IRVINE, Calif. — The No. 22 UC Santa Barbara Baseball team has been picked to repeat as Big West Champions, with nine of the conference's other 10 coaches placing the Gauchos atop their ballots in The Big West Preseason Coaches' Poll. Santa Barbara also placed a conference-best three players on The Big West Preseason Coaches' Team: pitchers Tyler Bremner, Jackson Flora and Cole Tryba. That trio of hurlers also each earned preseason recognition from D1Baseball on Friday.
 
On top of his Preseason All-Big West nod, Bremner received his fourth Preseason All-America honor from the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and a spot on USA Baseball's Golden Spikes Award Preseason Watchlist on Friday, cementing his status as the pitcher to watch in The Big West this season. A three-time All-American in 2024, the right-hander has already been named a Preseason All-American by Baseball America, Perfect Game and D1Baseball, which also picked him as their Preseason Big West Pitcher of the Year and ranked him as the no. 2 starting pitcher in all of college baseball. In seven starts over 11 conference appearances last season, he pitched to a 2.73 ERA and an 8-0 record, issuing 71 strikeouts and just 12 walks. Overall, he finished 2024 as one of the top pitchers in the nation, ranking in the top 15 for ERA, hits allowed per nine innings and WHIP (walks and hits per inning pitched). Add to that a summer spent with USA Baseball's Collegiate National Team and he is a prime candidate for the 2025 Golden Spikes Award, given annually to the best amateur baseball player in the country.
 
But Bremner is far from the only elite arm on the Gauchos' staff this year; both Cole Flora and Tryba are coming off of freshman years in which they played key roles in Andrew Checketts' pitching plans. Tryba was the most-used Gaucho pitcher in 2024, making a team-high 27 appearances last year, 26 of them in relief. The lefty took on the role of closer for the Santa Barbara Regional, pitching four scoreless innings over two games in his postseason debut. He is the leading candidate to take on the full-time closer role in 2025, and D1Baseball ranked him as the no. 2 overall reliever in college baseball in their preseason player rankings, making him the highest-ranked left-handed relief pitcher. Earlier this winter, D1Baseball also gave Tryba a Preseason All-America nod, the first of his career. He collected a second Preseason All-America honor on Friday, with the NCBWA naming him to their second team.
 
Flora was nothing short of elite in conference play in 2024, pitching to a 0.68 ERA over seven Big West appearances out of the bullpen. The lanky right-hander showed plenty of length despite being primarily a reliever, making four starts in 2024 and pitching three or more innings in nine of his 23 appearances. He looks bound for the starting rotation in 2025, and D1Baseball ranked him 52^nd on their list of the top 150 starting pitchers in the country on Friday.
 
Behind Bremner, Flora and Tryba, the Gauchos' strength is in their pitching staff for 2025, which is further bolstered by a large returning group headlined by Frank Camarillo and Reed Moring, plus the addition of TCU transfer and Santa Barbara native Chase Hoover. The Gauchos' offense, meanwhile, will have almost an entirely new look to it as they pursue a second consecutive Big West Championship. Six of the nine hitters who started last season's Regional Final against Oregon are now gone, with LeTrey McCollum, Reiss Calvin and Jonathan Mendez the three from that group returning for 2025. Beyond them, the only returners with multiple plate appearances in 2024 are Corey Nunez and Rex DeAngelis. To supplement that group, the Gauchos signed UCLA transfer Jack Holman, Arizona transfer Xavier Esquer, Ohio State transfer Nolan Farley and Pomona-Pitzer graduate transfer Isaac Kim, as well as junior college transfers Nate Vargas, Cole Kosciusko, Jeremiah Crain and Jimmy Zakhar. Plus, there are a number of freshmen who could get significant at-bats this season. Catcher Ian Fernandez is D1Baseball's preseason pick for Big West Freshman of the Year, and left-handed hitters Liam Barrett and Rowan Kelly are in contention to fill a corner outfield spot.
 
The Gauchos will open their season in one week, hosting Campbell on Feb. 14 in the first game of a three-game series at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium. Santa Barbara's Big West title defense begins on March 7, also at home, when they host CSUN. For the first time since 1998, The Big West Championship will be decided in a tournament, hosted this year by Cal State Fullerton, May 21-25.
 
Single-game tickets for all 28 of Santa Barbara's 2025 home games are on sale now at ucsbgauchos.com/tickets.