccnetwork.com, as the 10 teams compete for the conference title.