April 2, 2002
San Diego - The first meeting of the season between cross-town baseball rivals University of San Diego and San Diego State will take place Tuesday evening, April 2, at Tony Gwynn Stadium at 6:00 p.m.
Both teams are coming off conference series in which they dropped two of three games. USD lost twice to Loyola Marymount at home while SDSU won just one of three games at Utah last weekend.
Both San Diego State and USD boast similar team stats in the hitting and pitching departments. The Aztecs are hitting .322 while the Toreros are batting .321. SDSU's team earned run average stands at 3.87 while San Diego pitchers have combined for a 4.02 ERA.
The Toreros (25-8, 8-4 West Coast Conference) come into the game ranked 25th in the nation this week by Baseball America. They are led offensively by David Bagley (.487, 8 HR, 28 RBI) and catcher S.C. Assael (.364, 7 doubles, 27 RBI). Left-hander Tony Perez (1-2, 1.80) is expected to get the starting call on the mound.
San Diego State will look to third baseman Chad Corona (.378, 6 HR, 23 RBI) and freshman outfielder Jake McLintock (.371, 8 doubles, 21 RBI) to lead its attack. Sophomore right-hander Rob Harrand (3-0, 3.97) will likely start on the mound for the Aztecs.
Following tonight's game, San Diego State will play an exhibition contest against the Lake Elsinore Storm, the Class A affiliate of the San Diego Padres, on Wednesday (April 3) at 7:05 p.m. at The Diamond in Lake Elsinore. That game will be televised live by Cox Channel 4 in San Diego.
The Aztecs return to Mountain West Conference action when they host New Mexico in a three-game series at Tony Gwynn Stadium beginning Friday evening at 6:00 p.m.