The Pod is back for Fall of '25 and we kick things off with a recap and preview of things going on around the program with Head Coach Andrew Checketts.  UCSB finished the 2025 Season 36-18 (16-14) in 5th place in the BigWest after getting eliminated in the play-in game by Hawaii in the Conference Tournament.  Today we sit down and catch up on pro Gauchos, the latest news and a run down of the new roster. Then we're joined by former Gaucho Jason Willow (50:15) as he reacts to the Blue Jays playoff run and Shane Bieber's start in game 3 of the ALCS v Seattle.

For our 2025 mid season report we bring on Gaucho Alum and fellow podcaster, Jason Willow, from the Oppo Taco Podcast.  Just past the half way point of the season the Gauchos are 21-10 (7-8 BigWest) and have 15 conference games remaining to make the push towards the BigWest Tournament.  This week we unpack a variety of things in the sporting/life space as well as a break down of how the Gaucho season has gone and where the team is going as they hit the stretch run. The Gaucho9 Podcast is presented by Kyle's Kitchen & the Yardi Youth Pass.  

Gauchos return home after a tough trip to Hawaii where they dropped their first series of the season to go to 15-4 (4-2 BigWest) and get set to take on UC Irvine in a pivotal home conference matchup this weekend at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium.  On this week's episode we recount the weekend interviews with LHP Donovann Jackson and 3b/SS Xavier Esquer, and then your host attempts a solo recap of the Hawaii series plus a preview for the upcoming series with the Anteaters. The Gaucho9 Podcast is proudly presented by Kyle's Kitchen and Yardi. 

When I consider some of the best moments in the history of Gaucho Baseball there are instantly a few that come to mind; Sam Cohen's walk off grand slam to send UCSB to the CWS in 2016, Joey Epperson's walk off homer against UC Irvine in 2013 & Chris Malec's homer off of Jered Weaver returning from cancer in 2005.  Now insert LeTrey McCollum's walk off 2-run home run to complete the cycle on Sunday v CSUN into that list, the first cycle for UCSB since Michael Young's in 1997. McCollum joins us this week on the podcast to talk about he thrilling moment, as well as UCSB Analytics to break down the previous 8 games which saw the Gauchos go 7-1 and improve to 14-2 (3-0 BW).  UCSB now ranks as high as 15 amongst the various polls and has been between 90-100 in the RPI after week 4. Gauchos fly to Honolulu to resume BigWest play v Hawaii beginning at 935pst on Friday night, audio only will be available for all of the games on UCSBGauchos.com.

This weeks episode features interviews with 1b Jack Holman & Asst. Coach Kyle Hunt, plus a highlight of the week & a recap of the weeks action with David Tillotson and Jake Underwood. UCSB Baseball is off to a strong 7-1 start after sweeping the weekend at the Tony Gwynn Legacy and winning 13-2 on Tuesday on the road at Pepperdine.  The Gauchos sit tied for first in the BigWest with Hawaii and move up in the polls after a 4-0 week.  Jack Holman & Donovann Jackson continue to impress and we witnessed a number of notable firsts including LeTrey McCollum's 1st career HR.  The Gaucho9 Podcast is presented by Kyle's Kitchen & the Yardi Youth Pass!

UCSB Analytics joins us this week for the first players of the week draft of 2025!  The Gauchos completed the sweep vs Campbell on opening weekend, outscoring the Camels 27-7, posting a 36/2 k/bb ratio, and slugging 6 home runs.  Tuesday saw the Gauchos' 29 game home regular season winning streak snapped by St. Mary's 5-1.  UCSB enters the week 2 road trip to the Tony Gwynn Legacy with a 3-1 record and will kick things off on Friday against Seattle University.   All games will carry the audio only feed on ucsbgauchos.com, Saturday v SDSU will be the only game with a video stream via the Mountain West Network & SDSU Athletics, game time 6p.

Another season of UCSB Baseball begins this weekend as the Gauchos play host to the Campbell Fighting Camels, the return leg of last years opening series with the foes from Buies Creek.  Bob Brontsema joins us to preview the upcoming season as we recap the thrilling Alumni Game, discuss the Gauchos 53 game schedule, the new BigWest Conference Tournament, the vaunted UCSB pitching staff led by aces Tyler Bremner, Jackson Flora & Cole Tryba, as well as the collection of talented position players who will take the field this weekend. Gaucho9 is sponsored by Kyle's Kitchen & Yardi, who will introduce the new Yardi Youth Pass this season allowing all youth 6th grade or younger free entry to all Baseball & Softball games. 

Head Coach Andrew Checketts sits down to recap the 2024 Season which saw the Gauchos go 26-0 at home, win the BigWest, win 40+ games & host a Regional at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium for the 1st time.  We follow that up with discussing the recent Fall season, new additions to the staff, and a revamped and talented roster.  Plus, Coach reveals some exciting news regarding a transformative gift for the future of the program.

