BYU to face San Diego in WCC baseball series

SAN DIEGO — BYU resumes West Coast Conference play against San Diego in a three-game series, May 4-6, at Fowler Park. The Thursday and Friday games are scheduled for 6 p.m. PDT, with the Saturday game set for 1 p.m. 

BROADCAST INFO. ALL three games will be broadcast live on the BYU Radio App with Jason Shepherd on the call. The games will also be simulcast on 107.9 FM in the northern Utah market.

SERIES HISTORY. Thursday’s contest will be the 37th meeting between BYU and San Diego. The Cougars are 10-26 all-time versus the Toreros and 9-24 since joining the WCC for the 2011-12 season. Last year, San Diego won the three-game series, 2-1, in Provo. 

BYU-USD BY THE NUMBERS
BYU Overall: 10-26 (H: 4-11 | A:  5-11 | N: 1-4)
First Meeting: 3/21/1979 | 11-2 USD (in San Diego)
Last Meeting: 4/23/1922 | 4-3 USD (in Provo)

TORERO REVIEW. San Diego enters the weekend series with a 20-21-1 (.488) overall record and is 13-8 (.619) in WCC play, good for a second-place tie with Portland and Gonzaga. The Toreros have won six of their last 10 games, including a 3-0 series sweep over USF last weekend. 

COUGAR REWIND. BYU is 18-24 on the year and 8-10 in conference play. The Cougars are also 6-4 in their last 10 games and are currently in seventh place in the WCC standings. 

BYU ON THE HILL. Taking the mound for game one versus USD is junior lefty Mason Olson, who has a 3-3 record in eight starts. He leads BYU in innings pitched (63.0) and has an ERA of 5.14. The rest of the starting rotation for the weekend includes righthanders Bryce Robison and Ben Hansen. Robison will be making his 12th start on Friday. He is 5-2 and has thrown 61.1 innings with a 6.60 ERA. Hansen is 0-2 in seven starts with an ERA of 4.89 over 42.1 innings.

AT THE PLATE. Offensively the Cougars are hitting .248 as a team with a slugging percentage of .500 and are averaging 7.2 runs per game. 

Austin Deming leads the Cougars in just about every offensive category. The senior All-WCC third baseman is hitting .409, with 52 hits, 51 RBI, 14 HR, 19 2B and 113 total bases. He has a conference leading slugging percentage of .963 and an OBP of .496.

The Cougars are also getting big offensive numbers from Cole Gambill who is hitting .336, with 49 hits, 34 RBI, 12 HR, 47 runs and 113 total bases. Copper Vest is hitting .328 with 33 RBI and 23 runs, while Luke Anderson is hitting .322 with 22 RBI and 29 runs.