2026 College Baseball Season Preview: Big West

Cal State Fullerton has long been a highly competitive school over the last two decades. That should continue heading into the 2026 season,

The Titans returned Andrew Kirchner, who hit .307 and had 12 home runs for Fullerton last season. He was named to the Big West’s preseason all-conference team this season.

Andrew Wright, the reliever who struck out 49 over 41.1 IP last season for Fullerton, also returned this season.

Cal Poly

Cal Poly walks into the 2026 season as the defending Big West champions. The Mustangs will look to repeat with Alejandro Garza back for the 2026 campaign.

The former Big West Freshman of the Year, Garza hit .351 with six home runs and 22 extra-base hits. 

Junior pitcher Griffin Naess will headline the team’s pitching staff. Naess tossed 95 innings for Cal Poly last season.

Hawai’i

The Rainbow Warriors were one of the Big West’s best teams from 2025. That should hold true, as Hawai’i brought back several notable players who helped play a big role for the club last season.

Offensively, the Warriors brought back Ben Zeigler-Namoa and Elijah Ickes. Zeigler-Namoa led the team in total hits and slugging percentage, while Ickes was an All-Star in the Cape Cod League this past season.

Junior Isaiah Magdaleno, a reliever, headlines the team’s pitching staff.

UC Irvine

The Anteaters return one of the better pitching staffs in the country, one year after UC Irvine made it to the NCAA Tournament.

Ricky Ojeda and Trevor Hansen, as we recapped in our fall preview, were two of the best pitchers in the conference last season. Ojeda was a strikeout machine both in the regular season and the Cape, while Hansen had 95 strikeouts for the school last season.

Several notable returning bats from 2025 are also back for 2026.

UC Santa Barbara

UC Santa Barbara enters the year as the prospective favorites to win the conference, as the Gauchos received the most cumulative points (UCSB was tied with Cal Poly for most first-place votes).

Former ace Tyler Bremner is gone. However, UCSB has another one right behind him in Jackson Flora, who could be a first-round pick like Bremner in 2026. He’ll headline a traditionally strong pitching staff, one that’ll also include Nathan Aceves and Cole Tryba.

Their offense includes newcomers Mitch Namie and Nick Husovsky, both of whom were transfer acquisitions.

The Rest

Here’s a look at the rest of the conference.

• Cal State Bakersfield: Bakersfield finished 10th in the preseason poll. All three of their weekend starters from 2025, including senior Jacob Gutierrez, are back for the 2026 season.
• CSUN: CSUN was projected to finish in ninth, ahead of Bakersfield. Senior Will Linberg, one of CSUN’s best hitters from 2025, is back for 2026.
• Long Beach State: The Dirtbags have been a strong program in their own right. However, Long Beach State is projected to finish seventh. It didn’t help that Kellan Montgomery is now with UCSB.
• UC Davis: UC Davis was able to return junior lefty Mason Lerma for his junior season. He’ll headline a squad projected to finish in the middle of the pack this upcoming season.
• UC Riverside: UC Riverside is projected to finish last in the conference per the coaches’ poll.
• UC San Diego: UC San Diego was projected to finish sixth in the conference, per the preseason poll. J.C. Allen and Michael Crossland, the former of whom made the All-Big West team in 2025, headline the offense.