USD BASEBALL FINISHES THIRD IN WCC RACE
The University of San Diego baseball team slipped to third place in the West Coast Conference after losing two of three games over the weekend to regular-season champion Gonzaga.
A first- or second-place finish would have afforded USD a first-round bye in this week’s WCC tournament at Stockton’s Banner Island Ballpark.
Instead, the No. 3 seed Toreros (32-18, 17-10 WCC) will meet No. 6 seed USF (28-28, 14-13) at 3 p.m. in Wednesday’s tournament opener. USF took the season series against USD in April. The Toreros won the first game 8-3 before losing on 6-5 and 3-2 scores.
USD actually tied for second place with Portland at 17-10, but the Pilots earned the No. 2 seed by virtue of winning the season series against the Toreros last month in Portland.
The double-elimination tournament runs through Sunday, with the winner receiving the WCC’s automatic berth in the 64-team NCAA Division I Regionals.
Wednesday’s other game matches No. 4 seed BYU (33-20) against No. 5 seed Loyola Marymount (19-32-1) at 7 p.m.
Top-seeded Gonzaga (34-15) and No. 2 seed Portland (31-21) await Wednesday’s winners (the Bulldogs play the lowestseeded winner).
USD came into the weekend needing a sweep to take the regular-season title. Those hopes were dashed with Gonzaga’s 8-4 win in Thursday night’s opener. In Friday’s doubleheader, USD won the first game 7-4 before losing the finale 1-0.
The Toreros went with sophomore standout Brycen Mautz in the opener against Gonzaga, which positions him to start Wednesday’s game against USF.
Mautz, a left-hander from Westview, has been the Toreros’ top pitcher this season, going 8-2 (Ryan Kysar is second on the staff with four wins) with a 4.02 ERA and 114 strikeouts in 781⁄3 innings.
More locally
Brooke Seay, a junior at Stanford and Francis Parker graduate, is the recipient of the Elite 90 Award for the 2022
NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Championships. The Elite 90, an award founded by the NCAA 13 years ago, recognizes the true essence of the student-athlete by honoring the individual who has reached the pinnacle of competition at the national championship level in their sport, while also achieving the highest academic standard among their peers.
Saturday’s late results
The San Diego Loyal (6-3-2) dropped a 2-1 USL Championship decision at the Rio Grande Valley. Kyle Vassell scored in the 37th minute for the Loyal.
• Dane Dobbie scored at 2:26 of overtime to lift the San Diego Seals to an 11-10 victory at the Colorado Mammouth to force Game 3 in their Major Lacrosse League playoff series next Saturday at Pechanga Arena.
• The San Diego Strike Force (2-7) lost at home to Tucson, 6865, in Indoor Football League play.
WNBA
Alyssa Thomas and Brionna Jones scored 18 points apiece and the Connecticut Sun (4-1) breezed to a 92-70 victory over the Indiana Fever (2-6).
• Candace Parker finished with her second career tripledouble and the Chicago Sky pulled away in the second half to beat the Washington Mystics 82-73.
Also
A person familiar with the deal tells AP that free agent defensive end Jadeveon Clowney
agreed to re-sign with the Cleveland Browns.
Clowney, who revived his career last season with Cleveland playing opposite All-Pro end Myles Garrett, will sign a oneyear, $11 million contract.
• Sweden picked up its fifth win in six games at the hockey world championship by beating Norway 7-1 in group play in Finland. Switzerland stayed unbeaten and Germany extended its winning run.
• Olympic gold medalist Ariarne Titmus broke the women’s 400-meter freestyle world record at the Australian swimming championships. Titmus finished in 3 minutes, 56.40 seconds in the final at the South Australian Aquatic Centre to improve on Katie Ledecky’s
previous mark of 3:56.46 that the American set at the 2016 Rio Olympics.