Overview:
UCSB has advanced to the NCAA Tournament eight times while posting a win-loss record of 529-287-5 during Andrew Checketts’ 15 seasons as head coach
Tradition versus innovation.
It’s as much a competition of strategies in baseball — from the sacrifice bunt to the designated hitter rule — as it is in life.
Former Disney CEO Bob Iger put it this way:
You risk neglecting your future when you “revere your past.”
Finding the right balance between the two may require a tightrope act.
UC Santa Barbara baseball coach Andrew Checketts chose to take that walk.
He produced a Disney-type ending for this year’s team by intertwining tradition and innovation into a lifeline.
He got creative six weeks ago by giving a history lesson to rally his Gauchos from a losing streak that had dropped them into a tie for third place in the Big West Conference.
Checketts conjured up a visual metaphor by calling a team meeting in front of the warning track that runs along the outfield fence at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium.
“Your backs are against the wall,” he said.
He then pointed at the eight conference championships, 14 NCAA regional appearances and the 2016 College World Series berth that are listed on the padding of that outfield fence.
“I walked them through it,” Checketts told Noozhawk.
He gestured toward his first NCAA regional team of 2013.
“Those guys had to win their last six series in a row, and they went into the last weekend needing to sweep (UC) Davis,” he said. “… And they did it.”
Checketts turned their attention next to UCSB’s historic season of 2016.
“They lost the series to (UC) Riverside, got swept by Cal Poly, snuck their way in (to the NCAA tournament) with the sixth-worse batting average in program history,” he said.
“… And then they played their way into the College World Series.”
He then recalled the eight-game winning streak that propelled UCSB into the 2021 regionals.
Checketts finished his lecture with the Gauchos’ remarkable finish of 21 consecutive league victories in 2024.
The streak took them to a Big West Conference title, a No. 13 national ranking, and their first hosting of an NCAA regional at Uyesaka Stadium.
“I told them, ‘I know it feels like it’s not doable right now, but it’s been done,’” he said. “‘It’s been done in that uniform. It’s been done in that dugout.
“‘It’s been done, and you guys are capable of doing it. But your wiggle room is gone.’
“So that mapped it out for them.”
Whole Nine Yards
The road to this year’s Big West title demanded victory in each of the last nine league games.
The Gauchos won them all.
UCSB completed that run despite falling behind UC Riverside, 3-0, in its regular-season finale at Uyesaka Stadium.
Dramatic home runs by Jonathan Mendez, Nate Vargas and Noah Karliner — plus a tie-breaking single by Rowan Kelly — rallied the Gauchos to a 5-3 victory and a share of the regular-season championship with Cal Poly.
Two former local high school rivals — seniors Kellan Montgomery of Dos Pueblos and Chase Hoover of San Marcos High — invested themselves in Gaucho tradition after witnessing its triumphs as boyhood fans.
They pitched all but the final two outs on that Senior Day.
Freshman pitcher Josh Jannicelli got the last two and then talked of how UCSB’s heritage buoyed his confidence for the season’s journey.
“It’s my first year here and first year I’m part of the team,” he said. “We have a great team structure, good team chemistry, so that makes it all the better, winning a game like this.
“It’s been a crazy first season.
“Obviously, we’re not done, but this is a nice point in the road.”
The journey didn’t end until last week’s 6-4 defeat to sixth-ranked Texas in the regional final in Austin.
Visions of the Sam Cohen grand-slam homer that walked off a 4-3 victory at Louisville to advance UCSB to the 2016 College World Series danced in the heads of all Gaucho fans during the team’s last at-bat at Texas.
UCSB trailed 4-2 when Kelly, its leading hitter and RBI man on the year, came to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning.
“We were open for a Sam Cohen moment there … for somebody to hit a fly ball into the jet stream to left field and walk them off,” Checketts said.
It was not to be. Kelly’s fly ball to left stayed well inside the fence, putting a period to this chapter of the Gaucho saga.
UCSB, 40-20 overall, nevertheless reached the stellar 40-win mark for the seventh time in Checketts’ 15 seasons as coach.
The Gauchos upheld their end of the program’s tradition. That served as a bit of salve to the sting of the heartbreaking defeat to Texas.
“They’re just good kids and good teammates and such solid workers,” Checketts said.
“They were also fairly low-ego guys and seemed pretty grateful to be playing baseball in Santa Barbara.”
Wait Till Next Year
But who will be playing baseball there next season?
A good chunk of UCSB’s 40 wins were pitched by Jackson Flora, a 6-foot-5 junior with a whip of a right arm.
He set the school record with 133 strikeouts in 102 innings. His 12-0 win-loss record and 1.06 earned-run average nearly erased two other Gaucho marks.
Flora technically could return next year for his own Senior Day, although a multimillion-dollar caveat makes that an inconceivable prospect.
Most pro scouts project that Flora will be the top pitcher taken in the July 11 Major League Baseball draft — somewhere between the No. 2 and No. 5 overall picks.
Former UCSB pitcher Tyler Bremner was taken by the Los Angeles Angels at No. 2 last year.
