University of California - Santa Barbara Men's Baseball

Andrew Checketts was named UC Santa Barbara’s head coach on June 22, 2011, becoming the university’s ninth head baseball coach. Entering his 15th season with the Gauchos in 2026, Checketts has a record of 489-267-5 as Santa Barbara’s skipper, both the best winning percentage and the most total wins as head coach in program history. During his tenure, the Gauchos have won three Big West Championships and appeared in seven NCAA Tournaments, reaching the 2016 College World Series. Checketts himself has been named Big West Coach of the Year on three occasions — 2019, 2022 and 2024. After leading Santa Barbara to their third Big West Championship in five years and hosting an NCAA Regional on campus for the first time ever in 2024, Checketts was named West Region Coach of the Year by the American Baseball Coaches Association.   Over his time in Blue and Gold, Checketts has established UC Santa Barbara Baseball as a pipeline to the pros, coaching 70 Major League Baseball draftees, the most in The Big West since 2012. Three of Checketts’ players have been selected in the first round: Tyler Bremner second overall by the Angels in 2025, Dillon Tate fourth overall by the Rangers in 2015 and Michael McGreevy 18th overall by the Cardinals in 2021. In the summer of 2024, McGreevy became the eighth Gaucho from the Checketts era to reach Major League Baseball, joining Tate, Eric Yang, Noah Davis, Kyle Nelson, Andrew Vasquez, Greg Mahle and 2020 American League Cy Young Award Winner Shane Bieber.   McGreevy, Yang, Bieber and Tate are among the 12 Gauchos to be named All-Americans under Checketts’ tutelage, with Nelson, Vasquez and Mahle among the 14 Freshman All-Americans that Checketts has coached in Santa Barbara. Yang was also named the 2019 Big West Player of the Year, one of eight Big West Players or Pitchers of the Year coached by Checketts in Santa Barbara.   In just his second year at the helm, Checketts led the Gauchos to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2001, ending the second-longest postseason drought in history. His 2013 squad went 16-6 over their final 22 regular-season games to finish second in The Big West and reach the Corvallis Regional, where they defeated Texas A&M in the opening game for Checketts’ first postseason win as a head coach.   The Gauchos posted a second consecutive 30-win season in 2014, making Checketts just the second coach in program history to win 30 or more games in consecutive seasons, but that was nothing compared to what Checketts’ Gauchos achieved in 2015. Santa Barbara went 40-17-1, a school record for Division I wins at the time, and were selected as an NCAA Regional Host for the first time ever, earning the No. 16 seed in that year’s tournament. Though the Gauchos did not win their Lake Elsinore Regional, the legacy of the 2015 team still stands — that squad’s team ERA of 2.45 remains the program record.   Santa Barbara’s meteoric rise to national prominence under Checketts continued in 2016, as he led the Gauchos to the College World Series. They won 43 games and swept both the Nashville Regional and the Louisville Super Regional to book the program’s first ever trip to Omaha. At the College World Series, they eliminated No. 3 seed Miami before falling to eventual CWS Runners-Up Arizona. Checketts was named a finalist for the Skip Bertman National Coach of the Year Award that season.   Three years later, Checketts and the Gauchos claimed their first Big West Championship since 1986, setting the current program record for winning percentage with a 45-11 record en route to the 2019 conference title and another NCAA Tournament appearance. Santa Barbara went 13-2 before the 2020 season was cut short, defeating No. 1 UCLA and sweeping a three-game series at No. 25 Oregon State. They were back in the postseason come 2021, pitching their way to a 41-20 record and the Tucson Regional, where they defeated No. 23 Oklahoma State twice to reach the Regional Final against No. 5 seed Arizona. Santa Barbara’s pitching staff set a program record with 619 strikeouts that season, the fifth time that Checketts’ group had broken the program’s single-season K’s benchmark.   