SAN DIEGO-Thursday through Saturday, BYU baseball (21-6, 7-2 in West Coast Conference play) visits San Diego to battle the Toreros (19-10, 4-5 in conference play). as the WCC season ensues for both squads.
Despite their 8-6 loss to Utah Wednesday at Salt Lake City, the Cougars’ 21-6 record is still their second-best mark after 27 games in program history.
The Cougars’ 7-2 conference record has them tied with Loyola Marymount atop the league standings.
BYU will go with senior right-handed pitcher Jordan Wood Thursday, sophomore right-hander Easton Walker Friday and sophomore right-hander Justin Sterner Saturday.
All of these hurlers, along with freshman reliever Reid McLaughlin, rank in the top 130 nationally in ERA. No other program in Division I has more than two such pitchers on their roster.
Additionally, the Cougars rank 45th nationally in team batting average (.290) and 37th in on-base percentage (.393).
Senior infielder Brian Hsu remains BYU’s leader in batting average (.380) while sophomore infielder Jackson Cluff (2 home runs, 28 RBI) and senior outfielder Brock Hale (7 home runs, 25 RBI) are the Cougars’ most productive offensive players.
The Toreros’ leader in batting average is sophomore catcher/first baseman Shane McGuire (.389) while he also leads San Diego in hits with 42.
The leaders in home runs for San Diego are senior infielder Jeff Houghtby and sophomore catcher Adam Kerner (3 home runs apiece).
The RBI leader for the Toreros is senior infielder Ripken Reyes (23 RBI) and the leaders of the pitching staff are junior left-hander Chris Murphy and Australian national, junior left-hander Josh Hendrickson, each of whom are 3-1.
