USD Baseball 2007

TOREROS AIM FOR RETURN TO REGIONALS

. . "There is going to be a learning curve with Sean Nicol at shortstop, but he is more than capable of blazing his own trail and not trying to fill the shoes of a Steve Singleton. If you look at the quality shortstops we have had here at USO, it has been an impressive run , and Sean is another one of those in a line of At second base there will be a familiar face to Torero fans, Justin Snyder. Snyder will move from center field to second, his more natural position. As a sophomore Sny- der opened a lot of eyes around the WCC as he had a break-out type of season. In 2006, Snyder served as the USO lead-off hitter and he responded with a .301 batting average, 66 hits, 14 doubles, three home runs and 33 RBI en route to earning an AII-WCC honorable "Justin Snyder is really going to surprise some people. He turns the double play as well as anyone on the west coast and has as strong an arm as anyone in the country," said great shortstops," said Hill. mention . Hansen posted solid numbers as he hit .276 with 53 hits, five doubles and 27 RBI. Hansen was best known this past season for his abil- ity to lay down the bunt and advance runners Now for the outfield. The WCC Freshman of the Year, Josh Romanski , makes his return and will move from left field to center field , as well as serve as a Saturday starter for the Toreros. Romanski was a valuable two-way player for the Toreros this past season as he hit .287 with 45 hits, six doubles, four home runs and 20 RBI , while also serving as the primary closer for USO. On the mound , Ro- manski led the team with five saves, while posting a 4.50 ERA and a record of 5-4. For his efforts, he was selected second-team All- wee and earned a Freshman All-American "Josh gets a great jump on the ball and tracks it extremely well ," said Hill. "The chal- lenge for us there is that we also see Josh as a starting pitcher, being a Saturday starter. So it is going to be a challenge for him to DH and be a starting pitcher, but I am confident In left field , the Toreros will look to a ju- nior transfer from UCLA, Mike Metzger. The coaching staff sees him bouncing back and forth between left and center field . This past season as a Bruin, Metzger played in 25 makes his return after a season that saw him hit .290 with 64 hits, 11 doubles, five home runs and 32 RBI. As a sophomore, Buschini led the conference in hitting en route to a first-team AII-WCC selection and the coaches think he is ready to return to that form. Another newcomer who could see time in both right and left field will be freshman James Meador. Meader comes to USO from Ramona High School after a standout career. He is a three-time first-team All-Valley League selection and as a senior he also earned first- into scoring position. distinction from Collegiate Baseball. he will be successful this season." games with five starts. Another familiar face will appear in right field for USO, Shane Buschini. Buschini

Sure the majority of the infield is gone and so too is second-round draft choic~ and Friday starter Josh Butler. But the allll-..&l cupboard is far from bare for the Univer- sity of San Diego baseball team entering the 2007 season as USO returns two freshman All-Americans in Brian Matusz and Josh Romanski as well as a wealth of offensive talent returning from the 2006 team that made a trip to the NCAA Re- 111111•• .......

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gionals.

The goals for this team are the same as they always have been , to win the West Coast Conference championship, make it into the NCAA Regionals and eventu- ally on to the College World Series. San Diego head coach Rich Hill also has the team focused on peak performance. "Our goals in our program are all centered around peak performance on a daily basis," said Hill. "The most im- portant game is the next game, so with that philosophy everything is centered on developing our players to be the best they can be on game day. We wi ll be training like our hair is on fire , training like mad men. We will not rest until this program achieves its ultimate goal of getting to the San Diego will look to some senior leadership to help them achieve their goals, and what better seniors to turn to then Jordan Abruzzo , Shane Buschini, Daniel Magness and Anthony Slama. Abruzzo and Slama were both second day draft selections in 2006 and will now be focused on helping th is team achieve Abruzzo will make his return as the starting catcher for the Toreros after a solid 2006 campaign that saw him take home second-team AII-WCC honors. This past season, Abruzzo finished with a .314 batting average, led the team in dou- bles (18), home runs (8)and in RBI (58). Abruzzo was peaking at the right time for the Toreros in 2006, as he tied a program record for most single-game home runs hit (3), most RBI (8) and most hits (5) in the second game of the NCAA Regionals Backing up Abruzzo as well as split- ting time with him behind the plate will be junior Logan Gelbrich. This past season Gelbrich split his time between the des- ignated hitter and catcher positions with Abruzzo and posted solid numbers. For the season, Gelbrich hit .322 with five "Both Jordan Abruzzo and Logan Gel- brich are upper echelon Division I catch- ers in my opinion," said Hill. "We just have that luxury here and we are very fortunate to have two catchers that are of Nick McCoy also makes his return to the Toreros to add depth to the catcher position. McCoy saw limited action in The continued depth at catcher sees two new faces in Stuart Kam as well as Steven Chatwood. Kam is a freshman from Kamehameha High School in Ho- College World Series." its goals. against Saint Louis. doubles and 10 RBI. that caliber." 2006.

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Hill. =;:::;;~~;::::~ in from the outfield to fill the hole left by the departure of Ryan Lilly. As a sophomore, At third base, Kevin Hansen will also move

league performer and as a senior he was named first-team All-State as he helped his team reach the state championship game. Chatwood is a freshman out of Redlands East Valley High School in Yucipa, Calif., where he was a three-time All-Citrus League performer. He gradually increased his hit- ting stats over the course of his outstanding career and he capped off his career with a .470 batting average this past season. Moving to first base, Magness makes his return as the only other returning infielder for USO. Magness was a solid force for the To- reros in 2006 and the coaching staff expects nothing less from him this season. As a ju- nior he hit .313 with 56 hits, seven doubles, Jose Valerio cou ld be a possible back- up for Magness at first base. Valerio was able to step in this past season and play a huge role for the Toreros down the stretch. He played in seven games with four starts at first base. Valerio had a huge hit in the bot- tom of the ninth inning to keep a rally alive against Santa Clara. Valerio posted a .267 batting average in those seven games. The Toreros will have to replace the re- mainder of the infield with the departure of first-team AII-WCC shortstop Steve Single- ton to pro baseball, as well as second base- man Keoni Ruth and third baseman Ryan Lilly. With the loss of these key infielders, some may wonder if it is a case of rebuilding "It is a case of rebuilding , especially early on," said Hill. "When you lose the heart and soul of the infield, Steve Singleton , who has done extremely wel l in pro baseball, it will make things difficult. But we are going to be looking to Sean Nicol to fill that void." Nicol is a shortstop transfer from the Uni- versity of Portland and is expected to come in and help the Toreros not skip a beat de- fensively in the infield. This past season with the Pilots, Nicol was the team's third best hit- ter with a .303 batting average, had 61 hits, 11 doubles, four home runs and 26 RBI. two home runs and 22 RBI. or reloading?

He was a three-time all-