Rich Hill (Courtesy of San Diego Media Relations)
“We have built a top-25 caliber schedule,” stated Hill. “Our goal is to host a regional, and super regional at beautiful Fowler Park. With that in mind, the RPI is a huge factor and teams like Mississippi State, Texas, and Dallas Baptist are as good as it gets in the top half of our season.”
The Toreros will play 29 home games inside the friendly confines of Fowler Park, including hosting NCAA Tournament participants Dallas Baptist, Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State, and Super Regional participant and defending WCC champion Pepperdine University.
The Toreros will open up play in 2014 with seven consecutive home games, as Morehead State comes to San Diego for a four-game series beginning Feb. 13. USD will then play a double-header with the Eagles on the 14th, followed by a single on Feb. 15.
USD then hosts Dallas Baptist the following weekend for a three-game series, before beginning in a four-game road trip. USD will begin this road tilt with a Feb. 24 game against cross-town rival San Diego State, then USD travels to Austin, Texas to take on the Longhorns of the University of Texas, who was a College World Series participant a year ago.
After USD returns to San Diego on Mar. 3 for a mid-week clash with UC Riverside, USD hits the friendly skies once again, as they head to Starkville, Miss. to take on Mississippi State in a 3-game series.
San Diego will then return to San Diego to take on NCAA Regional participant Cal State Fullerton in a home game on Mar. 10, before opening up West Coast Conference play on Mar. 13 with the University of Portland coming to town for a three-game series.
USD will also host Brigham Young University (Mar. 26-28), the University of the Pacific (Apr. 10-12), the University of San Francisco (Apr. 17-19), and Pepperdine (May 8-10) in WCC play, and have road series with Santa Clara University (Mar. 20-22), Gonzaga University (Apr. 4-6), Saint Mary’s College (Apr. 24-26), and Loyola Marymount University (May 1-3).
USD’s remaining non-conference games are highlighted by a road game against Stanford (Mar. 23), home and home with NCAA Regional participant Long Beach State (home 4-17, away May 12), and a road game against Cal State Fullerton (Apr. 7).
USD will look to return to the West Coast Conference baseball championship’s this season, which will once again be held at Banner Island Ballpark, in Stockton Calif. The dates for this tournament are May 21-23.