The Gauchos dominated all comers in The Big West to win their 2022 conference championship, going 27-3 in conference play and setting a program record for conference winning percentage. Checketts’ Gauchos also set a program record for home runs in 2022, hitting 76 long balls, only to break that mark emphatically the next year. The 2023 Gauchos hit 86 homers, and the 2024 squad was close behind with 84 long balls.   Like the 2022 squad, the 2024 Gauchos won their Big West Championship in dominant fashion. After logistical issues left Santa Barbara without a field to practice or play on until March, the Gauchos went undefeated at home once they finally got their new grass, 25-0 during the regular season at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium. They also swept their final seven Big West series, 21 straight conference wins, to end the season. The Gauchos earned the No. 14 seed in the 2024 NCAA Tournament and, with Caesar Uyesaka Stadium updated to meet the requirements for hosting, held their regional on campus for the first time ever. In 2025, Checketts overtook his predecessor, Bob Brontsema, for the most wins as Santa Barbara's head coach, bringing his career total up to 489 victories in Blue and Gold. It was one of two records that tumbled in 2025, as Checketts' ace on the mound that year, Tyler Bremner, became the Gauchos' all-time leader in career strikeouts, racking up 111 on the year to bring his career total to 295. Bremner became the program's highest-drafted player ever (and Checketts' highest-drafted pupil) in July of 2025 when the Angels selected him second overall. Prior to arriving in Santa Barbara, Checketts was the assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Oregon, earning a reputation as one of the top pitching coaches in the country. In 2010, Checketts’ Ducks owned a team ERA of 3.29, third-best in the country. In 2011, they ranked 18th with a team ERA of 2.99, while also ranking 10th in strikeouts per game and 11th in hits allowed per nine innings. At the end of that 2011 season, Tyler Anderson was drafted 20th overall by the Colorado Rockies.   As Oregon’s recruiting coordinator, Checketts consistently brought top talent to Eugene, with the Ducks owning three consecutive Top 25 ranked recruiting classes, with their 2010 class ranking as high as No. 3 in the country.   Checketts began his coaching career in Riverside, first as a pitching coach at Riverside Community College, where the Tigers won back-to-back California Stat Championships and set a school ERA record. From there, he joined UC Riverside as a pitching coach, helping the Highlanders win the 2007 Big West Championship. His Highlander pitchers also broke the school strikeout record during his first season with the team. Along with the 2007 conference championship, Checketts also brought UCR a Top 25 ranked recruiting class in 2007. A standout pitcher himself, Checketts played one season at Florida before returning home and playing his final three seasons at Oregon State. As a senior in 1998, he posted an 11-1 record and 3.77 ERA in 13 starts, striking out 73 hitters. He was named Pac-10 North Player of the Year, All-West Region Second Team and All-America Second Team. A two-time All-Pac-10 North player, Checketts graduated from Oregon State and was drafted by the Boston Red Sox in 1998.   In high school, Checketts was the 1994 Oregon State Co-Player of the Year at West Linn High School.

