IRVINE, Calif. – A number of Big West baseball student-athletes have picked up postseason recognition for their 2023 performances in recent days and weeks.

Initially back on June 1 and June 7, respectively, The Big West had three standouts each on Collegiate Baseball’s NCAA Division I All-America and Freshman All-America teams.

Long Beach State ace Nico Zeglin, The Big West Pitcher of the Year, was one of 14 starting pitchers on the 37-member Collegiate Baseball All-America Second Team. UC Irvine left-handed slugger Anthony Martinez, The Big West Freshman Field Player of the Year, was one of five first baseman on the 28-player All-America Third Team. Senior southpaw Izaak Martinez of first-time Big West champion UC San Diego also made the third team as one of four relievers and six pitchers. All three were voted by league managers as All-Big West first-teamers.

Anthony Martinez and UC Santa Barbara left-hander Hudson Barrett, The Big West Freshman Pitcher of the Year, both were chosen among 65 total CB Freshman All-Americans, joined by a third All-Big West First Team honoree in Hawai’i lefty Harrison Bodendorf.

This week’s haul began on Monday with the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) designating Barrett and Anthony Martinez as members of its 17-player Freshman All-America First Team. The organization on Wednesday put Barrett and fellow Gaucho hurler Matt Ager on its All-America Third Team.

On Tuesday came the American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA)/Rawlings All-Region teams, with eight selected in the West Region from The Big West. Barrett, Zeglin and junior CSUN closer Joshua Romero made the 17-member first team, with Ager, Anthony Martinez, junior LBSU catcher Connor Burns, and junior outfielders Caden Kendle of UC Irvine and Jakob Simons of CSUN on the 20-member second team.

Perfect Game USA announced all of its postseason awards on Thursday, with Barrett a first-team PG/Rawlings Freshman All-American. Finally, early Friday ahead of the start of the 2023 Men’s College World Series in Omaha, Neb., Zeglin picked up a second All-America second-team distinction, this one from the ABCA.

In a lone season for the Dirtbags as a graduate transfer from Gonzaga, Zeglin was second in The Big West and sixth in the country in ERA (2.00). The native of Walnut Creek went 8-4 and was No. 1 in the conference in wins, WHIP (0.99), innings (94.2) and strikeouts (117), and second in opposing batting average (.202). Zeglin fired one of two nine-inning shutouts around the conference in 2023, a 99-pitch three-hitter with 10 strikeouts on May 12 versus UCSB.

Anthony Martinez paced the league in several offensive categories, including batting average (.394), on-base percentage (.471), hits (91), RBI (60) and total bases (143). In the race for The Big West Triple Crown, the true freshman from Fairfield smacked 11 home runs, with two league leaders at 15 each. Glendora product Izaak Martinez (6-1, 2.84 ERA, 57.0 IP, 63 K) was second in the league with nine saves, including eight over nine final outings down the stretch, and saves in all three games of a pair of road sweeps at Cal Poly and UC Riverside.

Ager went 5-4 with a 3.12 ERA and 115 strikeouts over 92.1 frames and 15 appearances, all starts, as a first-year starter. The sophomore right-hander out of Pleasanton ranked second in The Big West and is tied for 16th nationally in strikeouts, and also second in the league in innings.

Barrett is fifth nationally in ERA (1.92) and 12th in hits allowed per nine innings (6.20), finishing 5-1 with six saves over 21 appearances, all but four of them out of the bullpen, and striking out 82 in 61.0 innings The Bakersfield native topped The Big West with a .195 opposing batting average. Bodendorf, from Temecula, drew six starts among 21 stints and went 5-2 with five saves while posting a 3.45 ERA with 66 strikeouts and only one home run surrendered in 57.1 innings.

Romero, a right-hander and first-year Matador, led The Big West and is tied for sixth nationally with a single-season program-record 13 saves. Kendle and Simons shared The Big West Field Player of the Year award. Kendle paced the league in runs (69) and was No. 2 in both hits (77) and RBI (56), while Simons was first in OPS (1.115), second in slugging (.665) and tied or third in home runs (14). Burns, the back-to-back Big West Defensive Player of the Year, added an immensely-improved offensive display to already-stellar work behind the dish (.991 fielding percentage), hitting .307 with 14 doubles, 14 home runs and 50 RBI.

In addition to those honors, as of June 7, a quartet of non-draft-eligible Big West stars have earned invitations to USA Baseball’s 2023 Collegiate National Team Training Camp in Cary, N.C., at the end of this month, June 25-29. That group consists of Ager, Barrett, Anthony Martinez, and sophomore Cal Poly catcher Ryan Stafford (.313, 20 2B, 7 HR, 44 RBI). Ager and Stafford were voted All-Big West First Team and All-Big West Second Team, respectively. Long-time Cal Poly skipper Larry Lee will serve as the head coach of Team USA this summer.

Also, a pair of Dirtbags from Long Beach State are among 323 professional hopefuls invited to the 2023 Major League Baseball Draft Combine. The third edition of the event will be held June 19-24 at Chase Field in Phoenix, Ariz. The duo is made up of Burns and fellow true junior and corner infielder Jonathon Long. The combine features two on-field days on Tuesday and Wednesday, June 20-21, that are open to the public and feature television coverage on MLB Network. The 2023 MLB First-Year Player Draft takes place next month, July 9-11.