Ryan Stafford (left) and Collin Villegas both started all 56 games in the 2023 season -- Stafford 42 games as catcher and Villegas 42 games in left field.
Stafford, Villegas Earn Multiple Cal Poly Baseball Team Awards
6/2/2023 10:43:00 AM | Baseball
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. -- Ryan Stafford and Collin Villegas, who shared playing time behind the plate and in left field the last two seasons, each earned a pair of Cal Poly baseball team awards as announced by head coach Larry Lee.
Stafford garnered the squad's Ozzie Smith Most Valuable Player and Jason Maas Team Captain awards while Villegas was named winner of the Monty Waltz Big Stick and Dick Morrow Coaches awards.
Lee announced the team award winners during a banquet held earnier this week in Hotel San Luis Obispo's Ox +?Anchor restaurant.
Stafford started 42 games as the Mustangs' catcher and the remaining 14 contests in left field while Villegas did the opposite, starting 42 games in left field and 14 behind the plate.
Stafford (5-10, 180, sophomore, Folsom, Calif.), a second-team All-Big West honoree this year and a first-team All-Big West choice in 2022, hit .313 with a team-leading 20 doubles to go with seven home runs and 44 RBIs.
Stafford also threw out 11 would-be base stealers for the second straight year and picked off three other runners. He was 22-for-50 (.440) with 10 multiple-hit games in a 12-game stretch from April 4-23, lifting his average 48 points to .342.
Villegas (5-10, 190, Senior, Tustin, Calif.), Cal Poly's lone first-team All-Big West honoree, led the Mustangs with 13 home runs this season, tied for No. 10 on the all-time Cal Poly list for a single season, to go along with 17 doubles and 41 RBIs. Villegas hit .268 and tied another school record for walks in a single game with five in the season opener against Missouri State.
Villegas, an All-Big West second-team selection a year ago, produced 12 multiple-hit games and eight multiple-RBI contests.
Both Stafford and Villegas were among five Mustangs earning All-Big West honors this week. The other three were shortstop Aaron?Casillas (second team), third baseman Ryan Fenn (honorable mention) and center fielder Jake Steels (honorable mention).
Casillas (5-8, 175, Junior, Mission Viejo, Calif.) was presented the John Orton Gold Glove award for his defensive performance. The CSU?Bakersfield transfer was a .329 hitter with a team-leading 76 hits, including 15 doubles, and knocked in 40 runs while started every game at shortstop. Owning the team's longest hitting streak of the year at 18 games, Casillas closed the year with 60 hits in 172 at-bats (.349) to lift his average 71 points and led the Big West with 157 assists.
Stafford and Casillas shared the team lead in multiple-hit games with 25 as well as in multiple-RBI contests with 12.
Fenn was named the team's Scott Kidd Rookie of the Year. A transfer from Cuesta College, Fenn (5-10, 170, sophomore, El Cajon, Calif.) was Cal Poly's leading hitter with a .344 average, producing 56 hits in 49 games including eight doubles and a triple. He knocked in 16 runs and had a 15-game hitting streak during a stretch of 33 games in which he went 51-for-129 (.395) to bump his average up 169 points to .361.
Other award winners were Ryan Baum (Mike Krukow Outstanding Pitcher), Derek True (Jim Newkirk Fireman's Award), Tate Shimao (Dave Oliver Hustle Award) and Taison Corio (Robin Baggett Scholar-Athlete).
Baum (6-4, 180, junior, Los Altos, Calif.), a transfer from College of San Mateo, compiled a 4-5 record and 5.03 ERA with one save and 59 strikeouts over 62 2/3 innings. He pitched 6 1/3 scoreless innings in relief at UC?Davis on May 7, earned a victory at Utah on May 13 with no earned runs over 5 1/3 innings and struck out eight in a loss at Cal on Feb. 25. Baum's other wins were against Missouri State, UC?Irvine and CSUN.
True (6-2, 180, junior, Carpinteria, Calif.) was 1-3 with a 3.90 ERA, striking out 38 batters over 32 1/3 innings. He allowed one run over 2 1/3 innings for the win against UC?Irvine on March 24, twice struck out five in a game and pitched just once over the final six weeks of the season due to injury. True was drafted in the 20th round of the 2022 Major League Draft last July by the Oakland Athletics.
Shimao (6-0, 190, freshman, Honolulu, Hawai'i) saved his best for last, lifting his average 46 points to .256 with a 24-for-72 spurt (.333) in a 22-game span late in the year and knocking in the tiebreaking run with a line drive single to left field in the eighth inning of the season finale against Cal State Fullerton. Shimao started 42 games as a true freshman — 18 at third base, 13 as designated hitter and 11 at second base.
Corio closed out a four-year Mustang career with a .229 average, five home runs and 20 RBIs, starting 31 games (14 at second base, 13 as designated hitter and three at third base). Corio, who played one yar at San Joaquin Delta College in Stockton before transferring to Cal Poly, drove in five runs with a two-run home run and a three-run blast in a game at CSUN on April 21.
Cal Poly finished the year 21-35 overall and 11-19 for eighth place in the Big?West. The Mustangs won four series — Missouri State, UC?Irvine, UC?Riverside and Utah — won eight of 14 games after a 4-13 start and also won seven of their last 13 contests to surpass the 20-win mark.