We kick off the New Year with a pair of 4th year Student Managers, Justin Han and Isaac Shinbrot who have been integral in the everyday operation and success of the Gaucho Baseball program the last few years.  We talk about the love of the game, pursuing pro ball, the path towards being a sports agent, and the experience of living and breathing baseball on a daily basis.

On today's episode we reintroduce David Tillotson, welcome back Devon Kost and introduce Jake Underwood to the Gaucho9 Podcast as we break down a variety of developmental functions within the program.  We start with discussing the various tech pieces that we use on a daily basis from portable Trackman & Hittrax and finish the pod with the top performers and numbers from the Fall '24 season.

We kick off a collection of holiday podcasts with a pro ball recap featuring 2024 BigWest Champs Aaron Parker, Brendan Durfee, Jesse Brown & Zander Darby as they take a look back at their 1st years in professional baseball.  

It's the 2024 Draft & Summer Ball Extravaganza Pod!  We visit with 5 Gauchos to discuss their summer seasons starting with two players who will be signing professional contracts, Brendan Durfee (Padres 14th Round, 7:20) & Jessada Brown (Marlins FA, 20:37).  Then 3 players who are in the midst of outstanding seasons in their respective summer leagues, Reiss Calvin (Northwoods, Rochester Honkers, 31:47), Nic Peterson (West Coast, Bellingham Bells, 43:25) & Jonah Sebring (California Collegiate, Santa Barbara Foresters, 51:28).  At the conclusion of the 2024 Draft UCSB Baseball had the 5th most players selected from Division I, the most in the BigWest Conference and the most in the state of California with 6.  Justin Trimble (Astros) & Brown signing free agent deals makes 8 Gauchos going on to play affiliated ball in 2024.

The 2024 UCSB Baseball season has come to a close and what a year it was.  Our guest for today's recap is former Gaucho utility man Jason Willow (OppoTaco Podcast) as we break down everything from regional games, individual performances, leadership, and other regional/super regional games.  UCSB hosted an NCAA Regional at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium for the 1st time in school history, won the Big West Championship for the 3rd time in the last 5 seasons & went undefeated at home during the regular season (25-0) for the first time in school history.  WHAT A YEAR!

UCSB Baseball is hosting an NCAA Regional at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium this weekend, that's it, that's the podcast.

A long overdue guest for this particular media format, Bill Mahoney spent 38 years working in the UCSB Athletic Department, many of them as the Director of Communications, and joins us today to simply talk sports.  Bill got his start working for the showtime Lakers and California Angels before moving to UCSB where he witnessed many of the glory years of Gaucho Hoops and Baseball (even Football).  We talk about the '24 Gauchos as well as memorable moments at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium and finish with sharing our All-Time Gaucho lineups.

The Pod is back after a 4 week hiatus, I start with a brief recap of what we missed, Gianni Bloom joins us to talk about his transition to coaching in pro ball with the Miami Marlins Org, and then we round up the recent homestand with Gaucho Analytics and Aaron Parker. UCSB sits tied for 3rd in the BigWest (8-4) and in the top 20 of the RPI (18) and is 22-10 overall heading into this crucial road matchup with UC Davis.

The Gauchos record back to back sweeps to open their home slate (finally back at Caesar!) vs Connecticut and Long Beach St.  Tacking on the Villanova win, the Gauchos have won 7 games in a row to sit at 12-5 (3-0 BW).  This week we sit down with Bob Brontsema to discuss the previous 2 weeks and the importance of finishing the sweep.  We finish the pod with the Roundup, featuring Aaron Parker.

UCSB goes up to Eugene and takes 2 of 3 games from the Ducks, the loss Sunday snapped a 7-game winning streak vs Oregon after winning the first 2 games of the series.  The Gauchos followed up the big series with with a 10-1 win over Villanova in LA on Tuesday night to move to 6-5 on the season.  This week we spoke with Junior OF Jessada Brown about his breakout performance and draft our best players of the week with Gaucho Analytics and Aaron Parker.

Gauchos continue to be road warriors splitting their 4 games with Sacramento St and Pepperdine to go to 3-4 on the young season.  The offense is beginning to show its teeth and we welcomed Ryan Gallagher back to the mound over the weekend in his 1st appearance since the 2022 Stanford Regional.  We have pregame interviews with Brendan Durfee and Jackson Flora from Sacramento and then Aaron Parker guest stars in the Weekend Roundup with Dev and Isaiah.  UCSB heads to Eugene, OR this weekend for 3 games against the Ducks beginning Friday at 4p.

UCSB returns to California following a Week 1 dual with a quality opponent in Campbell having lost 2 of 3.  The Gauchos did make a big splash on Opening Day however, posting a 20-8 win and belting 3 home runs.  The weekend games were entertaining back and forth affairs that fell in favor of the home side.  This week we start out with game highlights, followed by our pregame interview from Saturday with Jr C Aaron Parker and we finish the pod with our Week 1 roundup with UCSB Analytics.