San Francisco and San Diego to compete in the NCAA Baseball Tournament

Jun 20, 2012; Omaha, NE, USA; The ground crew covers the field as it starts to pour rain before South Carolina Gamecocks plays the Kent State Golden Flashes in game ten of the 2012 College World Series at TD Ameritrade Park. The start of the game was delayed due to rain. Mandatory Credit: Matt Ryerson-USA TODAY Sports

Let me preface this post by apologizing to all of our readers that were looking for an NCAA baseball fix. West Coast Convo  should have been covering college baseball from the get go. Since we are such a new site, we are still trying to figure everything out. However, I can assure you that we still have been paying attention to the great baseball conference that is the WCC.

This weekend, the tournament field was set, and teams were assigned to their according regional groups. The San Diego Toreros and the San Francisco Diamond Dons both were included in the field as three seeds.

San Diego won the WCC tournament, so they were given an automatic berth into the tournament. San Francisco, on the other hand had to earn an at-large bid, which fortunately for the Diamond Dons, they did.

The Toreros went 15-9, and 34-24 on the season, and sneaked their way in the NCAA tournament by winning the WCC tournament, even though they finished behind Gonzaga in the regular season standings. They took down the fourth seeded Diamond Dons two to zero on Saturday to earn their automatic berth.

They are led by superstar third baseman Kris Bryant, who is leading the entire country with 31 home runs hit in 58 games. His .53 home runs per game is far above the best in all of collegiate baseball. Mark Kramer, a USD statistician, did some research, and came to the conclusion that if he were using an aluminum bat instead of an NCAA regulated composite bat, he would have 49 home runs, which would be one more than the record of 48, set by Pete Incaviglia of Oklahoma State in 1985. Incaviglia played 75 games that season, so according to Kramers study, Bryant would have hit a mind-boggling 68 home runs in the 1985 season. The West Coast Conference is blessed with one of the best sluggers the sport has ever seen. This is the type of player that could take the Toreros on a deep, Cinderella like run and make it to an NCAA Super Regional.

They are the three seed in the Los Angeles regional, that has UCLA as the one seed, Cal Poly as the two seed, and San Diego State as the four seed. They take on Cal Poly in there first round matchup at 5 P.M. ET on May 31st at Jackie Robinson Stadium in Los Angeles. The game will be aired on ESPN3. The winner will take on the winner of the UCLA-San Diego State matchup, and the loser will take on the loser of the same matchup.

San Francisco’s path to the NCAA tournament was a lot different from that of the Torero’s. The Diamond Dons were the four seed in the WCC tournament, where they made a run to the championship game, and lost to San Diego, which I alluded to before. San Francisco was selected to the 64 team field as an at-large bid over the weekend. There resume is almost identical to San Diego’s, with a 15-9 conference record and 34-22 overall.

The Diamond Dons will be taking on the two seeded Rice Owls in their first regional game in Eugene. The game will be at 5 P.M. ET on May 31st at PK Park in Eugene, Oregon. The winner will take on the winner of Oregon and South Dakota State, and vice versa for the losing team. This game will also be aired on ESPN3.

More coverage to come from these teams on their NCAA tournament runs.