IRVINE — UCSB’s Hudson Barrett was named Big West Freshman Pitcher of the Year Thursday, and joins teammates Matt Ager, Jared Sundstrom and Ivan Brethowr on the All-Big West First Team.
In addition, Gauchos Aaron Parker, Jonah Sebring, and Tyler Bremner all received Honorable Mentions.
Barrett finished his first season of collegiate baseball as one of the best pitchers in the country, let alone The Big West. The lefty from Bakersfield put up the fifth-best ERA among all qualified Division I pitchers during the regular season, 1.92, leading the conference in that category as well as batting average against, with opponents hitting just .195 off of him.
He finished sixth in the conference with 82 strikeouts, the most by any Big West freshman.
A Swiss Army knife on the mound, Barrett worked 61 total innings for the Gauchos in every kind of situation: long relief, closing games, and even starting. He started four games this season but makes the all-conference team as a reliever, with 17 appearances out of the bullpen.
He allowed just three earned runs in his 40 innings of relief, giving him a sparkling 0.68 ERA in those 17 games. He finishes the year undefeated as a reliever and 5-1 overall with a team-high six saves.
Matt Ager joins Barrett as an All-Big West First Team pitcher, having taken up the mantle of UCSB’s Friday starter and ace this season.
One of the nation’s top strike-throwers, the sophomore made himself a candidate for Big West Pitcher of the Year, racking up 115 strikeouts, the tenth most in Division I, in 92-1/3 innings of work this season.
Ager pitched every weekend for the Gauchos, going 5-4 in 15 starts with a 3.12 ERA. Eleven of those outings were quality starts — at least six innings pitched while allowing three or fewer runs — including eight of his first 10. He threw three scoreless outings this season and was named Big West Pitcher of the Week after two of them — his stunning seven-inning outings at Oregon and Cal State Fullerton.
Jared Sundstrom slugged his way into the Gaucho lineup and onto the all-conference team in his first season of Division I baseball.
The transfer from Santa Rosa Junior College topped The Big West leaderboards in home runs (15) and slugging percentage (.672) this season, while also leading UCSB in RBI (43), batting average (.322), and doubles (15).
Pairing speed with his power, he stole 11 bases on 13 attempts, the second-most on the team and the best success rate of any Gaucho with more than five stolen bases.
The outfielder earned Big West Player of the Week honors after a monster weekend at Oregon, but arguably his two biggest moments came later in the season. At UC San Diego in April, he launched a home run off a moving trolley behind the left field fence to help the Gauchos complete their sweep of the Tritons, and against California Baptist in May, his grand slam broke the program record for team home runs in a season, the Gauchos’ 79th long ball of the year.
Ivan Brethowr, Sundstrom’s fellow slugger and occasional outfield-mate, joins him on the All-Big West First Team, though as a designated hitter.
The transfer from Arizona State started the season hot, hitting a home run in his first game for the Gauchos and a pair of long balls in his first Blue-Green Rivalry game against Cal Poly, but suffered an injury that caused him to miss much of the month of April.
He returned to the lineup as the Gauchos’ designated hitter and was just as productive, driving in the second-most runs on the team (14) over the final 20 games.
He finished the season with 11 home runs, including his second two-homer game of the year at Long Beach State, and a .979 on-base plus slugging percent (OPS), the seventh-highest in The Big West.
Aaron Parker earns an Honorable Mention for his strong season behind the plate, standing out even in a conference full of talented catchers.
The Gaucho backstop ranked second among Big West catchers in batting average (.321), slugging (.551), and OPS (.966) as well as fielding percentage (.989). Strong both at the plate and behind it, Parker threw out as many would-be base stealers as he hit doubles, 11 of each, and clubbed 10 home runs.
The sophomore hit his first career long ball at Oregon, then hit his second in the same game. He also had a multi-homer game at UC San Diego, making him one of just four Gauchos with at least two such games this year.
Jonah Sebring was a catcher’s worst nightmare this season, stealing a conference-best 14 bases en route to earning an Honorable Mention.
Sebring caught fire during conference play, stealing nine of those 14 bags and posting a .333 batting average in Big West games.
He swiped home against UC San Diego to score the winning run on April 21, and absolutely erupted against UC Riverside to earn his first Big West Player of the Week Award, hitting .444 with two home runs, nine RBI, and four steals against the Highlanders. The transfer from Golden West College finished tied with Sundstrom for the best batting average on the team, .322.
Tyler Bremner began the season as part of Santa Barbara’s starting rotation before moving into the bullpen, earning an Honorable Mention in the process.
The freshman righty finished the season averaging the 10th-most strikeouts per nine innings (13.01) in the country, the best K/9 ratio of any qualified Division I freshman.
He racked up 80 strikeouts on the season, the second-most by a Big West freshman behind only Barrett, picking up four saves on the season as well.
The first of those saves came at Oregon, when he threw three hitless innings with seven strikeouts in just his second collegiate outing. He also notched saves against conference foes UC San Diego and UC Davis, not allowing a hit or walk in either game.