UC Santa Barbara
2016 All-Big West Second Team
2016 Nashville Regional (Vanderbilt) MVP
2017 All-Big West First Team
2017 ABCA All-West Region Second Team
2017 Daily Nexus Male Player of the Year Award
UCSB Single Season Home Run Champion (2017: 20)
2017: Before his junior season, was named the No. 17 first baseman in the nation by D1Baseball ... Became UC Santa Barbara's single-season home run champion by hitting 20 home runs, besting the previous record of 18 set by Tyler Von Schell in 2001 ... Was voted onto the All-Big West First Team, his second career all-league honor ... Just the third Gaucho position player to be named All-Big West First Team in the Andrew Checketts era ... His 20 dingers gave him 34 for his career, placing him in a tie for fourth all-time in UCSB history (Jared Janke, 1993-95) as of the end of the 2017 season ... Really found his power stroke in the latter half of the season, clubbing 17 of his homers in the final two months of the season including 10 roundtrippers over the final 12 games of the year ... His home run total ranked seventh in the nation at the conclusion of the regular season and led the Big West by a wide margin (CSUN's Albee Weiss and CS Fullerton's Scott Hurst tied for second with 11 apiece) ... Slashed .303/.372/.654 for the year with 64 hits, 37 runs, 14 doubles, 60 RBIs, 20 walks, and 59 strikeouts over 211 at-bats ... Led the league in total bases (138) and RBIs (60) while ranking second in slugging percentage (.654), seventh in hits (64), and ninth in runs scored (37) ... Made 56 appearances and 55 starts for UCSB, 49 at first base and six at DH ... Only Gaucho to play in all 56 of the team's games, and his 55 starts led all players ... Only game he didn't start was a May 6 contest against UC Davis ... One of 11 Gauchos ever to record 60 RBIs in a season, and the first and only in the BBCOR era ... UCSB's all-time career home run champion in the BBCOR era ... Slashed .292/.375/.719 in Big West play with 11 home runs in 24 games ... Over 26 road games, had a .327 average, .786 slugging percentage, and 13 homers ... Slugged over .500 in each month of the season, including a 1.000 mark in May ... His 59 strikeouts were second most in the Big West ... Made six errors in the field, good for a .986 fielding percentage ... Hit .333 with runners on base and .349 with runners in scoring position ... Led the squad with 17 two-out RBIs ... Had a nine-game hitting streak from Feb. 24 to Mar. 10, and reached base in 16 straight games Apr. 3-30 ... Paced the UCSB lineup with 21 multiple-hit games and 17 multi-RBI games (no other Gaucho had more than seven) ... Was named the Big West Field Player of the Week on May 15 after hitting four home runs over a midweek game against St. Mary's and a three-game series at Cal State Fullerton ... Went 2-4 with two home runs, three runs, and three RBIs at CSUN on Apr. 8, recording his first career multi-homer game ... Notched another two-home run game at Cal State Fullerton on May 13 in a 6-3 UCSB win, driving in four runs ... Clubbed three doubles and drove in a season-high five against Pepperdine on Mar. 28, a 10-3 Gaucho victory ... Had three four-RBI games, all in May ... Homered in three straight games on three separate occasions: Apr. 23-25 (vs. SDSU, CSU Bakersfield, UCR), May 9-13 (vs. SMC, CSF), and May 17-20 (vs. USC, Cal Poly).
