LA JOLLA, Calif. - The No. 1 ranked UC San Diego baseball team (48-7) faces Hawaii Pacific (37-10) in the NCAA West Regional on Thursday in Compton. The winner of the four-team regional will advance to the College World Series in Cary, North Carolina. UCSD is coming off its third California Collegiate Athletic Association tournament championship and second consecutive. Hawaii Pacific won the Pacific West Conference and is also joined in the tournament by Cal State Dominguez Hills (40-18) and Chico State (35-18).
The Sea Warriors enter the NCAA Tournament having won nine consecutive games. HPU has one common opponent with UCSD. The Sea Warriors faced Grand Canyon in two, four-game series, with HPU winning six of the eight match-ups.
HPU is hitting .356 as a team, with four starters hitting .400 or better. Kenny Turner leads the Sea Warriors with his .440 average and has 11 stolen bases. Blake Amaral has a .400 average with seven homeruns, 18 doubles and a team-high 105 total bases. Tyler Davis is hitting .314 and has a team-high 19 stolen bases.
The Sea Warriors have stolen 70 bases and own a .960 fielding percentage.
On the mound, HPU has a team 5.08 ERA. The starting pitchers have primarily been Michael Greene (6-2, 3.70 ERA, three complete games), Caelen O'Meara (6-1, 3.94 ERA, four complete games, .234 opponents batting average), Toby Inouye (7-2, 5.50 ERA, three complete games) and Chad Wagner (3-1, 6.87 ERA).
In the bullpen, Danny March is 6-0 with a 3.09 ERA and four saves while Sergio Contreras is 2-0 with a 2.78 ERA and three saves.
UCSD is led by CCAA Player of the Year, Brandon Gregorich. The senior first baseman is hitting .468 with 94 hits, 28 doubles and 79 RBI, all program records.
Kellen Lee is hitting at a .415 clip with 18 of his 49 hits going for extra bases. Lee has also allowed only seven stolen bases this year behind the plate.
Vance Albitz is second on the team with his 87 hits and 18 doubles. He is also UCSD's all-time hits leader with 323 career hits as a Triton. That number is also currently the seventh-highest career hit total in NCAA D-II history.
On the mound, UCSD has several aces on its staff, including CCAA Pitcher of the Year, Matt Rossman. Rossman is 9-0 with a 2.37 ERA, holding opponents to a .237 average. Tim Shibuya is 11-2 with a 2.10 ERA and four complete-games. Guido Knudson is 8-3 with a 4.11 ERA and 66 strikeouts in 72.1 innings. Kirby St. John is 11-1 with a 3.92 ERA and recently threw a complete-game in UCSD's CCAA baseball tournament championship game victory.
In the bullpen, Daniel Simmons (4-0, 2.29 ERA) and Elias Tuma (1-0, 3.65 ERA) have three saves apiece.
