Category: General

For the second time in 2024, a California Pacific Conference member university has closed its doors.

On Friday, April 27, the University of St. Katherine announced it was entering bankruptcy proceedings and ceasing operations at the end of the semester. The small (about 300 students) school in San Marcos is one of the few Christian colleges in the Eastern Orthodox tradition.

USK was founded in 2010, and competed in 13 sports. It was probably best known outside the region for playing an annual exhibition game against San Diego State in men’s basketball.

The Firebirds finished the 2024 baseball season with a 5-23 overall record, 4-16 in conference.

USK has planned to transfer to the Golden State Athletic Conference next year – another NAIA conference. With the demise of USK and the earlier closing of the University of of Antelope Valley, the Cal Pac conference is now down to 11 baseball participants.

This summer, three additional schools are scheduled to move to the GSAC: Benedictine–Mesa, Embry–Riddle at Prescott, and Park–Gilbert.

As almost all schools have now released their 2024 schedules, we are busy updating the calendar here at SoCalBaseball.

It will be a historic season in many ways, with the Pac-12 wrapping up its final season in its present form. In the Big West, 2023 season champ UC San Diego will be in its final year of NCAA ineligibility after moving up to Division 1.

We’re looking forward to the new season!

Last season, our first, we posted schedules for all San Diego and Orange County four-year colleges and universities.

For the upcoming season, we are expanding to the rest of Southern California – adding Los Angeles, Inland Empire (Riverside and San Bernardino counties), and the Santa Barbara – Ventura County area.

We’ve also added a landing page for each school’s baseball team! These pages include a short history of the school, and links to the school’s own pages, as well as an embedded calendar for that school’s baseball schedule.

If you look at the menus above, you’ll notice all the schools are now listed both by conference and by county. We’ve also broken out the calendars so you can view all the home games in a county, or follow your favorite So Cal team.

Note that the Conference calendars will ONLY track games featuring a team based in Southern California – so while we track Pac-12 games that UCLA and USC play, you won’t find Oregon v. Washington here. It would rather defeat the purpose.

We realize that some schools are moving from NAIA to NCAA Div. II, and their immediate conference affiliation is based on gaining NCAA approval. So a few schools’ 2024 season affiliations are still up in the air.

But by the time schedules are released in November, everything will be properly aligned here.

The reason for all this is that we love college baseball, and want to encourage others to get out and attend some games this year. For the cost of parking at a Major League game, you can guy a ticket, soda and hot dog to a college game – and you’ll see some great playing, too.

Enjoy.

Left-handed pitcher Alonzo Tredwell from UCLA was the first Southern California collegiate taken in the 2023 Major League Baseball draft. Tredwell was taken 22^nd in the second round (61^st overall) by the Houston Astros.

San Diego State outfielder / catcher Cole Carrigg was the next college player from the region taken, picked four slots later by the Colorado Rockies in a bonus round at the end of the second round.

Other players from Southern California four-year colleges and universities taken during the draft were:

• Connor Burns, a catcher from Long Beach State, taken in the fifth round (141^st pick overall) by the Cincinnati Reds
• Kyle Karros, a third baseman from UCLA, also taken in the fifth round (145), by the Rockies
• Kevin Sim, a third baseman from the University of San Diego, went three picks later to the Arizona Diamondbacks
• Lucas Braun, a right-handed pitcher from Cal State Northridge, was picked 25^th in the sixth round (189) by the Atlanta Braves
• Nate Nankil, an outfielder at Cal State Fullerton, went with the second pick of the seventh round (196) to the Oakland A’s
• John Peck, a Pepperdine shortstop, was taken four picks later by Detroit
• Charles Harrison, a right-handed pitcher out of UCLA, had his name called by the St. Louis Cardinals with the 21^st pick of the seventh round (215)
• Ryan Johnson, a second baseman at Pepperdine, was the last pick of the eighth round (254), going to the Astros
• Jonathon Long, a Long Beach State first baseman, went to the Chicago Cubs with the 12^th pick of the ninth round (266)
• Graham Osman, a left-handed hurler out of Long Beach State, went to the Reds with the fourth pick of the 10^th round (288)
• Caden Kendle, an outfielder at UC Irvine, was taken by St. Louis with the 21^st pick of the 10^th round (305)
• Jared Sundstrom, an outfielder at UC Santa Barbara, went two picks later to the Seattle Mariners
• Jake Brooks, a right-handed pitcher out of UCLA, was taken by the Miami Marlins with the ninth pick of the 11^th round (323)
• Jojo Ingrassia, a left-handed pitcher at Fullerton, went to the Boston Red Sox with the 14^th pick of the 14^th round (418)
• T.J. Fondtain, a two-way player from SDSU (LH pitcher, outfielder), was picked by Tampa Bay Rays five picks later (423)
• Darius Perry, a UCLA catcher, was selected with the eighth pick of the 15^th round by Colorado
• Spencer Bengard, a right-handed pitcher at Cal Baptist, was taken five picks later by the Minnesota Twins
• Kelena Sauer, a right-handed pitcher for San Diego State, had his name called in the 20^th spot of the 15^th round (454) by the Toronto Blue Jays
• Jared Thomas, a catcher from Loyola Marymount, was picked in the 29^th slot of the round by the Philadelphia Phillies
• Cole Urman, a CSU Fullerton catcher, was selected 17^th in the 16^th round (481) by the Baltimore Orioles
• Sam Whiting, a right-handed pitcher out of UCSB, was taken by the Padres 10 slots later (491)
• Merrick Baldo, a Loyola Marymount right-handed pitcher, was taken with the first pick of the 17^th round by the Washington Nationals.
• Ethan Flanagan, a southpaw pitcher for UCLA, was chosen with the 12^th pick of the round (506) by the Cubs.
• Hector Garcia Jr., a right-handed pitcher out of Hope International University, was taken No. 13 of the 18^th round (537) by the Twins.
• Johnny Olmstead, third baseman for the USC Trojans, went to the Marlins with the ninth pick of the 19^th round (563)
• Caden Connor, outfielder at Cal State Fullerton, was picked 15^th in that round (569) by the Chicago White Sox
• Graysen Tarlow, a catcher at Cal State Northridge, went six picks later to the Cardinals
• Diego Barrera, a left-handed pitcher for Loyola Marymount, was taken second in the 20th (and final) round (586) by Oakland

UCLA led all Southern California schools with 6 players taken in the draft. Cal State Fullerton saw four players’ names called, while Long Beach State, Loyola Marymount and San Diego State each had three taken.

Tell us if you’ve heard this before. But, yes, another winter storm is walloping Southern California this week, leading to more postponements and even cancellations as teams get too deep into the season to make games up.

As always, check with the host school before finalizing plans to attend a game. Even games that are still being played are having start times adjusted.

A storm that hit nearly the entire West Coast the first week of March is leading to postponements and cancellations. Poor UC Irvine got snowed out at Gonzaga. We’re updating the schedule as quickly as we can, but before planning a trip to a game, be sure to check with the host school.

Postponed games continue to be rescheduled when possible; others that couldn’t be played are cancelled. We are updating the calendar daily to reflect rescheduled games. As always, check with the host school before making plans to attend a specific game.

A winter storm hitting Southern California this weekend is leading many games to being postponed or cancelled – we’re updating our schedule here, but be sure to visit the home team’s webpage to confirm a game is on before making plans to attend.