Month: July 2025

Mike Klan

UC SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – Two more of UC Santa Barbara Baseball’s right-handed pitchers heard their names called on the second day of the Major League Baseball Draft Monday, with Frank Camarillo and Reed Moring both being selected. The New York Mets selected Camarillo in the 13th round and the Minnesota Twins picked Moring in the 15th, making it an even 70 Gauchos drafted since Andrew Checketts became Santa Barbara’s head coach, a figure which comfortably leads The Big West.

Camarillo is the seventh Gaucho drafted by the Mets and the first since Kevin Gelinas in 2010. A versatile pitcher, Camarillo did a little bit of everything for Santa Barbara over the last two seasons. In 20 2/3 innings in 2025, the Moreno Valley native massively improved his strikeout-to-walk ratio, issuing over twice as many K’s as free passes, while also slashing the number of extra-base hits he allowed, from 13 in 2024 to seven this season. On April 28 against San Diego, he showed his length by pitching 6 1/3 innings in relief. The righty has high-leverage experience too, having worked 1 2/3 hitless, scoreless innings in the final game of Santa Barbara’s 2024 NCAA Regional.

Moring became the ninth Gaucho selected by the Twins, joining 2022 draftee Cory Lewis in Minnesota’s organization. Despite missing time with an injury, Moring had his best year in Blue and Gold in 2025, finishing with a 2.55 ERA, 1.25 WHIP (walks and hits per inning pitched) and a .161 batting average against. He also struck out 21 hitters in his 17 2/3 innings of work. In his first outing of the year, he struck out a career-high eight hitters in 3 2/3 innings, then struck out seven over 5 2/3 one-hit innings the next week. After returning from his injury, he delivered another one-hit outing over five innings against USC.

A handful more Gauchos, including LeTrey McCollum and Xavier Esquer, are now able to sign with any of MLB’s 30 teams as undrafted free agents, which is the path that Jessada Brown and Justin Trimble took to the pros last season.

(Article courtesy of UCSB Athletics).

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Mike Klan

SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. – First baseman Zach Daudet, whose walk-off 11th-inning home run against Utah Valley sent Cal Poly to the NCAA Eugene Regional championship finals last month, became the Mustangs’ 50th selection in the first 10 rounds of the Major League Baseball Draft on Monday.

The Houston Astros chose Daudet as the 306th overall pick, a spot with an approximate value of $188.900.

The two-day 20-round draft ended Monday in Atlanta with one more Mustang selected, redshirt junior left-hander Luke Kovach, in the 19th round by the Toronto Blue Jays.

Cal Poly has had at least one player drafted in all but one of its 31 NCAA Division I seasons. No Mustang was selected in 1998. Current Mustang head coach Larry Lee has mentored 40 of the 50 former Cal Poly draftees in the top 10 rounds over 23 seasons.

Daudet, who was hitting as high as .418 in mid-April, closed out his 2025 campaign with a .360 average, 15 doubles, nine home runs, and 26 RBIs in 53 games (52 starts). He committed just three errors in 397 fielding chances at first base.

His season included a midseason stretch of 15 games in which he went 27-for-45 (.600) with seven doubles, three home runs, and 13 RBIs. He also had another stretch in which Daudet hit .500 (13-for-26) in five games near the end of the regular season.

Daudet, who never redshirted, produced 18 multiple-hit games, including a pair of four-hit contests.

In 37 games as a junior, Daudet hit .202 with four doubles, four home runs, and 21 RBIs. Before the 2024 season, Daudet transferred to Cal Poly from Regis University in Denver, Colo., where he hit .345 as a sophomore and .322 in his freshman campaign.

Daudet is a 2021 graduate of Clairemont High School in San Diego.

Kovach, who missed the entire 2024 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery in December 2023, pitched in five games, all Mustang victories, in 2025. He earned the victory against UC Riverside on May 17, allowing a run on two hits with a season-high six strikeouts.

Kovach also struck out five over 2 1/3 frames in the aforementioned win over Utah Valley on June 1.

He pitched two seasons at Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria, compiling a 3-2 record and 3.87 ERA with 111 strikeouts over 74 1/3 innings in his freshman and sophomore campaigns combined. Kovach is a 2021 graduate of Cabrillo High School in Vandenberg Village outside of Lompoc.