2016: As a true sophomore, appeared in 62 games including 58 starts (36 at first base, 22 at DH) ... Slashed .265/.346/.465 with 23 extra-base hits, 11 home runs, 49 RBIs, 30 walks, and 60 strikeouts in 230 at-bats ... Went 9-35 (.257) in the postseason with four home runs ... UCSB was 10-1 in games where he hit a home run, including 4-0 in the postseason ... After the regular season, was named to the All-Big West Second Team ... Was named MVP of the Nashville Regional at Vanderbilt after going 5-16 (.313) with three home runs and five RBIs ... Smashed a walk-off solo home run in the 14th inning in the team's postseason opener against Washington ... Hit another solo homer to put UCSB up 3-0 in the team's first game against Xavier in the Regional ... Finished with a 3-6 performance in the Regional final against Xavier, including a go-ahead three-run homer that made it 4-2 and put UCSB up for good ... Also played the glove in Nashville, laying out and making a sprawling catch of a JJ Muno throw to the foul side of first base while keeping his foot on the bag, a play that made into the Sportscenter Top-10 ... Went 2-8 combined in the Super Regional at Louisville, including a go-ahead home run in the fourth inning of the opener ... Hit a home run in the first four games of UCSB's postseason run ... Hit between the No. 3 and No. 6 spots in the lineup every game he played ... First UCSB player with 10 home runs since Mike Zuanich in 2008 ... Led the team in homers and RBis ... Earlier in the year, was named MVP of the inaugural Tony Gwynn Classic after going 7-11 with a .636/.625/1.091 slash line for the weekend with five RBIs and three extra-base hits, including a monster 430-foot home run to dead center against Kentucky ... Was named Big West Field Player of the Week after the Gwynn Classic ... Led the Big West in homers and RBIs ... Hit .256 with runners in scoring position ... Notched 15 two-out RBIs ... Had 16 RBIs in 19 opportunities with a runner on third and less than two outs, the best ratio on the team ... Batted .281 against right-handed pitchers ... His 11 multi-RBI games led the team ... Had 14 multi-hit games ... Batted .242 against Big West opponents ... Hit just .167 in May ... Had seven RBIs in the span of about 15 minutes on May 22 at UC Irvine, hitting a game-tying grand slam in the top of the eighth and then knocking a bases-loaded double off the left-center field wall for another three RBIs in the top of the ninth as the Gauchos won 9-5 ... Had 10+ RBIs in each of the final three months of the regular season ... Hit a home run and drove in five against Hawaii on Apr. 29 ... His seven three-hit games led all Gauchos.
2015: A power-hitting option off the bench at the start of the season, Bush went on to make 21 appearances and seven starts as a true freshman ... Hit .270 with a .308 OBP and .541 slugging percentage, three home runs, 10 RBIs, and four extra-base hits ... His 12.3 AB-HR ratio was by far the best on the team ... His slugging percentage ranked second on the squad to Paddy O'Brien among batters with 5+ ABs ... His first collegiate hit was an RBI opposite field double against Dartmouth on Mar. 21 ... His biggest hit of the year was a go-ahead HR in the top of the 9th inning at Cal State Bakersfield on May 12, as he sat on a changeup and powered a two-run shot over the right field fence to put UCSB up 8-7 ... Also clubbed home runs against Loyola Marymount (Mar. 24) and Pepperdine (Apr. 21) ... Had multiple hits on two occassions ... Over summer, had a .259 batting average in 37 games for the Alaska Goldpanners of the Alaska Baseball League.
High School: Played two seasons of varsity ball at Turlock High School under head coach Mark de la Motte ... As a senior, batted a gaudy .398 with an on-base percentage of .509 and a slugging percentage of .693 ... Collected 17 extra-base hits in 88 at-bats, including three home runs, while driving in 32 runs ... As a junior, hit .354 with 14 extra-base hits, leading to First Team All-League, League Offensive Player of the Year, and Perfect Game Underclass Honorable Mention awards ... Participated in a number of elite showcase events, including the Area Code Games, the North-South Showcase, and the NorCal World Series ... Voted Offensive Player of the Year after his senior year ... Was a First Team All-League selection in both 2013 and 2014 ... Member of the 2014 All-Region team.
Personal: Austin Benton Bush was born on Dec. 22, 1995 in Modesto, Calif. to parents Michelle and Kalani ... Has one younger sister, Isabella ... Plans on majoring in geography or economics and accounting ... Aspires to win a national championship, become an MLB starter, and own his own business.
