2019 All-CCAA Baseball Teams Announced
Video release
STOCKTON, Calif. – The CCAA individual award winners and All-CCAA squads have been announced as the
2019 CCAA Baseball Tournament is slated to get underway Wednesday from Banner Island Ballpark, home of the Stockton Ports.
The 2019 awards are headlined by a top contingent of UC San Diego Tritons. The regular-season champions earned acclaim with three of the individual awards going the way of UC San Diego. Shay Whitcomb picked up Most Valuable Player honors with Brandon Weed adding Most Valuable Pitcher to his name. Head coach Eric Newman earned his second Coach of the Year plaque (2012), after the highly-touted season.
Whitcomb, a sophomore from Newbury Park and honorable mention selection as a freshman, has paced the stout offense with a team-leading .337 batting average and .596 slugging percentage. Whitcomb's 23 doubles on the season rates second in NCAA Division II, just one back from the national leader Macy Holdsworth of UIndy.
In hist first year as a Triton after transferring from Southwestern College, Weed has been dealing all season long, amassing a 1.73 earned run average, 17th nationally, with a league-leading nine victories. The Lemon Grove native is the only CCAA pitcher to hold a WHIP under one, coming in at 0.96 to stand in 20th in the country.
At the helm of UC San Diego, Newman is in his seventh season with the program and is coming off back-to-back ABCA/Diamond West Region Coach of the Year honors looking to make it three after leading the team to their first CCAA title since 2012. Along with Whitcomb and Weed, third baseman Alex Eliopulos and catcher Aaron Kim make a conference-best four men on the All-CCAA First Team. Three more dot the lists of the second team, with three others adding honorable mention status to their bio.
Newcomer of the Year acclaim went to slugger Pierson Loska, a junior from Fountain Valley who came to the Toros by way of Cypress Valley College. Loska led the CCAA with 15 homeruns and 59 RBI, both marks good for top 20 rankings in the NCAA to date. He is the first Toro newcomer to be honored since Matthew Hopps in 2005, and just the second-ever since the award began in 2002.
Freshman of the Year Rylan Tinsley is the first Stanislaus State player to be awarded with any first-year honors. Tinsley, a pitcher from Stockton, will have the potential opportunity to make his postseason debut in his hometown as the Warriors enter the CCAA Tournament as the No. 4 seed. He has accumulated seven wins thus far in his freshman campaign on one of the top staffs in the conference. Starter Chase Wheatcroft and reliever Matt Pulos picked up All-CCAA first team honors for their work from the mound.
A trio of Cal State LA upperclassmen were voted as first-team selections, as outfielder Adam Gordon is joined by shortstop Tyler Okekirk and utility player Alec Daily. Also earning multiple selections on the all-conference team are Cal State San Marcos outfield duo Cabot Van Til and Austin Ott. Chico State landed a pair on the first team with pitcher Andrew Lopez and designated hitter Alex Devito making the cut.
Cal State Monterey Bay outfielder Kyle Dean and Cal Poly Pomona pitcher Tim Holdgafer are also part of the 17-man All-CCAA first team. Second baseman Gabe Chavez the CCAA batting regular-season batting champion with a .413 average for Cal State San Bernardino, rounds out the coaches first-team picks.
All 12 teams representing the conference have at least one man earning acclaim, and interestingly, all but one of the 34 first- and second-team players to earn distinction hail from California.
The league's honorees were selected after voting from the 12 CCAA coaches.