Checketts was named UC Santa Barbara's head coach on June 22, 2011, becoming the ninth head coach in the program's history.  In addition to his duties as head coach, he assists pitching coach Matt Harvey with managing the pitching staff.  The Gauchos reached new heights with Checketts at the helm in 2016, winning the Nashville Regional at Vanderbilt before sweeping Louisville in the Super Regionals to reach UCSB's first ever College World Series. In Omaha, the Gauchos eliminated No. 3 national seed Miami before ultimately falling to Arizona, which reached the CWS Final. This past summer, Checketts signed a contract extension through the 2022 season.  Checketts has been an immediate success for UCSB, as through five years he is the program's leader in career overall winning percentage (.632) and career conference winning percentage (.553). He has gone 180-107-3 in five years in charge of the program. With Checketts leading the way, the Gauchos had arguably their best regular season in program history in 2015. The squad set a then-school record for wins against Division I opponents with a 40-17-1 record, and they were selected as a No. 1 seed and a host for the 2015 NCAA Regionals for the first time ever. Sporting one of the best pitching staffs in the country, UCSB went on to record new program marks in team ERA (2.45) and strikeouts (475) in the 2015 season. The team was also ranked as high as No. 6 in the country while they were slotted as high as No. 2 in the RPI over the course of the campaign. During his tenure, UCSB has had 27 Major League Baseball draftees, four All-America selections (Brett Vertigan in 2012, Joey Epperson in 2014, Dillon Tate in 2015, Shane Bieber in 2016), six Freshman All-America picks, the 2015 Big West Co-Field Player of the Year (Cameron Newell), and 36 All-Big West honorees. The Gauchos' 27 draft picks since 2012 are the most by any team in the Big West over that span. Under Checketts' tutelage, All-American right-handed pitcher Dillon Tate became one of the top players in collegiate baseball, eventually going to the Texas Rangers with the fourth overall selection in the 2015 MLB First-Year Player Draft. Tate was the first pitcher chosen in the 2015 draft. Andrew's success as a recruiter has been noted nationally. His 2012 recruiting class was ranked No. 12 in the country by Baseball America and No. 18 in the nation by Perfect Game. Both rankings were the highest in school history. In 2013, UCSB's recruiting class checked in at No. 39 while this past year's recruiting haul was tabbed as the No. 32 class in the country by Perfect Game. Prior to the 2013 season, Checketts made an appearance on Baseball America's "Top 10 Head Coaches Under 40" while being named on Perfect Game's "Rising Head Coaches" lists in both 2012 and 2013. In 2014, Checketts presided over a squad that went 34-17-1. In non-conference play, the Gauchos went 22-5-1, setting a new program record for non-conference winning percentage at .815. In addition, Checketts became just the second coach in program history to record back-to-back 30+ win seasons. UCSB was extremely hot out of the gate, going 18-3 over the team's first 21 games to earn the program's first top-10 ranking since 1986. In just his second year at the helm, Checketts led the Gauchos to the NCAA regionals for the first time since 2001, ending the second longest postseason drought in program history. The 2013 squad was in the middle of the pack for most of the year, sitting at 18-17 after 35 games. From there, UCSB caught fire, going 16-6 including six consecutive series wins to close out the year and finish second in the Big West Conference. Going 6-0-1 in home series on the campaign, it was first time in program history that UCSB had gone undefeated in home series for an entire season. In the Corvallis, Ore. regional, the Gauchos defeated Texas A&M in their first contest before falling in a pair of one-run ballgames. In his first year as head coach of the Gauchos, Checketts made a significant and positive impact on the program. With a 28-28 record, Checketts set a school record for the most wins by a first year coach. His first win came in dramatic fashion, as the Gauchos needed 12 innings to top Oregon St. 13-12 in the nightcap of a Feb. 18 doubleheader. Checketts oversaw two pitchers in Matt Vedo and Andrew Vazquez who together had the most strikeouts by a duo in school history.  