A number of Irvine Valley baseball players have signed to continue their academic and athletic careers at four-year schools over the last few weeks and they will each be highlighted over the coming week at www.ivclasers.com
Irvine Valley sophomore baseball player Ryan Santa Cruz has signed with NCAA Division II Western Oregon.
Santa Cruz was a key player for the Lasers behind the plate for the last two years.
He was the starting catcher for part of the 2018 season and all of the 2019 campaign.
Santa Cruz, a former Woodbridge High standout, hit .229 with 12 runs scored and nine RBI this past season.
Santa Cruz's best offensive game was a 3 for 4, three-run effort in IVC's 13-3 win over Grossmont. He had two doubles and also drove in two runs in the game.
He was solid in helping lead the Irvine Valley pitching staff to a 3.08 team ERA.
And Santa Cruz recorded a .980 fielding percentage, which was one of the best on the team.
He had 160 putouts and threw out 15 runners trying to steal, which was a .455 percent caught rate.
Irvine Valley finished with a 20-19-1 record and just missed making the postseason.
Santa Cruz is headed to a Western Oregon squad that had an impressive season in 2019.
The Wolves went 30-13 and 26-14 in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference and made the finals of the GNAC Tournament. They were ranked as high as No. 10 in the nation at the end of the season.
Western Oregon also just had four players picked in the Major League Baseball Draft, which was a record for the school and the conference.