Cal Poly also swept a three-game series of midweek games against Central California rival Fresno State, outscoring the Bulldogs 37-14, and turned its first triple play in 29 Division I seasons April 11 against Santa Clara.
Stafford garnered the squad's Ozzie Smith Most Valuable Player and Jason Maas Team Captain awards while Villegas was named winner of the Monty Waltz Big Stick and Dick Morrow Coaches awards.
Lee announced the team award winners during a banquet held earnier this week in Hotel San Luis Obispo's Ox +?Anchor restaurant.
Stafford started 42 games as the Mustangs' catcher and the remaining 14 contests in left field while Villegas did the opposite, starting 42 games in left field and 14 behind the plate.
Stafford (5-10, 180, sophomore, Folsom, Calif.), a second-team All-Big West honoree this year and a first-team All-Big West choice in 2022, hit .313 with a team-leading 20 doubles to go with seven home runs and 44 RBIs.
Stafford also threw out 11 would-be base stealers for the second straight year and picked off three other runners. He was 22-for-50 (.440) with 10 multiple-hit games in a 12-game stretch from April 4-23, lifting his average 48 points to .342.
Villegas (5-10, 190, Senior, Tustin, Calif.), Cal Poly's lone first-team All-Big West honoree, led the Mustangs with 13 home runs this season, tied for No. 10 on the all-time Cal Poly list for a single season, to go along with 17 doubles and 41 RBIs. Villegas hit .268 and tied another school record for walks in a single game with five in the season opener against Missouri State.
Villegas, an All-Big West second-team selection a year ago, produced 12 multiple-hit games and eight multiple-RBI contests.
Both Stafford and Villegas were among five Mustangs earning All-Big West honors this week. The other three were shortstop Aaron?Casillas (second team), third baseman Ryan Fenn (honorable mention) and center fielder Jake Steels (honorable mention).
Casillas (5-8, 175, Junior, Mission Viejo, Calif.) was presented the John Orton Gold Glove award for his defensive performance. The CSU?Bakersfield transfer was a .329 hitter with a team-leading 76 hits, including 15 doubles, and knocked in 40 runs while started every game at shortstop. Owning the team's longest hitting streak of the year at 18 games, Casillas closed the year with 60 hits in 172 at-bats (.349) to lift his average 71 points and led the Big West with 157 assists.
Stafford and Casillas shared the team lead in multiple-hit games with 25 as well as in multiple-RBI contests with 12.
Fenn was named the team's Scott Kidd Rookie of the Year. A transfer from Cuesta College, Fenn (5-10, 170, sophomore, El Cajon, Calif.) was Cal Poly's leading hitter with a .344 average, producing 56 hits in 49 games including eight doubles and a triple. He knocked in 16 runs and had a 15-game hitting streak during a stretch of 33 games in which he went 51-for-129 (.395) to bump his average up 169 points to .361.
Other award winners were Ryan Baum (Mike Krukow Outstanding Pitcher), Derek True (Jim Newkirk Fireman's Award), Tate Shimao (Dave Oliver Hustle Award) and Taison Corio (Robin Baggett Scholar-Athlete).
Baum (6-4, 180, junior, Los Altos, Calif.), a transfer from College of San Mateo, compiled a 4-5 record and 5.03 ERA with one save and 59 strikeouts over 62 2/3 innings. He pitched 6 1/3 scoreless innings in relief at UC?Davis on May 7, earned a victory at Utah on May 13 with no earned runs over 5 1/3 innings and struck out eight in a loss at Cal on Feb. 25. Baum's other wins were against Missouri State, UC?Irvine and CSUN.
True (6-2, 180, junior, Carpinteria, Calif.) was 1-3 with a 3.90 ERA, striking out 38 batters over 32 1/3 innings. He allowed one run over 2 1/3 innings for the win against UC?Irvine on March 24, twice struck out five in a game and pitched just once over the final six weeks of the season due to injury. True was drafted in the 20th round of the 2022 Major League Draft last July by the Oakland Athletics.
Shimao (6-0, 190, freshman, Honolulu, Hawai'i) saved his best for last, lifting his average 46 points to .256 with a 24-for-72 spurt (.333) in a 22-game span late in the year and knocking in the tiebreaking run with a line drive single to left field in the eighth inning of the season finale against Cal State Fullerton. Shimao started 42 games as a true freshman — 18 at third base, 13 as designated hitter and 11 at second base.
Corio closed out a four-year Mustang career with a .229 average, five home runs and 20 RBIs, starting 31 games (14 at second base, 13 as designated hitter and three at third base). Corio, who played one yar at San Joaquin Delta College in Stockton before transferring to Cal Poly, drove in five runs with a two-run home run and a three-run blast in a game at CSUN on April 21.
Cal Poly finished the year 21-35 overall and 11-19 for eighth place in the Big?West. The Mustangs won four series — Missouri State, UC?Irvine, UC?Riverside and Utah — won eight of 14 games after a 4-13 start and also won seven of their last 13 contests to surpass the 20-win mark.
Cal Poly also swept a three-game series of midweek games against Central California rival Fresno State, outscoring the Bulldogs 37-14, and turned its first triple play in 29 Division I seasons April 11 against Santa Clara.
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