2022 All-PacWest Awards

IRVINE, Calif. – Reflecting a year that included a program-record three victories over nationally-ranked opponents, setting the program record for single-game strikeouts, and a pair of batting averages above the .300 line, Academy of Art baseball had three Urban Knights earn postseason honors as announced by the Pacific West Conference on Monday. Selected to the All-PacWest Second Team was redshirt senior middle infielder Dominic Ruggiero, while senior pitcher Collin Carriger and senior first baseman Vincent Lontz each collected All-PacWest Third Team honors. 

"These three guys are well deserving of the recognition they received," said ART U Head Coach Dan McDermott. "They will be so difficult to replace as they have been core leaders both on and off the field. The COVID-19 years have been so challenging for everyone, yet these guys showed determination and are an example to Urban Knight baseball players going forward."

Ruggiero earned his spot aboard the All-PacWest Second Team as a utility fielder, as the Porter Ranch, Calif. native nearly split his season down the middle with a total of 18 games at shortstop, 15 games at second base and three games at designated hitter. It was a career-best batting average for Ruggiero at .351 (47-for-134) in 35 games played, which was not only the highest average on ART U and sixth-best in the PacWest (third-best single-season average in ART U history with a minimum of 100 at-bats).

In addition to leading the Knights in slugging percentage (.455), on-base percentage (.389) and OPS (.844), he recorded 20 runs scored, eight doubles, three triples and 19 runs batted in. The three triples were tied for a career-best and tied for eighth most in the PacWest. A heads-up runner on the basepaths, Ruggiero posted a reached base safely streak of 17 games and was 10-for-12 (.833) in stolen base attempts. This is the second postseason award for Ruggiero in as many years, as he was selected to the All-PacWest Third Team last season. 

"Ruggiero is such a neat kid," McDermott said. "He was so versatile and played a great second base for us. Had his season not been hampered by injury, he would have certainly qualified for All-Region recognition."

A true ace for the Knights this season, Carriger earned his first career postseason honors in his final collegiate season as he was named to the All-PacWest Third Team. The Fair Oaks, Calif. was a two-time PacWest Pitcher of the Week (Feb. 28, Mar. 28) and one-time NCBWA West Region Pitcher of the Week, and by season's end logged a 4-9 record (career-high in wins) with a 5.24 earned run average and 1.28 WHIP. Becoming a standard of durability, Carriger was the only pitcher in the PacWest to toss triple-digit frames with a total of 101.1 innings pitched, logging six complete-game efforts on the year.

Carriger tallied another career-best with a total of 86 strikeouts, fifth-most in the PacWest, and once again memorably set the ART U single-game strikeout record with 16 punch outs against No. 23 Concordia on Feb. 26. Opposing hitters had an average of just .248 against Carriger, the lowest on ART U among pitchers with more than 2.0 innings pitched. 

"Carriger had a great run with our program," McDermott said. "This year alone, he had wins over Point Loma, Biola and Concordia [while] limiting them to a total of only seven earned runs. It was simply amazing."

An anchor of the Urban Knights' defense from first base, Lontz ends his ART U career with his first postseason honor as he was selected to the All-PacWest Third Team by batting a career-best .314 (54-for-172) in 49 games played this season. The hits and batting average were the most on ART U among those who qualify, and he additionally recorded 17 runs scored, seven doubles, his first career triple, one homer and 20 RBI. While his 66 total bases were second-most on ART U, the Concord, Calif. native did lead the Knights with 16 multi-hit games while also tallying four multi-RBI games.

One of the best in the conference with the leather, Lontz ranked first in the PacWest in fielding double plays with 27, and was second in the conference thanks to career-highs in both putouts with 349 (trails first place by just one) and total chances with 384. 

"Lontz is the very best defensive first baseman in the conference and always made the difficult plays look easy," McDermott said.

This is the fourth consecutive year that the Urban Knights have had multiple All-PacWest selections, falling one shy of the program-record of four honorees that they had in each of the 2021 and 2019 seasons (no award given in 2020), though it does match the three they earned in the 2018 campaign. Overall, ART U has had at least one All-Conference selection in each of th past five years beginning in the 2017 season.