Checketts led the staff to a then-school record for strikeouts in a season with 451. Prior to his hiring at UCSB, he had spent the past three seasons as the assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at the University of Oregon and was regarded as one of the best pitching coaches not only on the West Coast, but also the nation. Known as a diligent worker with an attention for detail, Checketts' staff routinely recorded one of the best earned run averages in the nation. In 2010, Oregon's 3.29 ERA ranked third in the nation and second in the Pac-10. In 2011, Oregon's pitching staff ranked in the top-25 for the second straight year as the mark of 2.99 rated 18th in the country. The Ducks also ranked in the top-15 for two additional categories as UO's 8.2 strikeouts per game ranked 10th in the country, and the Ducks' 7.74 hits allowed per nine innings ranked 11th. In his coaching career at Riverside City College, UC Riverside, Oregon, and UCSB, Checketts has had 41 players drafted or sign pro contracts, including Tyler Anderson, who was drafted 20th overall by the Colorado Rockies in the 2011 Major League Baseball First Year Player Draft. In total, Checketts has coached 12 pitchers drafted in the top 10 rounds since 2001. Checketts also played a large role in the recruiting scene for Oregon. For three consecutive years (2008-2010) UO's recruiting classes have earned top-25 accolades. Most recently, the 2010 freshman class was ranked fifth in the nation by Baseball America's annual evaluation, and third in the nation by Collegiate Baseball. Prior to joining Oregon's staff, Checketts was on the UC Riverside staff for seven years. In 2007, UC Riverside was the Big West Champion and was ranked as high as 13th in the country during the season. It marked the first time in 20 years that a Division I program in the UC system won its outright conference championship. Upon his arrival at UC Riverside he made an immediate impact as the staff ERA improved by almost three runs and the team broke the school record for strikeouts in his first year. During his first three seasons at UCR, the team ERA improved every year. Checketts also played a key role in recruiting for the Highlanders. UCR's 2007 class received national recognition with a top-25 ranking from Baseball America. In his final season, UCR's pitching staff ranked among the nation's best in ERA (3.68) and strikeouts per game (8.0). Checketts began his coaching career at Riverside Community College, where he served as pitching coach and helped the team to their second consecutive California State Championship in 2001. While he was at RCC, the pitching staff set the school record for ERA. Checketts played one season at Florida and three at Oregon State. As a senior in 1998, he posted an 11-1 record and 3.77 ERA in 13 starts, striking out 73 batters in 86 innings, earning Pac-10 North Player of the Year, Collegiate Baseball Magazine Second Team All-American, National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Second Team All-American and All-West Region Second Team honors. He was also named Pac-10 North All-Conference in 1997 and 1998, finishing his collegiate career with a 30-12 record. Checketts graduated from Oregon State with a degree in Business Administration, Finance. He was drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the 21st round of the 1998 MLB draft. Checketts graduated from West Linn High School in 1994, and that season was named the Oregon High School State Player of the Year. He and his wife Michelle have three children: Amelia (born 2009), William (born 2011), and Ellie (born 2014).

Matt Fonteno was hired in July 2023 to serve as UC Santa Barbara’s associate head coach, marking a return to Santa Barbara for the man who spent three years on the Gauchos’ staff from 2019 to 2021. Like he did in his previous time at UC Santa Barbara, Fonteno will work with the Gauchos’ position players and serve as the team’s offensive coordinator. In his first season back in Santa Barbara, Fonteno led a Gaucho offense that smacked 84 home runs, two shy of the program record, and out-scored opponents 429-249 en route to The Big West Championship and hosting an NCAA Regional at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium for the first time ever. Among the record 14 Gauchos who earned All-Big West honors in 2024 were eight hitters, including first-teamers Aaron Parker, Nick Oakley, Brendan Durfee and Ivan Brethowr. Justin Trimble and Jessada Brown earned second team honors while Zander Darby and Jonah Sebring picked up honorable mentions. Parker, Durfee, Brethowr and Darby all heard their names called in that year's MLB Draft, while Trimble and Brown both turned pro as undrafted free agents. In 2025, Santa Barbara's captain, LeTrey McCollum, continued to flourish under Fonteno, enjoying the best season of his career by far. McCollum finished as The Big West batting champion with a .371 average and was a conference player of the year candidate thanks to adding six home runs and 18 stolen bases to his impressive average. McCollum also became the first Gaucho since Michael Young in 1997 to hit for the cycle and set a