San Diego Baseball Dominates 2024 WCC Awards

Toreros win WCC Coach, Player, Freshman, and Defensive Player of the Year honors

A flurry of awards capped a dominant regular season for San Diego baseball on Tuesday, with Brock Ungricht named the West Coast Conference (WCC) Coach of the Year, Jakob Christian named the WCC Player of the Year, Logan Reddemann named the WCC Freshman of the Year, and Ariel Armas named the WCC Defensive Player of the Year alongside four All-WCC First Team selections, four All-WCC Second Team selections, two All-WCC Honorable Mentions and one All-WCC Freshman Team selection. 

Armas, Christian, Reddemann, and Austin Smith earned All-WCC First Team honors, Jack Gurevitch, Josh Randall, Conner Thurman and Will Worthington were named to the All-WCC Second Team, Jack Costello and Justin Decriscio took home All-WCC Honorable Mentions and Reddemann was named to the All-WCC Freshman Team.

For Ungricht, it's his first career WCC Coach of the Year honor after being promoted to become the Toreros' head coach prior to the 2022 season. In his three regular-season campaigns at the helm in San Diego he has steered USD to a 98-58-1 (.627) record, three consecutive WCC Tournament appearances, two WCC Championships (2022 Tournament and 2024 Regular-Season), and a win in an NCAA Regional (June 3, 2022 over Vanderbilt). Under his guidance, two Toreros have been named the WCC Player of the Year and 34 total USD players have earned All-WCC honors.

His selection marks the seventh WCC Coach of the Year selection in San Diego baseball history after USD Athletics Hall of Famer John Cunningham earned the honor in 1993 and 1998 and Rich Hill was recognized in 2002, 2007, 2008, and 2010.

Christian, a junior outfielder, is the 12th WCC Player of the Year in San Diego baseball history and the Toreros' first since 2022, when catcher Caleb Ricketts earned the award. He is the third USD player to be selected since 2021 (Thomas Luevano).

After transferring to San Diego prior to the 2024 season from nearby Point Loma Nazarene — where he was named the 2023 Division II CCA Ron Lenz Player of the Year — he turned in USD's most dominant offensive season since 2013, drawing comparisons to Torero Legend Kris Bryant after batting .362 (63-for-174) with 52 runs scored, 14 doubles, 22 home runs, 58 runs batted in, 23 walks, eight hit by pitches, an .822 slugging percentage, and a .456 on-base percentage while playing in 45 of his team's 50 games and making 44 starts in 2024.

He led the WCC in hits per game (1.40), home runs (22), home runs per game (0.49), RBIs per game (1.29), runs scored per game (1.16), and slugging percentage (.822) this year while posting the second-highest batting average of all WCC players and ranking second in total bases (143).

The San Diego native put together four multi home run games, 20 multi-hit games, 16 multi-RBI games, an 11-game hit streak, and a 24-game on base streak while homering in 13 of USD's 24 conference games this season.

Christian's numbers at the plate were even more dominant within WCC play, as he batted .420 (42-for-100) with 30 runs scored, 10 doubles, 15 home runs, 41 runs batted in,10 walks, five hit by pitches, a remarkable .970 slugging percentage, and a .491 on-base percentage.

His excellence wasn't limited to what he did at the plate. Christian posted a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage across 106 chances while playing primarily right field.

Tuesday's Player of the Year honor is the first career end-of-year conference accolade for Christian, who was named WCC Player of the Week twice this season.

To read the full story, visit USD Athletics. 

— USD News Center