Toreros Talk

SAN DIEGO (USD) - The University of San Diego baseball team remains in the top-10 as they moved up two spots to No. 7 in the latest Collegiate Baseball top-30 poll. The Toreros held steady at No. 11 in the latest baseball America top-25 poll and held steady at No. 12 in the latest Rivals.com top-25 poll.

Baseball Tickets On Sale
On Friday, May 23, tickets to the West Coast Conference Baseball Championship Series between USD and Pepperdine will be sold out of the Jenny Craig Pavilion Ticket Office.

Padres on Deck @ Cardinals, Game 1 of 3

St Louis (26-20) at San Diego (16-29), 7:05 pm, 4SD/1090/105.7

SAN DIEGO (Ticker) - As if things weren't already bad enough for the San Diego Padres, they stand to move on without their ace Jake Peavy for at least one start, if not longer. While Peavy sits out Monday with right elbow soreness, the Padres limp into a three-game series with St. Louis Cardinals.

San Diego, saddled with baseball's worst record, lost its 10th series in 11 tries with Sunday's 3-2 loss against Seattle. Now they may need to proceed without Peavy, who won the NL pitching triple crown last season by leading the league in wins, strikeouts and ERA after the ace admitted he has been dealing with soreness in his elbow. Peavy will undergo an MRI on Monday. His loss further stresses a San Diego offense that has scored a major league-low 150 runs and is second-to-last in all of baseball with a .236 team batting average.

In Peavy's absence, the Padres will turn to Wilfredo Ledezma (0-0, 2.63 ERA), who will make his second spot start of the season. The lefthander fared well in that start on May 8 - allowing one run over four innings - but surrendered three runs and five hits in his last relief appearance in Wednesday's 8-5 loss to the Chicago Cubs.

The Cardinals will answer with Todd Wellemeyer (4-1, 3.27), who is coming off arguably his best start of the season. The righthander, who has yielded just three runs over his last three turns, allowed one run and two singles over seven-plus innings in a 5-1 win against Pittsburgh on Wednesday.

SoCal MLB Preview

Cincinnati (21-23) at LA Dodgers (22-21), 7:10 pm

LOS ANGELES (Ticker) - Coming off consecutive poor starts, there may be no team that Brad Penny wants to see more than the streaking Cincinnati Reds. Penny looks to end his own two-game slide by continuing his personal dominance against the Reds when the teams begin a three-game set at Dodger Stadium on Monday.

Penny sat out his scheduled start in Sunday's 10-2 setback against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim due to stiffness in his arm. Given his recent struggles, an extra day figures to do nothing but help the righthander, who is 5-0 with a 1.48 ERA against the Reds since he joined the Dodgers in 2004.

However, the Dodgers' ace has been anything but dominant lately, surrendering a total of 15 runs and 19 hits over his last two starts - a span of just 10 2/3 innings. While striking out a season-high six over six frames in his last start, the righthander permitted five runs and nine hits in Tuesday's 5-3 loss to Milwaukee. Cincinnati has won six in a row after recording a pair of three-game sweeps against Florida and Cleveland.

The Reds will turn to Bronson Arroyo (2-4, 6.08) in hopes that he can help the team claim their longest winning streak since an eight-game run in 2006. After seeing his ERA skyrocket to a mark as high as 8.63 following a 14-7 loss to Atlanta on May 4, Arroyo has been sharp in his next two starts, allowing one run and striking out nine over eight frames in a 7-1 win over the New York Mets on May 10. He followed that outing by tossing seven scoreless innings on three days rest in Wednesday's 6-5 win over Florida, although he did not receive a decision.

Seattle Scores Late to Win

SEATTLE 3, SAN DIEGO 2---------------------

SEATTLE (Ticker) -- Jose Lopez drove in all three of his team's runs to lead the Seattle Mariners to a 3-2 victory over the San Diego Padres on Sunday. Lopez gave the Mariners a 1-0 lead with an RBI groundout in the first inning, but Seattle did not score again until Lopez came up big in the eighth. With the bases loaded, Lopez doubled to right field to score a pair of runs and give the Mariners a 3-2 lead. J.J. Putz made it stand up in the ninth, striking out two in a perfect frame for his fifth save of the season. Adrian Gonzalez hit a two-run home run in the fourth inning to give San Diego a 2-1 lead.

SoCal MLS Capsule

LOS ANGELES 5, FC DALLAS 1 --------------------------

FRISCO, Texas (Ticker) - The only thing hotter than the temperature at Pizza Hut Park were the Los Angeles Galaxy. The Galaxy scored four goals - including two by Edson Buddle - within a 15-minute span midway through the first half en route to a 5-1 victory over FC Dallas. Buddle went on to complete a hat trick five minutes from the end on a header at the left goalpost off a cross from David Beckham. The win moved the Galaxy (3-3-2) into sole possession of second place in the MLS Western Division standings, while FC Dallas (2-3-3) dropped to fourth in the division with the loss.

Buffalo Wins Indoor LAX Title

BUFFALO, New York (Ticker) -- Mark Steenhuis, Mike Thompson and the Buffalo Bandits stopped the upstart Portland LumberJax cold when it mattered most. Steenhuis had five goals and one assist and Thompson made a crucial save as time expired as the Bandits claimed the National Lacrosse League title with a 14-13 victory over the LumberJax at HSBC Arena on Saturday. Kevin Dostie had three goals and an assist for Buffalo (13-6), which ended Portland's surprising run en route to its first championship since 1996.

