USD’s Jakob Christian selected WCC Player of Year as Toreros dominate conference awards

The University of San Diego baseball team dominated play in the West Coast Conference this season, winning the conference’s regular-season championship with a 20-4 record.

So it’s no surprise USD also dominated the WCC’s postseason awards announced Tuesday, with Toreros honored in four of the five categories.

USD junior outfielder/first baseman Jakob Christian was named WCC Player of the Year. Christian, who transferred from Point Loma Nazarene after earning NCAA Division II Player of the Year last season, batted .362 with 22 home runs and 58 RBIs.

Joining Christian with postseason honors were teammates Ariel Armas and Logan Reddeman, who earned Defensive Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year, respectively. Brock Ungricht was selected Coach of the Year in the conference.

Pitcher of the Year went to Portland’s Carter Gaston.

USD two-way standout Austin Smith, a junior from Granite Hills High School, joined the other three Toreros players on the all-WCC first team as a pitcher.

USD infielders Jack Gurevitch and Will Worthington and pitchers Conner Thurman and Josh Randall were second-team selections. The Toreros’ Jack Costello and Justin DeCriscio earned honorable mention.

The awards were determined in a vote of the WCC’s nine head coaches.

Christian is the third USD player in four years to WCC Player of the Year, joining Caleb Ricketts (2022) and Thomas Luevano (2021).

Reddemann is 7-3 this season with a 3.48 ERA and 57 strikeouts. He is the first Toreros player to win freshman honors since Bryson Brigman in 2015.

Armas had a .998 fielding percentage, committed only one error. He also threw out 13 would-be base stealers while becoming USD’s first defensive honoree.

Ungricht, in his third year as a head coach, guided USD to the program’s first regular-season title since 2015, when former coach Rich Hill was named coach of the year. USD’s 20 conference victories is one shy of the school, though the Toreros played four more conference games when they went 21-7 during that 1996 season.

USD (37-13) has won 26 of its past 29 games. The Toreros swept their last four conference series and claimed the top seed in this week’s WCC Tournament in Las Vegas.

USD gets a first-round bye to the WCC Tournament. The Toreros open teh event Thursday at 3 p.m. They will play the lowest remaining season after play-in games Wednesday involving No. 3 Saint Mary’s (33-20) vs. No. 6 Pepperdine (15-37) and No. 4 Gonzaga (19-30) vs. No. 5 Santa Clara (26-25).

No. 2 Portland (35-17) is the other team that received a first-round by in the double-elimination tournament. The WCC Tournament champion receives the conference’s automatic big to the NCAA Division I Regionals.