| 2019 CCAA Baseball All-Conference Team |
| Most Valuable Player: |
Shay Whitcomb, UC San Diego |
| Most Valuable Pitcher: |
Brandon Weed, UC San Diego |
| Newcomer of the Year: |
Pierson Loska, Cal State Dominguez Hills |
| Freshman of the Year: |
Rylan Tinsley, Stanislaus State |
| Coach of the Year: |
Eric Newman, UC San Diego |
| All-CCAA First Team |
| Pos. |
Name |
Yr. |
School |
Hometown |
| C |
Aaron Kim |
R-So. |
UC San Diego |
Orange |
| 1B |
Pierson Loska |
Jr. |
Cal State Dominguez Hills |
Fountain Valley |
| 2B |
Gabe Chavez |
Sr. |
Cal State San Bernardino |
West Covina |
| SS |
Shay Whitcomb |
So. |
UC San Diego |
Newbury Park |
| 3B |
Alex Eliopulos |
R-Sr. |
UC San Diego |
La Jolla |
| INF (SS) |
Tyler Odekirk |
Jr. |
Cal State LA |
Rancho Santa Margarita |
| OF |
Kyle Dean |
Jr. |
Cal State Monterey Bay |
San Diego |
| OF |
Adam Gordon |
Sr. |
Cal State LA |
Mission Viejo |
| OF |
Austin Ott |
R-Sr. |
Cal State San Marcos |
Vista |
| OF |
Cabot Van Til |
Sr. |
Cal State San Marcos |
San Diego |
| P |
Tim Holdgrafer |
Sr. |
Cal Poly Pomona |
San Diego |
| P |
Andrew Lopez |
Sr. |
Chico State |
San Diego |
| P |
Brandon Weed |
Jr. |
UC San Diego |
Lemon Grove |
| P |
Chase Wheatcroft |
Sr. |
Stanislaus State |
Santa Clarita |
| RP |
Matt Pulos |
Sr. |
Stanislaus State |
Brentwood |
| UTILITY |
Alec Daily |
Gr. |
Cal State LA |
Temecula |
| DH |
Alex Devito |
Sr. |
Chico State |
Northridge |
| All-CCAA Second Team |
| Pos. |
Name |
Yr. |
School |
Hometown |
| C |
Andrew Garcia |
Jr. |
Cal State San Marcos |
San Dimas |
| 1B |
Grant Buck |
Sr. |
Cal State San Marcos |
Carlsbad |
| 2B |
Ryon Knowles |
Jr. |
Cal Poly Pomona |
Corona |
| SS |
JT Navarro |
Jr. |
Chico State |
Fountain Valley |
| 3B |
Nate Alam |
Sr. |
Cal State LA |
Placentia |
| INF (3B) |
Grant Victor |
So. |
Stanislaus State |
Pasadena |
| OF |
Jeremy Ciolek |
So. |
Cal State Dominguez Hills |
Laguna Niguel |
| OF |
Jack Harris |
Jr. |
San Francisco State |
Watsonville |
| OF |
Braeden Oki |
Sr. |
Stanislaus State |
Tracy |
| OF |
Kyosuke Ushimaru |
Sr. |
Cal State East Bay |
Tokyo, Japan |
| P |
Kevin Hahn |
Sr. |
Stanislaus State |
San Mateo |
| P |
Preston Mott |
Sr. |
UC San Diego |
Clovis |
| P |
Greg Steinbeck |
Jr. |
Cal State Monterey Bay |
San Benito |
| P |
Ted Stuka |
Jr. |
UC San Diego |
Newport Beach |
| RP |
Kyle Lucke |
Sr. |
UC San Diego |
El Dorado Hills |
| UTILITY |
Joseph Bahna |
So. |
Cal State San Marcos |
Upland |
| DH |
Nic Hernandez |
Sr. |
Cal Poly Pomona |
San Dimas |
| Honorable Mention |
C – Noe Garcia (CSULA), Logan Gopperton (CPP); 1B – Blake Baumgartner (UCSD); Kory Brown (SSU); 2B – Kyle Czaplak (CSUMB), Vinny Margiotta (STAN);
3B – Adam Hollar (CSUEB); OF – Alex Athanacio (UCSD), TJ Dove (CSUMB), Kai Gomez (CSUDH), Zachary Guardino (SSU), Nic Hernandez (CPP),
Cesar Lopez (CPP); P – Jack Higgins (SFSU), Austin Isenhart (CPP), Grant Larson (CHICO), Mike Lopez (CSUSM), Ethan McRae (CSUMB),
Brian Martinez (CSUEB), Rylan Tinsley (STAN); UTIL – Keenan Brigman (UCSD), Domenic Colacchio (CSUDH), Harley Lopez (SFSU); DH – Steve Robinson (CSUEB), Kokko Figueiredo (CSUMB) |