The sky’s the limit for USD Baseball

New head coach Brock Ungricht believes his team can achieve greatness

MARI OLSON / SPORTS EDITOR / THE USD VISTA

Baseball is back at the University of San Diego. The 2022 season kicks off against the University of Oregon at Fowler Park on Friday, Feb. 18, and new head coach Brock Ungricht can’t wait to get started. 

“I’m excited to get the season going and be in the dugout with our guys. I love being in the dugout with our team and competing against anybody else across the world,” Ungricht said. 

Ungricht played college baseball himself at San Diego State University (SDSU), and decided early on that coaching was going to be in his future. 

“Everybody has an end to the road of their career, and fortunately, mine came quickly, so that I could get involved on the coaching side and do something that I really love to do, and that’s to impact and mentor people,” Ungricht said. “You’re not going to play the game your whole life, but what are you going to give back to the game and give back to people, to inspire them for their lives?” 

Ungricht’s first coaching opportunity came at Kearny High School, right up the road from USD. After a successful year there, he was hired at SDSU by Tony Gwynn, his former college coach, and then moved to Stanford University, where he spent six years learning what it means to foster a successful collegiate baseball team. But as a San Diego native himself, he couldn’t resist the opportunity to go back home. 

“It tugged at my heart strings, because that’s what I felt like I was set out to do,” Ungricht said of getting a call from former USD head coach Rich Hill, asking him to join the USD staff in 2018. 

“To come back home, it’s a total dream come true. I’m so grateful, thankful, blessed to be in my backyard,” Ungricht expressed. 

Ungricht has been with the USD baseball program since 2018, when he was initially hired as an assistant under Hill. When Hill left the program last summer to lead the team at the University of Hawaii, Executive Director of Athletics Bill McGillis promoted Ungricht to the top job at USD. 

Ungricht compared the transition from assistant to head coach as “like parenting, to a certain extent.”

“You set the ground rules, the expectations, the core values, what you want them to be and then it’s consistently holding people to that standard, holding them accountable for your core values,” Ungricht said. 

Although the relationship the team has to an assistant is different from that of a head coach, Ungricht felt as though his team adjusted seamlessly to his new leadership. 

“I’m thankful to have a great group of young men to where it was flawless from them to be like, okay, whatever coach says, we’ll do,” Ungricht explained. “I’m giving them respect and in turn they give me respect back, so it’s worked out really well.”

Redshirt junior shortstop Cody Jefferis, who has been at USD for four years, also spoke of the easy transition for Ungricht. 

“The coaches here are some of the best coaches I’ve ever been with and been coached by,” Jefferis said. “Especially with Coach Ungricht, moving from an assistant the last couple years to head coach, it’s been fun to work with him and see him develop as a coach, and to develop myself with him.” 

Both Jefferis and Ungricht, perhaps unsurprisingly, identified winning a West Coast Conference (WCC) championship as their biggest goal for the season. Coming off of last season, Ungricht is confident that the team has the momentum to achieve it. 

“Coach Hill had a good year last year, 33-12, 77-37 over the last three years, which is one of the highest on the west coast and in the country for winning percentages,” Ungricht said. “It’s because of the guys we brought in. It’s the people, the players, the personalities, it’s the young men that we’ve been able to bring in and rally around and empower them to go out and do what they can do.”

The Toreros just missed out on the National Collegiate Athletic Association tournament last season, and they are ready to go back and try again to make it there. 

“They were one game short of winning the conference last year,” Ungricht said. “They did such a good job of passing that down to this group here that they have that confidence. They have something to prove, they feel like they can beat anybody, they have that belief already. Now it’s about going out and executing it and doing it. It all starts with the confidence.” 

Jefferis talked about the possibilities this team has in front of them.

“I see a ton of potential, to see the team grow from the start of the fall up until now, we’ve done a lot and accomplished a lot as a team,” Jefferis said. “I don’t know what the limit is for us, but I don’t see why we can’t take it as far as possible because we have the talent to do it and we have the guys to do it.”

So who are these guys? Although Ungricht clearly believes in the team as a whole, he highlighted a few players to be on the lookout for this season.  

“Cody Jefferis, he hit 341 last year, had an outstanding year as a leadoff hitter, and played an unbelievable shortstop, in my opinion the best shortstop in the conference. He is gonna give you the same play day in and day out, Mr. Consistent, and he’s the mainstay of our team,” Ungricht said. 

Redshirt junior catcher Caleb Ricketts and sophomore outfield Jack Costello, both named to the All-WCC preseason team at the end of January, provide experience and confidence in the Toreros’ offensive lineup. 

Ungricht mentioned first-year infielder Justin Descricio as a player “who is pushing to really make an impact defensively and he can handle the bat too. He’s just an all around really good baseball player.” 

Grad student Ian Churchill, senior Garrett Rennie, and redshirt sophomore Brycen Mautz are all key starting pitchers for the Toreros, and Ungricht feels confident about his bullpen roster as well. 

Jefferis and Ungricht are excited about the tough matchup against Oregon to start their season. 

“It’s going to be exciting to open up with such a strong team. We’ll be able to see where we size up with everybody,” Jefferis said. 

Ungricht talked about how the team has an opportunity to begin to build a confidence base right from the first series of the year. 

“It’s a great test to see where we’re at. It’s an early part of the season, so whatever happens happens, but you’ve gotta be able to respond and persevere through the hard times and the good times and to go to the foundation of the belief in yourself and the ability that you have which trickles down to everybody else,” Ungricht said. 

Jefferis can’t wait to get his potential final season with USD Baseball underway. 

“I’ve been waiting for season to come. You count down the days and stuff. I’m excited to play and enjoy my last season with the guys. Whatever happens, I just wanna enjoy it and do the best that we can,” Jefferis said. 

Ungricht backed his team in knowing that they can achieve great things this season. 

“I believe in our guys, I believe we can beat anybody. Anybody. No doubt about it, but we gotta stay with us and believe in ourselves and our process and each other, as a group and as a team, then we’ll set out to do what we’re expected to do and what we want to do,” Ungricht said. 

But in the end, he is just excited to play, exactly like Jefferis. 

“That’s what I’m most excited about. The competition, with our guys. Because I love them,” Ungricht said. “Seriously.”

USD baseball opens their campaign tomorrow, Friday, Feb. 18, at 6 p.m. at Fowler Park against the University of Oregon.