The slot value of the Tampa Bay Rays’ upcoming No. 2 pick is $10,507,000.
Even going at No. 4 with the San Francisco Giants would earn Flora a projected payday of $8,988,400.
Checketts could theoretically out-bid those MLB clubs with an NIL (name, image and likeness) deal.
“Anybody want to write a $10 million check?” he mused.
He’ll also lose Montgomery, who fashioned a win-loss record of 8-4 and 4.00 ERA as his Sunday starter.
His two other starters are also both draft eligible: junior Calvin Proskey, who missed half of his turns this spring with an injury, and sophomore Nathan Aceves, who is ranked No. 275 in Perfect Game’s list of draft prospects.
Checketts said junior lefthander Cole Tryba, who has logged eight career wins and 13 saves as a one of the UCSB’s top relievers, “is likely to sign.” Perfect Game ranked him No. 261 on its most recent draft list.
Hoover, who was granted a redshirt season for last year’s injury-shortened season, can also return.
But he and junior A.J. Krodel are on the radar of pro scouts after both earned four saves this season.
That leaves Checketts’ pitching up in the air for next season.
“We’ve got some work to do, obviously,” he said. “You lose the best amateur pitcher in the country two years in a row, it’s hard to replace that. We don’t have another one waiting in the wings.
“If Aceves comes back, he could be (the ace). He’s got to improve, but if he comes back, he could be a front end of the rotation-type pitcher for us.
“We’ve got Jannacelli, who got his feet wet this year and has high upside.”
Checketts is also looking to sophomores Van Froling and Raymond Olivas to “make some physical jumps in the offseason.”
“Froling was nicked up, so it was hard to really do much with him,” he said. “Olivas really came on in the fall and in January, and then he just faded as the season progressed.
“We need him to do a good job physically to be bigger and stronger and have the ability to maintain his stuff with the wear and tear of the season.”
Frosh Approach
Help should arrive with the incoming class of high school recruits.
“We do like the freshman arms we have coming in,” Checketts said. “We’ve got some left-handers in the group, and our freshman class this year didn’t do a good job on the left side of it.”
One of those incoming lefties, Jason Jutronich of Torrey Pines High in San Diego, was rated by Perfect Game at No. 338 on its MLB draft board.
Checketts said that a pair of righthanders — Caleb Trugman of Ayala High in Chino Hills and Gavin Guy of Newport Harbor High, ranked at 336 by Perfect Game — are getting the most attention from pro scouts.
“My suspicion is that similar to Bremner and Jannicelli, their price tags are probably going to put them out of reach (with the pros),” he pointed out. “But you never know.
“Gavin is from a Gaucho family. His brother plays volleyball here (All-Big West outside hitter Riggs Guy), his dad played tennis at UCSB, and his mom was also an athlete here.”
His father, Cory Guy, led UCSB to the NCAA Sweet 16 in men’s tennis in 1997 and was voted Big West Tennis Player of the Year in 1999.
The Gauchos also have pulled on some family ties to recruit Flora’s younger brother, Hudson Flora — but as a catcher, not a pitcher.
He batted .405 as a senior at Pleasanton’s Foothill High and threw out 16 of 17 would-be base stealers as a junior. Newspaper reports out of the Bay Area indicate that he’s gotten a long look from the former Oakland Athletics.
“He’d get drafted if he was signable, but he’s pretty committed to school,” Checketts said. “His price tag is probably out of range for most teams.
“He’s got a long, lanky frame like Jackson, and he’s got the arm gene.
“It’s a plus-plus arm, and he has good hands and bat-to-ball skills, too.”
There’s a Catch
Vargas, UCSB’s graduating All-Big West catcher, hit 22 homers and drove in 93 runs the last two seasons.
The Gauchos will return backup catcher Nico Libed, a University of San Diego transfer. Checketts also hopes that Ian Fernandez, who’s missed nearly two full seasons with injuries, will heal up to provide some power behind the plate.
“Fernandez has the tools to be a pro prospect,” he said.
“We don’t need a bunch of bodies, but we do need to find some power,” he added. “That’ll be the goal in the (NCAA transfer) portal and with the JCs.”
Mendez, Corey Nunez and Xavier Esquer should all be back to give the Gauchos senior leadership on next year’s infield.
Also set to return are freshman infielders Cade Goldstein and Ryan Severns. They started 34 games between them at second.
“That gives us a solid core group of infielders coming back, but we’ve got to figure out first base,” Checketts said.
The outfield should also be experienced.
Kelly, a sophomore centerfielder, led the team offensively with a batting average of .342, 58 runs scored and 52 RBI.
Two other potent hitters — Liam Barrett (.317) and Colin Beazizo (.321) — are also expected back in the outfield. Injuries limited Beazizo to 30 games.
“That one hurt us,” Checketts said. “He was a big part of it, had really got going, but never got back fully healthy.”
The coach entered recovery mode himself last week by decompressing with a walk around Lake Los Carneros.
“It’s my first off day in a while, although I have been making some phone calls,” Checketts said. “Just a little vacation, but today will be it.
“The toy gets wound up now. It doesn’t get wound up in season.”