SoCal MLS Capsule

CHIVAS USA 3, DC UNITED 1---------------------

CARSON, California (Ticker) -- Midfielders Jesse Marsch and Sacha Kljestan scored three minutes apart as Chivas USA scored three unanswered goals in its 3-1 triumph over D.C. United on Saturday. Jorge Flores tallied in the 82nd minute to cap the three-goal second-half explosion for Chivas USA (2-4-2). Midfielder Marcelo Gallardo scored the lone goal in the 30th minute for D.C. United (2-6-0), which has lost five of its last six contests.

Tritons Talk

The 11th-ranked UC San Diego baseball team defeated Nebraska-Kearney 12-5 in NCAA West Region action on Saturday afternoon. The win set up a semifinal showdown with No. 6 Chico State, a game which the Tritons led through the middle innings, but mistakes led to a Wildcat comeback, a 3-2 win over the Tritons. Chico State must now win twice against Sonoma State for the right to go to the College World Series next week. UCSD's season comes to an end with a school record 43 wins (43-18).

Aztecs Beat

SAN DIEGO (SDSU) - For the third consecutive night, San Diego State saw Cal State Fullerton jump out to an early lead and the Aztecs were unable to overcome the deficit as they fell to the eighth-ranked Titans, 8-5, in the series finale at Goodwin field in Fullerton. It was the final contest of the regular season for SDSU, which will enter next week's Mountain West Conference Tournament with a record of 30-26. CSU Fullerton, which has a Big West Conference series at Long Beach State remaining, improved to 35-17 as it won for the sixth time in its last seven outings.

Softball Season Ends

The No. 19/21 San Diego State softball team was eliminated from the NCAA Regional with a 2-0 loss to host and No. 12/12 Fresno State in 11 innings Saturday night. The game, played in temperatures in the low 100s, ends the Aztecs' magical season at 44-17, their best record in school history.

Golf Stages Comeback

The San Diego State men's golf team staged a comeback for the ages on Saturday, vaulting 11 places from the 20th position into a tie for ninth to force a three-way playoff during the final round of the NCAA West Regional Championships in Bremerton, Wash. The Aztecs tied for the tournament low by carding a 5-under-par 283 over the final 18 holes of regulation, then capped off their improbable rally after a sudden-death playoff, shooting a combined 2-under par in a shotgun format along with Texas to eliminate Pepperdine as the top 10 teams from each of the three regionals advance to the NCAA Championship Finals, May 28-31, in West Lafayette, Ind.

Padres On Deck @ Mariners, Game 3 of 3

San Diego (16-28) at Seattle (17-27), 1:10 pm

SEATTLE (Ticker) - Erik Bedard provided the Seattle Mariners a much-needed lift on Saturday. Now they they hope Felix Hernandez can keep the momentum going. The Mariners hope to win a series for the first time in over a month when they meet the San Diego Padres in the rubber match of a three-game set on Sunday.

One of the reasons Bedard was acquired in the offseason from Baltimore was to ease the burden on the 22-year-old Hernandez (2-4, 3.38 ERA) so he would not have to be the ace of the staff. However, the young righthander has been done in recently by a lack of control and a lack of run support, thus the 1-2 punch of Bedard and Hernandez has yet to post wins in consecutive starts. Hernandez, who has walked 18 batters during his five-game winless drought, is receiving less than three runs of support per game. He lost his fourth consecutive start for the first time in his career in Tuesday's 5-2 loss at Texas when he allowed three runs over six innings, walking a season-high five in the process.

His pitching counterpart will be Shawn Estes (1-0, 2.57), who is coming off his first win since the 2005 season. The lefthander allowed three runs over 5 1/3 innings in Tuesday's 4-3 win over the Chicago Cubs.

SoCal MLB Preview

LA Dodgers (22-20) at LA Angels (25-20), 12:35 pm

ANAHEIM, California (Ticker) -- The Los Angeles Dodgers secured a rare win in their annual battle with the regional Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. The Angels will look to grab the rubber match of the interleague tussle on Sunday.

The Angels have dominated the "Freeway series" in recent years, taking eight of the last 10 meetings while outscoring their NL counterparts, 53-20, over that span. But the Dodgers struck early against Angels ace Ervin Santana on Saturday en route to a 6-3 victory. Rookie Blake DeWitt belted a two-run homer and scoring two runs in the Dodgers' win.

The Dodgers, who got just four innings out of starter Chan Ho Park on Saturday, will be asking Derek Lowe for a better effort on three day's rest. The veteran sinkerballer was pushed up a day because Brad Penny, who was scheduled to start the finale, was scratched due to arm stiffness. Lowe (2-3, 4.62 ERA) is 2-0 with a 3.00 ERA in three career starts on three day's rest but has been terrible of late, going 0-2 with a 7.59 ERA over his last four outings. He is 14-12 with a 3.97 ERA in 57 career games - 30 starts - in interleague play.

The Angels will counter with righthander Jered Weaver (2-5, 4.86). The 25-year-old turned in his best effort of the season Tuesday, yielding just one hit in seven scoreless innings, but did not factor in the decision against the White Sox. Weaver has had his way with the Dodgers in his brief career, owning a 2-0 record with a 1.50 ERA in two starts.