Jack Collins plans to sign with the Texas Rangers as an undrafted free agent. A 2021 graduate of Santa Margarita Catholic High School, Collins clawed his way to success through persistence and reinvention. After redshirting at CSUN to focus on academics, he reignited his career at Saddleback College in 2023, batting a scorching .376 and leading the Bobcats to an Orange Empire Conference championship.

Long Beach State gave him a brief Division I look in 2024, but his big break came with one final transfer, this time to Cal Poly, where he faced the task of replacing 2024 MLB Draft pick Ryan Stafford behind the plate.

Collins didn’t just fill the void – he dominated. Bursting onto the scene in 2025, he opened his Mustangs career with a 14-game hitting streak (.404, 3 HR, 19 RBI), launched walk-off homers in upsets over powerhouse programs Texas A&M and Oregon State, and finished as Cal Poly’s home run leader (13). His breakout season earned him recognition as a Buster Posey Award semifinalist and All-Big West Second Team selection.

Head Coach Larry Lee didn’t hold back when talking about these three players: “I’m very happy for Zach, Luke, and Jack. We were fortunate to have them in our program. Now they get a chance to realize their dreams of playing professional baseball.”

(Article courtesy of Cal Poly Athletics).

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Ryder Christ

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — A Massachusetts woman is warning others after her 74-year-old mother was conned out of nearly her entire retirement savings in an elaborate year-long romance scam.

Jessica, who asked that her last name not be used to protect her family’s privacy, shared her mother’s story with the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office as part of its Scam Squad podcast.

Jessica said she first discovered the scam on Christmas morning when she checked her mother’s phone and saw messages with multiple individuals pretending to be country music star Vince Gill and his daughter.

“The scammer fabricated a story that Vince Gill was divorcing his wife, Amy Grant, after being falsely accused of rape and needed money to pay off the accuser,” Jessica said. “Her response to the rape was that you’re a good man, and I know you wouldn’t do that.”

Despite warnings from banks, elder services, law enforcement and family members, Jessica’s mother still believes the online relationship is real.

“She sent wire transfers, cashier’s checks, and even cash in the mail,” Jessica said. “That was pretty much all of her retirement. It was a 401(k) annuity. She also took out personal loans and cash advances on credit cards.”

Santa Barbara County District Attorney Chief Investigator Kristina Perkins said the emotional manipulation in these scams makes them among the most difficult to stop.

“These scammers are skilled manipulators,” said Perkins. “They create an emotional bond that makes it nearly impossible for victims to see the truth. That’s what makes romance scams so dangerous.”

Perkins, who also hosts the Scam Squad podcast, joined Your NewsChannel to explain how scammers operate and how to intervene before it’s too late.

“They usually target older adults, oftentimes widowed or divorced, newly entering the dating scene again and not really having experience with online dating or social media sites,” Perkins said. “We also see professionals or caregivers that don’t have time for traditional dating fall victim. And then the one that’s most concerning to me that we see are adults living alone that don’t have a lot of social interaction. It’s that social isolation—really lonely.”

She said scammers often begin with what’s called “love bombing.”

“Immediately they’ll start what we call love bombing,” said Perkins. “The victims will get affirmations, a lot of compliments… the victims will immediately get ‘I love you’ and just that emotional connection that they’re really looking for.”

Perkins urged friends and relatives to be empathetic and nonjudgmental when they suspect a loved one might be caught in a romance scam.

“My recommendation is just to ask questions—very simple questions like ‘How come you haven’t met them?’ or ‘How do you know their true identity?’… You’re just hoping to raise doubt in their own mind,” she explained. “If that doesn’t work, present similar stories online, and if you’re still concerned, call a professional. You can call our hotline.”

She added, “It’s OK. Don’t be embarrassed. That’s something that we see quite often as people are afraid to report it or talk to their friends or family about it. So don’t feel embarrassed—it’s natural to want a relationship.”

Perkins said most scams begin online and stay there, but in rare cases, they may involve video chats. She also warned that a key red flag is when a romantic interest asks for money—especially if you haven’t met them in person.

“If you have not met the person face-to-face and all of a sudden there’s some sort of emergency and they’re asking you for money—talk to your friends or family about that,” Perkins said. “Give our hotline a call, and we’ll walk through that with you.”

She noted that most scammers operate from outside the U.S., although some have been traced to other states. Recovering lost funds is rare, but not impossible.

The Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office encourages anyone with concerns about potential scams to call its fraud hotline at (805) 568-2442.

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