WALNUT CREEK, Calif. - UC San Diego baseball players Danny Susdorf and Troy Cruz have been named to the 2013 All-California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) First Team, as voted on by the conference's 11 head coaches and announced Wednesday by the league office.
In addition, Cruz, a San Diego native out of nearby Chula Vista and Bonita Vista High School, was selected as the CCAA Freshman of the Year, UCSD's first top freshman award recipient since standout former right-handed pitcher Tim Shibuya in 2008.
Ryan Goodbrand, Dillon Moyer and Richard Seigel picked up All-CCAA honorable mention.
Cruz was chosen for the utility spot on the 18-player first team. The two-way standout has started 29 times at second base and designated hitter among 31 games played, hitting .286 with 18 runs and 13 RBI. On the mound, Cruz picked up three saves before joining the starting rotation on Mar. 16. All he proceeded to do from there was win each of his first five starts as a college starting pitcher, beginning with a scoreless stretch of 16.2 innings over his first three outings that included a 3-0 seven-inning shutout at home over Cal State East Bay on Mar. 29 that has served as the only complete game by a Triton hurler in 2013. Cruz is 5-3 with a 2.96 ERA.
Susdorf is now a three-time All-CCAA First Team performer. He leads the CCAA in hits (68) and stolen bases (29), both for the second season in a row. The fourth-year Triton senior out of Newhall has appeared in every game this year, starting 49 in center field and leading the team in average (.343), runs (48), doubles (16), triples (4) and on-base percentage (.420).
Goodbrand, UCSD's staff ace and series-opening starter for the second straight year, is 8-3 with a 3.69 ERA over his 12 starts, leading the team with 75.2 innings pitched and 76 strikeouts while walking 15. The senior right-hander out of Rancho Santa Margarita was an All-CCAA First Team pick, as well as the CCAA Co-Newcomer of the Year, in his first season in the program out of Irvine Valley College in 2012.
Moyer is a first-time CCAA honoree in his first go-around with the Tritons following a transfer from Division I UC Irvine. One of three UCSD players to start all 50 games in 2013 alongside Seigel and Nick La Face, Moyer has hit .298 with 33 runs, 16 doubles, 28 RBI and 15 steals out of the shortstop position.
Seigel garnered All-CCAA honorable mention for the second successive year after joining the program from West Los Angeles College. The first baseman has slugged at a .573 clip, second-best in the CCAA, and belted 10 home runs, tied for second in the league. Batting .287, he also shares the team RBI lead with 38, to go along with 35 runs scored, 13 doubles, three triples, 33 walks and nine steals.
Seniors James Wharton of Cal State L.A. and Glenn Wallace of Sonoma State were named the CCAA Most Valuable Player and Pitcher of the Year, respectively, while juniors Sean Becker of Cal State East Bay and Mark Hurley of Cal State Monterey Bay shared Newcomer of the Year distinction. Walt White is the CCAA Coach of the Year after guiding Cal State Monterey Bay to its first regular-season title and CCAA Championship appearance. His Otters are the top seed this week in Stockton.
UCSD completed the regular season with a 26-24 record overall and an even 20-20 league ledger, tying for sixth in the final standings. Though the Tritons did not qualify for the 2013 CCAA Championship, which begins Thursday in Stockton, as of Wednesday afternoon, their hopes of a seventh consecutive NCAA Division II West Regional berth are still alive, as they hold the No. 6 spot in the NCAA's West poll. The top six teams in the final edition this Sunday night will qualify for the West Regional. That announcement will be made at 7 p.m. Sunday at NCAA.com.
-- UCSDtritons.com --
