It seems as though it's been someone different stepping up each game for USD's baseball team during a school-record winning streak that reached 16 with yesterday's 11-3 West Coast Conference victory over Loyola Marymount.

Junior first baseman Jose Valerio took his turn yesterday, hitting two home runs that produced six RBI at Cunningham Stadium.

“Anytime you're part of a group or part of a team, everybody is expected to contribute,” said USD coach Rich Hill. “The thing I'm most proud of with Jose is he just waited . . . When he got his chance, he really went off. That's the most spectacular thing about his deal.”

Valerio, from Castle Park High, redshirted in 2005 and got but 20 at-bats the past two seasons as understudy to starter Daniel Magness.

“I've been waiting for my shot,” said Valerio. “I never said anything because I knew I would get it.”

Magness graduated after last season, creating an opportunity. Valerio emerged from a group of candidates, batting .356 with two homers and 12 RBI coming into yesterday's game against the Lions (20-23, 5-10 WCC).

Valerio hit a grand slam in the second inning that just cleared the fence inside the right-field foul pole. There was no doubt on a two-run homer in the eighth that sailed over the trees beyond the left-field fence.

“I would ask myself, 'Can I play at this level?' ” said Valerio. “Then I got my shot. The confidence is there now that I can go out and compete.”

USD's Kyle Blair (5-2) got the victory in relief of starter Sammy Solis. Blair struck out eight in five innings, allowing two runs and three hits. James Meador added a two-run homer and three RBI for USD.

USD (35-11, 13-2 WCC) leads the conference by three games over second-place Pepperdine (8-4), which took a week off from conference play. The Toreros travel to Pepperdine this weekend for a three-game series.

SDSU loses to TCU

San Diego State pitchers struggled for a second straight day in a 13-6 Mountain West Conference loss to TCU at Tony Gwynn Stadium.

It was a critical game for the Aztecs, who relinquished control of their destiny in the conference race with the loss. They will now need help to finish first or second. The top two teams receive first-round byes in next month's MWC tournament at TCU. The tournament champion receives an automatic NCAA Tournament berth.

New Mexico leads the MWC with an 11-4 record, followed by TCU at 13-5 and SDSU at 11-7. The Lobos and Horned Frogs own a tiebreaker advantage against SDSU by virtue of taking two of three games in their series' against the Aztecs.

SDSU (25-19 overall) concludes conference play with three games at Air Force and three at BYU over the next two weekends.

The Falcons, by the way, aren't the pushovers they once were. Air Force ended a 55-game conference losing streak Thursday with a walk-off grand slam for a 13-9 win over BYU. The Falcons beat the Cougars 11-10 Saturday with a ninth-inning rally.