2022 All-CCAA Baseball Team >>>
After almost two years without competition, CCAA baseball proudly returned to the field this year for the 2022 season. Cal State Monterey Bay's Brady Miguel was named the Most Valuable Player, and his coach Walt White was named the Coach of the Year.
Cal Poly Pomona's Will Rudy collected Most Valuable Pitcher honors, and Cal State Dominguez Hills' Eric Smelko was named the Newcomer of the Year. Daniel Santos from San Francisco State was named the Freshman of the Year to round out the special honors for the 2022 season.
Brady Miguel helped power Cal State Monterey Bay to its third CCAA regular-season championship. The freshman shortstop led the CCAA with 76 hits and a .511 on-base percentage. He ranked second in batting average (.406) and runs scored (56), and his six triples paced the conference. Miguel registered 26 multi-hit games, including a 4-for-5, six-RBI, four runs-scored performance against Sonoma State, and a five-hit game against Cal State LA. The Hollister native also finished the regular season ranked in the top 10 in the CCAA in slugging (sixth, .583) and stolen bases (t-fourth, 16), and his 44 RBI ranked him 11th. Miguel is the first Otter ever to win CCAA Most Valuable Player.
Will Rudy pitched at the top of Cal Poly Pomona's rotation all season, and he helped lead the Broncos to a second-place finish. The freshman right-hander was third in the CCAA in earned run average (2.76), and he tied for the league lead in wins (7) and strikeouts (81). Opponents hit just .223 off Rudy, and he walked only nine batters in 75.0 innings (third CCAA). Rudy went at least six innings in 10 of his 11 starts, and the Broncos won every one of those games. He had two starts with 12 strikeouts, including a one-hit shutout of Sonoma State. Rudy is the first Bronco to win CCAA Most Valuable Pitcher honors since Michael Koval in 2016.
Eric Smelko gave Cal State Dominguez Hills back-to-back CCAA Newcomer of the Year winners. The sophomore hit .359 while ranking second in the conference in hits (75) and fifth in runs scored (53). He played in all 50 games as the primary center fielder and posted 23 multi-hit performances. He went 5-for-5 with five runs scored in a game against Cal State LA, and he had two other four-hit performances. Smelko joins Pierson Loska (2019), Matthew Young (2012), and Abel Martinez (2010) as previous Toros to win CCAA Newcomer of the Year.
True freshman
Daniel Santos caught the attention of the league's coaches throughout the season en route to earning CCAA Freshman of the Year honors. Santos led the Gators and ranked sixth in the conference with a .386 batting average and a .470 on-base percentage. He registered 10 doubles, two home runs, and 20 RBI while slugging .500 and scoring 28 runs. The Hacienda Heights native posted an 11-game hitting streak, and Santos closed out his freshman campaign by reaching base in 17 consecutive games. He is the second San Francisco State baseball student-athlete to earn the CCAA honor. (Mark Lindsay, 2012).
Walt White collected his third career CCAA Coach of the Year honor (2013 and 2018) after leading the Otters to a 36-13 record and a CCAA regular-season championship (31-9 CCAA). Cal State Monterey Bay led the CCAA with a 4.12 ERA and ranked second with a .254 opponent batting average. Offensively, his team posted a .294 team batting average, and they scored the second-most runs in the league (7.8 runs per game). The Otters clinched the CCAA title at Chico State by taking the first three games of the series.
Rudy, Miguel, and Smelko each earned All-CCAA first team honors for the first time in their career. Due to the lost seasons with COVID, there were no repeat CCAA first team selections. Cal Poly Pomona's Ryon Knowles moved up to the first team this season after earning second team honors in 2019.
Cal State Monterey Bay, led the CCAA with seven first- or second-team selections. Chico State and Cal Poly Pomona tied with six first- or second-team selections. The Otters and Broncos each had four first-team selections.
The six-team 2022 CCAA Baseball Tournament will begin Wednesday, May 11, in Chico. The first day will feature a pair of elimination games. No. 3 seed Chico State will face No. 6 seed Cal State Dominguez Hills at 3 p.m., followed by No. 4 seed Sonoma State taking on No. 5 seed Cal State San Bernardino. The winners of these games will join No. 1 seed Cal State Monterey Bay and No. 2 seed Cal Poly Pomona to play a four-team, double-elimination tournament over the next three days. Tickets are available now at
GoCCAA.org/Tickets. For fans who cannot attend, all games will be streamed live on the CCAA Network at
CCAAnetwork.com.
