Complete NCAA Tournament Guide
THIS WEEK: San Francisco travels to Los Angeles to play in the NCAA Tournament. The Dons face off against host UCLA at 6 p.m. on Friday, June 3 at Jackie Robinson Stadium in the double-elimination regional. USF will play again at either 2 p.m. or 6 p.m. on Saturday, June 4.
LOOKING BACK: The Dons claimed a 3-1 non-conference win against Cal State Bakersfield before traveling to Spokane, WA for a three-game West Coast Conference series. USF won the first and third games 4-2 and lost the second game 7-5.
LIVE RADIO/STATS: Fans can visit http://sports.yahoo.com/top/collegebroadcast/teams/saf to listen to the Dons' NCAA Tournament games. Visit http://usfdons.com/sports/m-basebl/2010-11/schedule for the links for live stats for this weekend's game in addition to the links for the live video feed.
TOURNAMENT TIME: USF is making its second trip to the NCAA Tournament. The Dons advanced to postseason play for the first time in program history in 2006 where they lost to 11-2 to Miami, eliminated No. 9 Nebraska (the regional host) 5-1 and then lost to Manhattan 6-4.
CHAMPIONSHIP WEEKEND: The West Coast Conference title went down to the final game of the regular season. USF and Gonzaga entered the weekend with 14-4 records in league play, thus giving the winner of the series the championship as well. The Dons snagged the upper hand with a win in game one, but the Bulldogs rallied to even the series in the second game. San Francisco escaped from bases loaded jams numerous times in game three to outlast Gonzaga 4-2 for its second league title in six seasons.
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Stephen Yarrow became the second player in program history to earn West Coast Conference Defensive Player of the Year honors. The senior did not commit an error at third base after playing every single inning of the Dons' 21 league games. He recorded 18 put outs and 40 assists, including a spectacular line-drive stab to secure the final out that led to the Dons' WCC Championship. Joey Railey also earned the honor in 2008 as a second baseman.
SENSATIONAL SKIPPER: San Francisco coach Nino Giarratano earned his third West Coast Conference Coach of the Year award after leading his team to the league title. Giarratano also earned the honor in 2006 and 2005. On April 9, 2011 Giarratano celebrated his 350th career win at San Francisco and is now just seven wins away from becoming the all-time winningest baseball coach in school history. He is seventh in the WCC in all-time wins and needs just one more WCC win to move into sixth.
POSTSEASON HONORS: The Dons set a new program record with six First-Team All-West Coast Conference selections: junior Nik Balog, senior Connor Bernatz, senior Travis Higgs, senior Pete Lavin, senior Stephen Yarrow and sophomore Kyle Zimmer. Three other players — junior Aritz Garcia, senior Matt Lujan and sophomore Jason Mahood — were named Honorable Mention All-WCC. Alex Balog was named to the WCC All-Freshman team. Seven of the team's eight position players were recognized along with three pitchers.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: USF's Jason Mahood earned his first career West Coast Conference Player of the Week honor for his play during the final week of regular season play. He hit .600 against Gonzaga, going 6-for-10 and totaling four RBIs, four runs, a home run, a walk and a sacrifice hit. The sophomore was flawless at second base, collecting nine put outs with six assists and no errors. Mahood also notched a hit against Cal State Bakersfield.
PITCHER OF THE WEEK: Right-handed pitcher Kyle Zimmer was named the West Coast Conference Pitcher of the Week after earning a win and save on the mound in the Dons' series against Gonzaga. The sophomore gave up just two runs on six hits with two strikeouts in a seven-inning outing to win game one. He took the mound again in the ninth inning of the deciding game of the series to keep the Bulldogs off the scoreboard to preserve the win.
SINGLE-SEASON RECORDS: Senior Pete Lavin and Travis Higgs collected their 18th doubles of the season against Gonzaga, which puts them in a tied for the eighth-best single-season total in program history. Lavin also moved into 10th for single-season hits (78). First baseman Nik Balog set a new school record for single-season put outs (468). The Dons also broke a team single-season record in strikeouts (416) and are close to setting a new mark in saves.
THE NUMBERS ARE IN: USF finished league play second in batting average (.317) and fourth in ERA (3.92) and first in fielding percentage (.988), RBI's (130), runs (141), hits (239), walks (76) and home runs (19). The Dons had two hitters in the top ten in batting average with Travis Higgs third after hitting .385 and Pete Lavin sixth at .375. Lavin led the league in hits, plate appearances and at bats. Kyle Zimmer was fourth in the WCC in strikeouts (42) and ninth in ERA (3.09).
WINNING THE SERIES: USF won seven series this season after sweeping Pepperdine, Loyola Marymount, Portland and Santa Clara in three games. The Dons also won two out of three against Gonzaga, UC Davis and Pacific.
FIELD(ING) OF DREAMS: USF is second in the country with a .984 fielding percentage. The Dons have made just 32 errors in 54 games. The all-time record for best fielding percentage in a season is .985, which was set by West Virginia in 1971. Only two teams finished with fielding percentages of .980 or better in the past two seasons.
BANNER YEAR ON THE MOUND: The Dons' pitching staff is in the midst of turning in an impressive season. USF has totaled a program-best 416 strikeouts. The staff has also totaled 14 saves, which is second best in USF history and is currently fifth in team ERA at 3.89.
HOME SWEET HOME: USF finished the season 16-3 at Benedetti Diamond. The Dons won 11-straight games at home to close out the year.
FROM THE BULLPEN: Of all USF pitchers with at least 10 innings on the mound, relief pitcher Cameron Love leads the team in ERA (2.70). The junior has made 19 appearances to total 26.2 innings. He has given up just eight earned runs and struck out 24. Classmate Jordan Remer has pitched the most innings out of the bullpen, totaling 44.1 with 57 strikeouts.
MULTIPLE HITS: USF has 13 players that have registered multiple hit games this season. Eight of those players have done so in 10 or more games. Pete Lavin leads the team with 26 multiple-hit games and is the only Don to have notched four hits in a game this year. Junior Adam Clear has totaled three hits in four games this season.
TEAM EFFORT: The Dons had four different players earn West Coast Conference Player of the Week honors this season. USF players accounted for a fourth of those weekly position player awards. San Francisco also had three different pitchers named Pitcher of the Week throughout the season.
LOOKING FINE AT NINE: The Dons have nine seniors on their roster this season and all nine are on the team's travel list for the NCAA Tournament. The four position players have combined for 207 starts, while the senior pitchers have made 79 appearances.
