Road To Rosenblatt feature: San Diego Toreros

When you mention the words "baseball" and "San Diego" -- the first thing that usually pops to mind is Tony Gwynn.

Gwynn, of course, made his name as one of the best hitters of his generation and played his entire career for his hometown San Diego Padres. And he's now the head coach at San Diego State University.

But when it comes to San Diego baseball in college, the team on everybody's radar right now is the University of San Diego Toreros, who have leaped into the upper echelon of the college baseball world and enter the 2008 season as one of the teams to watch for this summer's College World Series at Rosenblatt Stadium.

Coach Rich Hill is in his 10th year with the Toreros and has taken them from a middle-of-the-road program to a team that posted its first 40-win season, became the first West Coast Conference team to earn a national seed in the NCAA tournament, and is ranked in the top 10 in every major preseason poll heading into the 2008 season.

Not bad for a school that plays in a 1,200-seat facility and lacks a revenue-generating football program.

The team scrapped its way through the West Coast Conference, but really didn't gain national attention until early in the 2006 season. It was then that a little-known Toreros squad took defending national champion Texas out behind the woodshed for a three-game sweep. When that happened, experts began to take notice that this little program was starting to make some big noise.

Last year, the Toreros ripped through the WCC and had the No. 8 national seed going into the NCAA tournament. Unfortunately, they stumbled in the opening round and were unable to recover, losing to eventual College World Series participant Cal State Fullerton.

Things are looking good for this year, though. Pitcher Brian Matusz was named a first-team Preseason All-American by Baseball America, and pitcher-outfielder Josh Romanski was a second-team honoree. They are among a group of talented players returning for Coach Hill as he works to get San Diego University its first-ever trip to Rosenblatt Stadium for the 2008 College World Series.