MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL - Alum Young Knocks in Winning Run in Marathon All-Star Game

For the second time in three seasons, former Gaucho and current Texas Ranger Michael Young drove in the winning run at the Major League Baseball All-Star Game. Young’s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 15th inning at Yankee Stadium gave the American League a 4-3 victory and ended the longest game in the 79-year history of the Midsummer Classic. Playing in his fifth consecutive All-Star tilt, Young lifted a Brad Lidge (Philadelphia Phillies) pitch to semi-shallow right field that was easily caught by Corey Hart (Milwaukee Brewers). Justin Morneau (Minnesota Twins) tagged up at third base and slid into home, just ahead of Hart’s throw and catcher Brian McCann’s (Atlanta Braves) tag. The walk-off sac fly capped the four-hour-and- 50-minute game, which ended close to 2 a.m. in the Bronx.

BIG WEST CONFERENCE - Gauchos Win Seventh Commissioner’s Cup With 7 Championships

UC Santa Barbara has won the Big West Conference Commissioner’s Cup for the second straight season and seventh time in the history of the cup. The Gauchos won seven conference championships and finished second in two other sports during the 2007-08 conference season. The Gauchos averaged 127.9 points to beat Long Beach State by a 7.9-point average in the final standings.

The cup is presented to the institution with the best overall results in the conference’s 17 sponsored sports championships. It is the tenth year the cup has been awarded to the Gauchos.

The Gauchos started the fall sports season with championships in women’s cross-country and men’s soccer. But it was the winter sports season that saw the Gauchos truly dominate; winning three of the four titles outright (women’s basketball, men’s swimming and women’s swimming) while sharing the crown in men’s basketball. UCSB won its seventh title of the season in men’s tennis during the spring season.

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL - Lindsay Gottlieb to Replace French as Head Coach

Lindsay Gottlieb, the former associate head coach at Cal, has been named the new head coach of the UC Santa Barbara women’s basketball program. After helping turn Cal into one of the premier programs in college basketball, Gottlieb replaces Mark French, who announced his retirement during spring quarter. “I am very excited and I look forward to building on the great tradition that Mark French has established here,” Gottlieb said. Gottlieb comes to Santa Barbara after spending the last three seasons as an assistant at Cal, where she helped guide the Golden Bears to an overall record of 68-28 (.708).
— Cal Media Relations contributed to this report

MEN’S BASEBALL - 7 Gauchos Selected in Draft and Another Signs Free Agent Contract

Seven UC Santa Barbara baseball players were selected in the 2008 Major League Baseball First Year Player Draft in the second day of the draft and another player signed a free agent contract.

Below are the players with the positions, hometowns and the round in which the Major League team chose them:

Chris McMurray–catcher –Mission Viejo, Calif.–18–Cincinnati Reds
Jason Roenicke–reliever–Grass Valley, Calif.–19–Toronto Blue Jays
Chuck Huggins–pitcher–Redwood City, Calif.–23–Toronto Blue Jays
Mike Zuanich–left fielder–Torrance, Calif.–28–Colorado Rockies
Kyle Brown–pitcher–Yorba Linda, Calif.–33–Seattle Mariners
Patrick Rose–third baseman–Laguna Niguel, Calif.–36–Colorado Rockies
Brian Gump–outfielder–Westminster, Calif.–46–New York
Senior outfielder and Redondo Beach, Calif., native Chris Fox signed a free agent contract with the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.
In addition, Dos Pueblos High School product and left-handed pitcher Chris Joyce was selected in the tenth round (307th overall selection) by the Los Angeles Dodgers.

MEN’S VOLLEYBALL - Rick McLaughlin Returns to UCSB as Head Coach

Rick McLaughlin, former men’s volleyball coach at Loyola Marymount, an assistant women’s coach at UC Santa Barbara, and most recently the women’s coach at Golden West College, has been named head men’s coach at UCSB. McLaughlin will replace Ken Preston, who retired in 2008 after 30 years at the helm of the program. McLaughlin guided the LMU program for eight years beginning in 1993, and ending in 2000 when the school dropped the program. As a player, McLaughlin was a four- year starting setter at Loyola Marymount. When he completed his career, he ranked among the Lions’ top-10 in career assists (1,691) and service aces (58).
— UCSBGauchos.com