ORLEANS, Mass. — When D1Baseball evaluated the pitching staff of the Orleans Firebirds, the team with the best record in the nation's premier collegiate summer baseball league, the first name they mentioned was that of UC Santa Barbara's Cole Tryba. The rising junior left-hander was downright elite for Orleans in the Cape Cod League this summer and was one of four Gauchos pitchers to receive an All-Star selection or All-League honor this summer. AJ Krodel and Raymond Olivas were both All-Stars in the California Collegiate League, and Van Froling was named to the All-West Coast League Second Team. While that quartet carried the banner for UC Santa Barbara this summer, there were more great performances and memorable moments from Gauchos across the country. Including Olivas and Froling, seven Gauchos helped their summer ball teams play for Divisional Championships this summer, with Rowan Kelly and Nate Vargas' Duluth Huskies hosting the Northwoods League Championship.
 
GAUCHOS IN THE CAPE COD LEAGUE
Competing in the revered Cape Cod League, Tryba turned in elite relief outing after elite relief outing for the Firebirds, finishing with the third-best ERA of all qualified Cape Cod League pitchers, at just 1.07. In 25 1/3 innings across 11 appearances, Tryba struck out 28 batters and walked just seven. D1Baseball's Aaron Fitt called him "utterly dominant," highlighting Tryba's killer sweeper, which got left-handed hitters to swing and miss a whopping 66% of the time. In his final regular-season outing, Tryba worked 5 1/3 innings out of the 'pen, allowing just one hit to earn Cape Cod League Pitcher of the Week honors and help the Firebirds claim the East Division crown, their first division title since 2017. Jonathan Mendez was also on that Firebirds squad but appeared sparingly, though he was effective, averaging an RBI every 2.67 hits.
 
Before he was drafted by the Minnesota Twins, Reed Moring started his summer on the Cape with the Cotuit Kettleers, racking up 11 strikeouts to five walks across three starts.
 
GAUCHOS IN THE CALIFORNIA COLLEGIATE LEAGUE
UC Santa Barbara had a pitcher on either side of the California Collegiate League's Showcase Game this summer, with Olivas on the North team and Krodel on the South squad. Both righties impressed in the showcase, with D1Baseball's Eric Sorensen highlighting Krodel's "crippling slider" to finish a backwards K and Olivas' fastball-changeup combo "with similar spin, making it really tough on hitters." Krodel went on to finish the season as the CCL's strikeout king, racking up 44 K's while walking just nine batters across seven league starts to lead the Santa Barbara Foresters to a 23-9 record and a first-place in the CCL South Division. His 1.74 ERA was good for sixth in the league as well. While Olivas' numbers were not quite as elite as Krodel's, the rising sophomore played a key role in the Walnut Creek Crawdads' bullpen, pitching 19 innings and striking out 19 batters while walking just two. With a 2.84 ERA, Olivas helped the 'Dads reach the CCL North Championship game after a second-place finish in the division during the regular season.
 
Also in the CCL, Frank Camarillo and Xavier Esquer both had short stints alongside Krodel with the Foresters. Esquer only got 36 at-bats in league play at the end of the year, but he made the most of them, finishing with a .306 batting average and eight RBIs. Camarillo, who was the Foresters' Pitcher of the Year in 2024, pitched to a 1.20 ERA with 16 strikeouts in 15 innings before being drafted by the New York Mets. At the end of the season, Krodel made it two years in a row with a Gaucho being named Foresters' Pitcher of the Year.
 
GAUCHOS IN THE WEST COAST LEAGUE
Up in Oregon, the all-Gaucho battery of Froling and Ian Fernandez helped the Corvallis Knights reach the WCL South Division Championship Game, with Froling earning Second Team All-League honors at the end of the season. After dropping the first game of their three-game divisional playoff series, Fernandez and Froling both stepped up to power the Knights to a series win. In game two, Fernandez had a team-high three hits to force the decisive game three, where he would catch while Froling got the start. With his teammate behind the dish, Froling went out and worked six shutout innings to complete the series comeback. Fernandez contributed with the bat as well, driving in one of Corvallis' 10 runs on the night. All told, Froling finished the season with a 2.25 ERA and 24 strikeouts to just four walks across eight appearances (three starts), and Fernandez finished with a .282 average, five doubles and three home runs.
 
Just a bit further north, another pair of Gauchos, Hudson Aber and Liam Barrett, spent their summer together with the Cowlitz Black Bears. While Cowlitz missed the WCL Playoffs, Barrett was good at the plate, finishing with a .288 average, while Aber made six starts and struck out 14. Barrett also showed impressive plate discipline, earning 32 walks while striking out just 13 times.  
 
GAUCHOS IN THE NORTHWOODS LEAGUE
While neither Kelly nor any of his UC Santa Barbara teammates in the Northwoods League found their way onto All-Star or All-League teams this summer, Kelly was a star for the Duluth Huskies, helping them win their division and host the NWL Championship Game this summer. Kelly hit .344 over 125 at-bats, with six doubles and four home runs, plus 33 RBIs, second on the team behind only league MVP Ethan Surowiec. He also stole 23 bases on 27 attempts and walked more than he struck out. Vargas joined Kelly on that Duluth team and also had the honor of being second on the team to Surowiec in a stat, in his case home runs, of which he hit six. Three of those home runs came in consecutive games in late July, with the Huskies winning all three.
 
The team that Kelly and Vargas' Huskies faced in their Great Plains Championship Game was the Mankato Moondogs, who had two Gauchos of their own: Corey Nunez and Nic Peterson. While that game was not one of Peterson's four appearances for the Moondogs, Nunez did get to face his teammates, and he drove in Mankato's lone run of the game. The rising senior finished his summer with a .291 batting average for the Moondogs. 

Elsewhere in the Northwoods League, Cole Kosciusko was with the Madison Mallards, finishing his summer with a .297 batting average, three doubles, three homers and seven stolen bases on nine attempts. While the Mallards missed out on the playoffs, Koscisuko delivered a memorable moment on July 25, launching a no-doubt, walk-off home run to cap off a come-from-behind win.