SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — San Diego baseball (41-15, 20-4 WCC) dropped a tough 4-2 decision to No. 1 seeded host Santa Barbara (44-13, 26-4 Big West) on Sunday afternoon at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium, ending the program's successful and memorable 2024 season on day three of the NCAA Santa Barbara Regional.
A third home run in three days for Jakob Christian was not enough for San Diego to overtake the nationally ranked Gauchos, as Santa Barbara struck for a pair of two-run home runs in the second and third innings.
True freshman starter Logan Reddemann struck out seven before passing the baton to senior reliever Ivran Romero, who kept the UCSB offense off the board through the final five innings of play, but it was not enough for the USD bats to overcome the high-powered Gaucho pitching staff, as it fell by just two runs in Sunday afternoon's elimination game.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Santa Barbara got on the board first with a pair of two-run home runs in the bottom of the second and third innings to take a 4-0 lead.
- The score remained the same until the top of the sixth inning, when Christian boomed a two-run homer of his own to plate Armas — who reached on a walk — and cut the UCSB lead to just two at 4-2.
ON THE MOUND
- True Freshman righty Logan Reddemann got the start on the mound for USD and turned in 4.1 innings, allowing four earned runs on just five total hits, while striking out seven and walking just one.
- Ivran Romero entered in relief of Reddemann midway through the fifth inning and threw 3.2, electric, high-octane innings, keeping the Gauchos off the board through the remainder of the game while striking out six in his last game on the mound as a Torero.
TORERO TIDBITS
- Reddemann and Romero combined for 13 strikeouts.
- Christian finished the 2024 season with 26 home runs, just five short of fellow Torero legend Kris Bryant's single-season home run record of 31.
- Christian paced the Torero offense today and through all three games his team played at the regional, securing six hits, three home runs, and seven of USD's 13 total RBIs.
- Allen was 2-for-3 from the plate on Sunday afternoon, with one walk.
- Christian was named to the 2024 NCAA Santa Barbara Regional All-Tournament Team
WHAT IT MEANS
After being projected to finish second in the 2024 WCC preseason standings, USD baseball finished first in the regular season standings and earned the outright 2024 WCC Regular Season Championship before winning all three games it played at Las Vegas Ballpark to secure the 2024 WCC Tournament Championship. With a final record of 41-15 and 20-4 in conference play this season, the Toreros posted the most wins in a single season in program history since 2008.
Individually, USD earned WCC Player of the Year, WCC Defensive Player of the Year, WCC Freshman of the Year, and WCC Coach of the year, meaning the program took home four out of five total major individual awards from the conference.
In 2024, USD also achieved the following with head coach Brock Ungricht at the helm for a third season:
- San Diego's 41 wins in 2024 marks the program's most since 2008.
- Won the WCC regular season title for the first time since 2015.
- Won the WCC conference tournament for the second time in the last three years.
- Became the second team in West Coast Conference history to win the WCC regular season title and the WCC tournament title in the same year (since the tournament was introduced in 2013), and first to achieve this feat since 2014 (Pepperdine).
The Toreros will resume their pursuit of yet another West Coast Conference Championship next spring.