| 2022 CCAA Baseball All-Conference Teams |
| Most Valuable Player |
Brady Miguel, Cal State Monterey Bay |
| Most Valuable Pitcher |
Will Rudy, Cal Poly Pomona |
| Newcomer of the Year |
Eric Smelko, Cal State Dominguez Hills |
| Freshman of the Year |
Daniel Santos, San Francisco State |
| Coach of the Year |
Walt White, Cal State Monterey Bay |
| All-CCAA First Team |
| Pos. |
Name |
Yr. |
School |
Hometown |
| C |
Johnny Pappas |
So. |
Cal Poly Pomona |
Chino Hills |
| 1B |
Willie Lajoie |
Jr. |
Chico State |
Tustin |
| 2B |
Ryon Knowles |
Gr. |
Cal Poly Pomona |
Corona |
| SS |
Brady Miguel |
Fr. |
Cal State Monterey Bay |
Hollister |
| 3B |
AJ Salgado |
Fr. |
Cal State LA |
Glendora |
| IF |
Scott Ogrin |
Sr. |
Cal State Dominguez HIlls |
Valencia |
| OF |
Kyle Csakan |
Jr. |
Cal State San Bernardino |
Corona |
| OF |
Ricky Nunez |
Jr. |
Cal Poly Pomona |
Corona |
| OF |
Francisco Pedraza |
Sr. |
Cal State East Bay |
Alameda |
| OF |
Eric Smelko |
So. |
Cal State Dominguez Hills |
La Mesa |
| P |
Owen Hunt |
Jr. |
Cal State LA |
Sacramento |
| P |
Isaac Mullins |
Sr. |
Cal State Dominguez Hills |
North Bend, Wash. |
| P |
Joseph Standley |
Sr. |
Cal State Monterey Bay |
Nolanville, Texas |
| P |
Will Rudy |
Fr. |
Cal Poly Pomona |
Irvine |
| RP |
Chris Tonna |
Jr. |
Cal State Monterey Bay |
Fremont |
| UT |
Josh Medina |
Sr. |
Sonoma State |
Woodland Hills |
| DH |
Jacob Martin |
Jr. |
Cal State Monterey Bay |
Bloomington |
|
|
|
|
|
| All-CCAA Second Team |
| Pos. |
Name |
Yr. |
School |
Hometown |
| C |
Jake Borst |
Jr. |
Cal State San Bernardino |
Imperial Beach |
| 1B |
Jason Ajamian |
Sr. |
Cal State Monterey Bay |
Pasadena |
| 2B |
Deshawn Johnson |
Jr. |
Cal State San Bernardino |
Puyallup, Wash. |
| SS |
Luke Reece |
Fr. |
Cal State San Marcos |
San Diego |
| 3B |
Jacob Jablonski |
Jr. |
Chico State |
Palmdale |
| IF |
Jeffrey Ray |
Jr. |
Chico State |
Lompoc |
| OF |
Kyle Dobson |
So. |
Chico State |
Mission Viejo |
| OF |
Cesar Lopez |
Sr. |
Cal Poly Pomona |
Downey |
| OF |
Grady Morgan |
So. |
Chico State |
Laguna Beach |
| OF |
Jack Murphy |
Jr. |
Chico State |
Alamo |
| P |
Garrett Apker |
Jr. |
Cal State San Marcos |
Simi Valley |
| P |
Austyn Coleman |
So. |
Cal State San Bernardino |
Fontana |
| P |
Ethan McRae |
Sr. |
Cal State Monterey Bay |
Hanford |
| P |
Mark Woinarowicz |
Jr. |
Cal State East Bay |
Yorba Linda |
| RP |
Parker Fokken |
Sr. |
Cal State Monterey Bay |
Menifee |
| UT |
Ethan Rivera |
Fr. |
Cal State San Marcos |
Chino Hills |
| DH |
Jacob Lopez |
Fr. |
Cal Poly Pomona |
Montclair |
|
|
|
|
|
| Honorable Mention |
| C - Hunter Harris (CSUMB), Danny Murphy (STAN), Jarret Lindsay (CHICO); 1B - Pierson Loska (CSUDH); 2B - Manny Garcia (CSUEB), Nico Hartojo (CSUMB); 3B - Alberto Luevano (CSUDH), Luke Novitske (CSUEB), Kevin Van Linge (CSUSM); OF - EJ Brown Jr. (CSUEB), Giovanni Del Negro (CSUSB), Wilem Drozdowski (CSLA), Chase Lindemann (CSUMB), Johnny Pacheco (CSLA), Daniel Santos (SFSU), Torreahno Sweet (SSU); DH - Garrett Macias (CSUSB), Kody Gardner (SFSU); UT - Chris Rubottom (CSUMB); P - Michael Benz (SSU), Ethan Brodsky (CSUEB), Jason Doktorczyk (SSU), Maxwell Pappas (STAN), Ryan Platero (CSUMB), Noel Soto (CPP); RP - Mikell Chavez (CSLA), Oscar Rauda (CSUSB), Eric Romo (CPP). |