program record with a 50-game on-base streak. He signed with the Angels as an undrafted free agent in July of 2025. McCollum was one of five All-Big West hitters Fonteno coached that season, alongside Jonathan Mendez, Nate Vargas, Xavier Esquer and Rowan Kelly. UC Santa Barbara went 99-33 over three seasons (the 2020 season was cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic) in Fonteno’s first stint with the Gauchos, reaching NCAA Regionals in both full seasons. With Fonteno in charge of the offense in 2020, UC Santa Barbara climbed as high as No. 13 in the national rankings before the end of the season. Under Fonteno in 2021, the Gaucho offense scored the 18th most runs in the country, reaching the final game of the NCAA Tucson Regional while leading The Big West in home runs, slugging percentage, and stolen bases. Fonteno has also been a prolific recruiter for UC Santa Barbara, perhaps unsurprisingly considering his father was a Major League Baseball scout for many years. Players Fonteno recruited to Santa Barbara include All-American pitcher Matt Ager, UC Santa Barbara career home run leader Broc Mortensen, and multiple former Gauchos now playing professionally. During Fonteno’s first stint working with UC Santa Barbara’s position players, seven of them were selected in the MLB Draft, three earned All-American or Freshman All-American honors, and 10 received All-Big West recognition. After his first stint at UC Santa Barbara, Fonteno spent the 2022 season as an assistant coach at USC, then spent the 2023 campaign at Cal Poly as the Mustangs’ associate head coach and recruiting coordinator. Two Trojans earned All-Pac-12 honors under Fonteno in 2022, and three Mustang hitters earned All-Big West honors in 2023. Prior to his first tour in Santa Barbara, Fonteno was an assistant coach at Saint Mary’s, from 2014 to 2018, helping the Gaels establish themselves as contenders in the West Coast Conference. In 2016, Fonteno helped Saint Mary’s win their first ever WCC regular season title and first ever WCC Tournament Championship en route to the program’s first NCAA Regional appearance. During Fonteno’s tenure in Moraga, the Gaels had 13 players selected in the MLB Draft, with 10 of those selections coming after Fonteno took over as recruiting coordinator in 2016. Before Saint Mary’s, Fonteno spent a season at Nevada and four seasons at Chico State. At Chico State in 2012, Fonteno helped the Wildcats win the NCAA Division II West Region and advance to the D-II College World Series. Two of the players he recruited to Chico State went on to be selected in the MLB Draft. Fonteno’s coaching resume also includes experience on the staffs of UNLV, Cal Lutheran, and a trio of summer ball teams: the Battle Creek Bombers (Michigan), Petersburg Generals (Virginia) and the Highland Park Blue Sox (Texas). Fonteno graduated in 2002 from York College in Nebraska, where he was an all-conference centerfielder and led the Panthers to their first ever national ranking. He also played collegiately at College of Marin in Kentfield, California. Fonteno and his wife Lindsey have four children, Eva, Ty, Mia and Ali.

Dylan Jones, a former pitcher and first baseman at Oregon State, joined the UC Santa Barbara Baseball staff as the director of baseball operations in August 2017. He was promoted to volunteer assistant coach in September of 2018, and was made an assistant coach prior to the 2020 season. He is set to enter his ninth season with the program and his seventh at the position in 2026. As well as coaching the Gauchos’ pitchers, Jones also serves as the program’s recruiting coordinator. Since his arrival, UC Santa Barbara has produced 35 MLB Draft picks, 11 All-Americans, 9 Freshman All-Americans, two Big West Pitchers of the Year, the 2019 Big West Player of the Year, three Big West Freshman Pitchers of the Year and the 2021 Big West Freshman Player of the Year.   In 2019, Jones’ first season as an assistant coach, the Gauchos posted their 4th-best team ERA in program history (3.30) and won 45 games en route to a Big West Championship and NCAA Regional appearance. Rodney Boone went 8-0 and was named Big West Freshman Pitcher of the Year that season, as well as earning Freshman All-America honors alongside Michael McGreevy.   Two years later, with Jones in his first full season as a full-time assistant coach, Boone and McGreevy were a near-unstoppable one-two punch on the mound. The Big West Pitcher of the Year that season, Boone struck out a program-record 128 batters in 2021, leading a squad that set the program record for strikeouts as a team, with 619. Both he and McGreevy were selected in that summer’s MLB Draft, with the latter being taken in the first round.   