By John Manuel

February 4, 2002

In coach Rich Hill's first three seasons at San Diego, the program was in a building process, fitting squarely under the label of "up-and-comer."

Now Hill's Toreros are the hunted, rated co-favorites in the West Coast Conference with Pepperdine, and ranked 51st in Baseball America's preseason Top 100. BA also tabbed the Toreros to win the WCC and earn what would be the program's first-ever regional bid.

So far, San Diego has reacted well to its status as a favorite. It swept UC Irvine last weekend, spoiling the Anteaters' return to Division I, then moved to 6-0 with a sweep of Cal Poly, grabbing three more wins against a Big West opponent.

"We think that's pretty good," said Hill, who recruited Taggert Bozied to San Francisco during his tenure with the Dons before coming to USD. "We're on a mission, to get a regional bid. There is a different feeling for our program, a different aura, and that's good. We expect to play to a certain level now and we should be up to that level for every game."

The fastest way to get to that goal, Hill decided, was to recruit San Diego heavily. A former teammate of Tony Gwynn's at San Diego State in 1981, Hill has recruited the talent-heavy San Diego area well, luring players such as pitcher/center fielder Tom Caple (who transferred in after a year at Texas), second baseman Mike McCoy and outfielder Joey Prast and Tony Perez. Hill estimates over half of his players are San Diegans, by design. "If it's close between a local guy and an out-of-state kid, it's going to be the local guy," he said.

With Gwynn coming into the college ranks as the Aztecs head coach next season, Hill sees even more competition on the horizon for talent in San Diego, but he expects the change will still be for the better.

"Tony's a friend and the programs really have a friendly rivalry," Hill said. "We want San Diego and the whole county to get behind college baseball. Hopefully we can put some TV things together and set up a three-game series at the Padres' new downtown park (scheduled to open in 2004). It's exciting. We're pulling for each other."

The Toreros also have shown they can go outside the local area. Catcher Luis Diaz-Miron and third baseman Freddy Sandoval, who had six RBIs in a 20-12 victory at Cal Poly on Sunday, are Mexico natives who came to California high schools. Ace lefthander Ricky Barrett, who has gotten off to a slow start, is from Sacramento. Shortstop Ben Quinto, whom Hill called a pleasant surprise for his early role as an offensive catalyst, came to town as a transfer from Las Vegas via CC of Southern Nevada.

They've come together for a team that can win with pitching or the bats. The 20-12 victory included another big day for Prast, who had five RBIs to complement Sandoval's six, and the Toreros took advantage of 12 Cal Poly walks. Friday, Caple pitched three shutout innings for the save after USD took an early 5-1 lead and held on for a 7-6 win. Saturday, the Mustangs had 14 hits but left 15 on base in USD's 6-1 victory. Perez came out of the outfield to scatter seven hits over 3 1/3 scoreless innings for the save.

It's that kind of balance that has the Toreros favored in the WCC, a league that usually only sends one team--the winner of the championship series between the two division winners--to regionals. So all San Diego has to do is finish as well as it started.

Around The Nation

• Florida State had an impressive start to the season, going 6-1 in a tour of Hawaii to get tuned up for this weekend's matchup with top-ranked Stanford.

The Seminoles won six of seven games, sweeping three against Hawaii-Hilo before losing the opener at Hawaii. Seven FSU players were benched for the first game against the Rainbows after missing curfew, and a bullpen meltdown helped Hawaii rally for a 3-2 win and the first victory for new head coach Mike Trapasso.

Senior Ryan Barthelemy starred for FSU, driving in 12 runs, scoring nine and clubbing five doubles during the trip. Junior lefthander Matt Lynch, who has the best stuff in the Seminoles' rotation, allowed eight hits and no runs in 12 innings, earning a pair of wins in his two starts.

However, the trip wasn't all good news. Florida State freshman shortstop Stephen "Dirt" Drew fractured his left foot rounding first base running out a triple during a 7-4 victory on Friday. He's expected to miss 6-to-8 weeks of action. Jeff Propst and Bryan Zech, who were splitting time at second base, will man the middle infield now with Propst likely to step in at short.

• The top-ranked Cardinal extended their winning streak to six straight against Cal State Fullerton, winning 7-4 behind Jeremy Guthrie on Friday and 17-1 behind six RBIs by Brian Hall on Saturday. But behind sophomore righty Darric Merrell, the Titans ended the streak Sunday, winning 6-3 with a 13-hit attack. Merrell worked 5 1/3 decent innings, giving up three runs before relievers Jordan DeJong and Chad "Big Chief" Cordero closed out the win.

Senior shortstop David Munoz, a transfer from NAIA Biola (Calif.), had a rough first two games of Division I ball, with one hit in his first eight at-bats and two errors. But he went 4-for-5 Sunday to key the Titans' attack.

• Cal State Fullerton plays another 1-2 team next weekend. Fresno State won its season opener 8-5 at Santa Clara, but the Broncos won the next two to give first-year coach Mark O'Brien his first victories. Santa Clara won 8-4 Saturday and 2-1 Sunday, getting a two-run single by right fielder Joey Gomes. After the Saturday win, O'Brien said, "(Sunday) is huge for us. If we can go out and play well and put ourselves in a position to win the game and the series, we could set the tone for the whole year."

Now we'll have to see if he was right.

• Defending national champion Miami won two of three games against visiting Tennessee in a rematch of last year's College World Series semifinal. Sophomore catcher Javi Herrera, Miami native, had two hits and drove in three runs as Tennessee beat the host Hurricanes 7-4 Saturday, snapping the Hurricanes' 18-game winning streak that dated back to the 2001 regular season (a May 4 loss to Jacksonville). Miami, which won Friday's opener 7-4 with a save from senior closer Vince Vazquez, won the rubber match 9-2 Sunday.

• Florida rang in the Pat McMahon era with a pair of romps against visiting Charleston Southern. Saturday's 25-1 victory included a school-record 29 hits, led by sophomore Ben Harrison's 5-for-6 effort. Sunday, senior righthander Alex Hart pitched six hitless, shutout innings en route to a 12-2 Gators victory.

• No. 22 Cal State Northridge swept its season-opening series from San Francisco, getting 18 strikeouts in the opener from three pitchers, including 12 in six innings from Bill Murphy. The Matadors scored 39 runs in the three games but may have lost junior righthander Kameron Loe to injury. Loe left the game Sunday after 1/3 of an inning.

• Cal senior righthander Trevor Hutchinson produced the top pitching performance of the weekend, tossing seven shutout innings and giving up three hits while striking out 11 against UNLV. Sophomore righty Matt Brown fanned four over the last two frames for a 2-0 Cal win. However, the Rebels won the series by taking the final two contests, the first victories for first-year head coach Jim Schlossnagle. UNLV won 4-2 Saturday behind three hits and two RBIs by third baseman Brent Johnson, then won 10-5 Sunday behind four RBIs by second baseman Garett Shitanishi.

• Arizona State won the inaugural Bill Kajikawa Classic, going 4-0 with a 13-5 victory against Oregon State, a 5-4 win over Oral Roberts and a pair of wins against Southern Utah. Sophomore righty Ryan Schroyer had 11 strikeouts in a 12-0 shutout of the Thunderbirds on Friday. Oregon State went 2-1 in the tournament, including a 10-9 win against ORU.

• South Alabama lost senior righthander Tony Neal for the year in preseason practice. The team's second-leading winner last year at 9-3, 3.89, Neal will have elbow surgery to repair ligament damage.