SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – The West Coast Conference has announced its Baseball All-WCC honors and yearly awards, with the Gaels' Christian Almanza being named the Co-Player of the year, and five other Gaels receiving All-WCC Honors.
 
Along with Almanza's major award, he and starting pitcher Connor Linchey were named All-WCC First Team, Ryan Taurek and Ryan Sanders received Honorable Mention, and Jared Mettam and John Damozonio were named to the All-Freshmen Team.
 
FIRST TEAM
Almanza led all players in home runs in conference play with 12, and had 15 dingers overall on the year, good for fourth among all WCC hitters. Almanza hit .320 on the season in WCC play, with a .423 on-base percentage and a .709 slug. His 25 RBIs in conference play were good for seventh in the WCC, and he finished fifth in runs scored with 29. The Stockton, Calif. native's 15 round trippers ties him for second in program history for a single-season total. Almanza showed his power to all fields, and had three games with two home runs in 2023.
 
Linchey solidified himself as the Gaels' Friday starter after a season-ending injury to Derik Eaquinto. Since pitching five shutout innings against Santa Clara on March 18, the Alamo Calif. native made seven straight starts of six innings or more. He went 4-0 in his eight starts, and finished with a 2.98 ERA in WCC play.
 
Overall the Gaels were 8-2 in his 10 starts on the season, where he had an almost identical ERA including non-conference games with a 2.99, and opponents hit a mere .217 against him. He walked just 12 batters to 41 strikeouts, in 54.1 innings pitched in WCC play and threw a complete game against Pacific.
 
HONORABLE MENTION
Senior pitches Taurek and Sanders were among the ERA leaders for qualified pitchers. Taurek led the WCC with a 1.86 ERA, again doing a little bit of everything for the Gaels. The Santa Ana Calif. native made five starts in 13 appearances, going 2-1 with a save in 29 innings in WCC play.
 
Sanders finished sixth in ERA with a 2.95 over 36.2 innings in conference play, going 1-1 in 11 appearances with three starts. In those three starts, the Lancaster, Calif. native kept USF to just two runs over five innings, Gonzaga to just one run over seven innings, and USD to three runs over 5.1 innings. Sanders struck out 32 batters to only nine walks againt WCC opponents.
 
ALL FRESHMEN
SMC got major contributions from their freshmen class in 2023, with two of the biggest coming from Mettam and Damozonio.
 
Mettam's 14 stolen bases on the season were third in the WCC, while starting all 47 games at shortstop with a .266 batting average and .445 slugging percentage. His seven home runs overall on the season put him 21st among all WCC players.
 
Damozonio just converted to pitcher halfway through his senior season of high school, but still finished his first collegiate season with a 3.32 ERA in 19 innings pitched, while collecting three saves. Opponents hit just .159 against him overall, and he struck out 22 batters to 11 walks.
 
Saint Mary's Baseball returns to the West Coast Conference Tournament this week for the first time since 2019, and they'll begin with a one-game playoff against San Diego on Wednesday, May 24 at 7:20 p.m. at Las Vegas Ballpark.
 
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