The Gauchos went 27-3 in The Big West in 2022 to win another conference title, with Ryan Gallagher being named that season’s Big West Freshman Pitcher of the Year.   In 2023, the Santa Barbara pitching staff produced five shutouts, their fifth-most in program history. The Gauchos also put up five donuts in Jones’ first season as a full-time assistant, 2020, doing so in just 15 games.   Jones and the Gauchos collected a third Big West Championship in 2024, with Gallagher being named Big West Pitcher of the Year after. He was one of three Santa Barbara hurlers to win double-digit games that season, with both Gallagher and Mike Gutierrez picking up 10 victories. Gutierrez went undefeated on the mound, setting a program record for most victories without a loss in a season. But, Tyler Bremner out-did them both, earning 11 wins and posting a Big West-leading 104 strikeouts.   In 2025, Bremner continued his strike-throwing ways, punching out 111 hitters to set a new program record with 295 career strikeouts. That summer, Bremner became the Gauchos’ highest-drafted player of all time, being selected second overall by the Los Angeles Angels.   As a student-athlete, Jones turned in two productive seasons for Oregon State. A two-way player, he accrued a 1-0 record, 2.01 ERA, and .169 batting average against as a pitcher while as a batter he finished with a .284 career average, including a .329 average as a junior. The Beavers made the NCAA Tournament in both of his seasons in Corvallis.    Since his senior season at OSU in 2011, Jones has put together quite a prolific resume as a player and coach. He spent the season after his departure from Oregon State playing professionally in Australia for the Perth Heat. Serving as a reliever out of the bullpen, Jones was able to help Perth to the 2012 Australian Baseball League Championship.    Jones returned to Oregon State for the 2013 season as an undergraduate assistant coach. While finishing his degree, he worked alongside head coach Pat Casey to steer the Beavers to the 2013 College World Series in Omaha, Neb.    The Portland, Oregon native went on to make coaching stops with the Kelowna Falcons, Bend Elks (both West Coast League), and Linn-Benton Community College.    In each of those stops, he served as his team's pitching coach, organizing the staff and developing conditioning programs for his players. At Linn-Benton, he assisted in recruiting efforts for prospective student-athletes. Under his tutelage, Kelowna was able to make its first-ever WCL Championship Series in 2015.    His first post-OSU coaching job came with the Medford Rogues of the Great West League, where he served as assistant coach. With Medford, he worked with the team's position players and coached first base.   

Kevin Cannon has been with the UC Santa Barbara Baseball program since 2011 and currently serves as the team's director of facilities. He has also taken charge of radio broadcasts of Gaucho Baseball games since 2014. Additionally, he produces the program's official weekly podcast, "Gaucho9" and occasionally provides play-by-play commentary for UC Santa Barbara's games on ESPN+. Cannon began his time with the Gauchos as a student manager in 2011 before joining the coaching staff in 2014 as assistant director of baseball operations and video coordinator. He has also served as a public address announcer. As a player, Cannon began his career at Oregon before playing two years of junior college ball at Diablo Valley College.  Cannon graduated from UC Santa Barbara in 2013 with a Bachelor's Degree in history. 

Christian Kirtley returned to UC Santa Barbara as the Gauchos' Director of Player Development, Camps & Clinics in the summer of 2025. A former All-Big West First Team player as a student-athlete for Santa Barbara, Kirtley spent two summers playing baseball with the Glacier Range Riders of the MLB-partnered Pioneer League before returning to his alma mater. He briefly worked under David Tillotson before succeeding him as the Director of Player Development, Camps & Clinics in September of 2025. With 32 home runs across his collegiate career, Kirtley ranks seventh in UC Santa Barbara history for long balls, and his 45-game on-base streak from 2022 is the second-longest ever by a Gaucho. He helped Santa Barbara win The Big West in both 2019 and 2022, being named to the all-conference first team in the latter of the two championship campaigns. In 2023, he hit 14 home runs, 11th most in a single season by any Gaucho, and he was named National Player of the Week after hitting four of them in five games in mid-April. After graduation, he headed to Glacier, where he played 90 games over two seasons for the Range Riders, finishing with a .302 career average and 35 home runs.  A native of Highland, California, Kirtley holds a bachelor's degree in Communication from UC Santa Barbara.