Head Coach: Nino Giarratano
Overall Record: 32-25    WCC Record: 16-5
All-WCC Team: Nik Balog, Connor Bernatz, Travis Higgs, Pete Lavin, Stephen Yarrow (Defensive Player of the Year), Kyle Zimmer
Top Hitter: Pete Lavin (.347)   Most RBI's: Stephen Yarrow (35)    Most Home Runs: Nik Balog, Travis Higgs, Ted Lemasters and Stephen Yarrow (4)
Most Wins: Matt Hiserman, Elliott Waterman, Kyle Zimmer (6)    Most Strikeouts: Kyle Zimmer (89)

The 2011 USF baseball team's season started slowly, but finished with a hot streak to claim their second West Coast Conference title in six years. The Dons opened the season by getting swept by the top ranked, and 2010 NCAA runner-up UCLA Bruins, then dropped their next two games to find themselves 0-5. USF then won nine of its next 12 games, including a 7-6 extra inning win on the road at No. 15 California.

USF claimed the final game of a three-game series at 9th ranked Fresno State and beat Cal Poly 4-0 to finish the bulk of its non-conference season, and carried a pedestrian 13-16 record into WCC play.

The Dons went 1-2 in the first league series against Saint Mary's, but sprung to life with a three-game sweep at Portland. USF handled the Pilots 19-2, 6-1 and 6-1. The sweep against Portland started the Dons on a 10-game win streak in WCC play. USF swept rival Santa Clara and Loyola Marymount before San Diego cooled off the Dons by taking two out of three from USF in early May in Southern California. The Dons swept Pepperdine at home to set the stage for a big final series with Gonzaga.

USF entered the final weekend of WCC play needing to win two out of three games against Gonzaga in Spokane to claim the league title. Things began well in game one as USF prevailed 4-2 behind starting pitcher Kyle Zimmer, who held Gonzaga to just two runs on six hits with two strikeouts in seven innings. Gonzaga bounced back to win the second game of the series 7-5 to set the stage for a 'winner take all' game three on Sunday. The Dons prevailed 4-2, using timely hitting, stellar defense and solid pitching to grab the title.

USF earned the league's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament advancing to the NCAA Los Angeles Regional, hosted by UCLA at Jackie Robinson Stadium. USF opened the double-elimination tournament with a 3-0 shutout against the 12th ranked Bruins, then faced off against No. 15 UC Irvine in the winners bracket. The Anteaters edged USF 4-3 as the Dons scored two runs in the ninth inning and had the tying run on second base when the final out was recorded.

The loss put USF in an elimination game and the Dons came up short in a rematch against UCLA, falling 4-1. The Dons did not go down without a fight, mounting a rally in the ninth inning and sending the tying run to the plate before the Bruins closed it out. The Dons finished the season with a 32-25 record and were 18-6 during their final 24 games.

Did You Know? The Dons were the best defensive team in the country, committing only 33 errors in 57 games. Their fielding percentage of .985 was tops in the country out of 292 Division I baseball teams and only one team in the entire nation committed fewer errors than the Dons. The .985 fielding percentage tied an NCAA record set by West Virginia in 1971.

They Said It: "I can't even describe this feeling. It's unlike anything I've ever experienced, especially after chasing this dream for four years. I wouldn't trade this day for anything in the world. It's the greatest feeling I've ever had," third baseman Stephen Yarrow after the Dons clinched the WCC title on the final day of the regular season.