A week ago, Pepperdine had the audacity to deal USD's Brian Matusz his first loss in more than two months.
Matusz took it out on USF yesterday, holding the host Dons without a run for eight innings before the No. 8-ranked Toreros settled for a 4-2 victory.
USD clinched at least a share of the West Coast Conference regular-season championship with the victory. More important to the Toreros (39-13, 16-3), they assured themselves home-field advantage for the WCC Championship Series, which is May 23-25.
USD, which defeated Gonzaga at home to win last year's title, will play either Pepperdine or Santa Clara in the best-of-three series. The winner receives the conference's automatic NCAA tournament berth.
Kevin Hansen's two-run double in the first inning got things started for USD. Kevin Muno's solo homer and James Meador's RBI double accounted for the Toreros' other runs.
Matusz (10-2) allowed seven hits, struck out 14 and did not walk a batter in 8 1/3 innings against USF (29-22, 10-9), reaching double figures in wins for the second straight season. He went 10-3 a year ago.
Matusz departed with a 4-0 lead but was charged with two runs when USF's Joey Railey hit a two-out single off Toreros closer A.J. Griffin.
Griffin ended the game one batter later to get his 13th save, tying USD's single-season record set by Tony Perez in 2003. Griffin, incidentally, is one of 12 players who have accepted invitations to play for Team USA this summer.
Aztecs lose at BYU
San Diego State's winning streak ended at four with a 10-4 Mountain West Conference loss at BYU. SDSU (29-22, 15-8 MWC) struggled from the outset as starting pitcher James McLaughlin failed to retire a batter in the second inning. McLaughlin was charged with six runs (five earned) as BYU (20-32, 8-12) built an early 6-0 lead.
UCSD eliminated
UCSD lost to Cal State Stanislaus 6-5 in 10 innings, eliminating the Tritons from the California Collegiate Athletic Association tournament in Chico. Ninth-ranked UCSD (37-19) let an early 4-0 lead get away in the double-elimination tournament.
Softball
SDSU clinched at least a share of the MWC title with a five-inning, 9-0 victory at UNLV. It was the school-record 42nd win of the season for the Aztecs (14-5), who are a game ahead of second-place BYU. Christina Ross won.
Water polo
The fourth-seeded SDSU women's team lost to No. 5 UC Davis 9-8 in the first round of the NCAA Championships at Palo Alto. SDSU (29-7) will play in the consolation bracket today.
