SAN MATEO, Calif. – With the 2021 regular season wrapping up this past weekend, the West Coast Conference officially announced their annual individual and team baseball awards on Wednesday morning.
 
Sophomore Thomas Gavello, junior James Arakawa and senior Alex LeForestier all earned spots on conference teams for Pacific this season.
 
Gonzaga won three major individual honors, led by WCC Pitcher of the Year Alek Jacob (Sr., RHP) and Defensive Player of the Year Brett Harris (Sr., IF) while Mark Machtolf was selected by his peers as WCC Coach of the Year for the fourth time. San Diego's Thomas Luevano (Sr., IF) collected WCC Player of the Year honors. San Francisco's Luke Keaschall (IF) and BYU's Andrew Pintar (IF) shared WCC Freshman of the Year accolades and both earned All-WCC First Team selections.
  
All five individual awards – along with the All-West Coast Conference First, Second and Freshman Teams – were voted on solely by the league's 10 head coaches.
 
In a sign of remarkable balance throughout the WCC this season, nine teams placed at least one student-athlete on the 13-member All-WCC First Team, headlined by two picks from Gonzaga, Pepperdine and San Diego. Five WCC programs had at least three named to the First and Second All-WCC teams, led by four each from Gonzaga and LMU.
 
For Gavello, the second year Tiger was academically a sophomore, but retained his athletic status as a freshman due to new COVID-19 rules. Impressively, the Danville native grew into one of the most feared hitters in the WCC this season as he led the Tigers in runs (43), doubles (12), home runs (10), total bases (104), slugging percentage (.601), hit by pitch (18), on-base percentage (.458) and OPS (1.059). Overall, he also ranked in the top ten in the conference in runs (third), on-base percentage (third), slugging percentage (fourth), home runs (tied for sixth) and batting average (.335, ninth). Notably, Gavello's final long ball on May 28^th against Pepperdine made him the first Pacific player to reach double digits in home runs since James Free II (14) and Danny Mayer (12) in 2017 while his 43 runs were also the most by a Tiger since Mayer's 46 in 2016.
 
Starting in all 47 of his appearances this season, Arakawa finished amongst the leaders in the WCC after a remarkable season at the plate. Serving as a spark plug no matter his position, the versatile Tiger tied LeForestier for the team lead in batting average (.339) while also pacing Pacific with 80 at-bats, 61 total hits, five sacrifice hits and nine stolen bases. Overall, the Walnut native finished in the top ten in the WCC in batting average (sixth), total hits (tied for sixth) and stolen bases (tied for eighth). Defensively, he also solidified the Tiger unit by placing seventh in the conference with 25 double plays turned and eighth with 113 assists.
 
Rounding out the trio, LeForestier concluded his career in the Orange & Black with a strong senior season. Having tied Arakawa for the team lead in batting average, the Sacramento native was a consistent presence in the lineup for head coach Chris Rodriguez as he started all 51 games for Pacific in 2021. Additionally, LeForestier finished second on the Tigers in hits (59), walks (22) and on-base percentage (.429) while also placing third in OPS (.814), at-bats (174) and stolen bases (4). Offensively, the corner infielder ranked in the top ten in the conference in batting average (fifth), on-base percentage (sixth) and hits (tenth). On the defensive side, LeForestier rarely faltered as he finished ninth with 269 total putouts on 313 chances with only two total errors, good for a .994 fielding percentage. Notably, he also placed third in the WCC with 32 double plays turned. On May 27^th, LeForestier notched his 150^th career hit as a Tiger with a single in the fifth inning against Pepperdine.
 
Leading the charge, this group proved to be the three most consistent hitters for Pacific in 2021 as Gavello (18), LeForestier (18) and Arakawa (17) all finished with over 15 multi-hit games. Overall, LeForestier finished the season on a three-game reached base streak as his longest stretch came across 17 consecutive contests this year while Arakawa (16) and Gavello (15) also enjoyed success getting aboard as well.

Historically, Gavello is the third consecutive Tiger to make the WCC All-Freshman Team as LeForestier earned the honors in 2018 before Arakawa was the only utility player selected to the team in 2019 (no team in 2020 due to shortened season). For LeForestier, this selection marks his second as a WCC Honorable Mention as he started in 26 games in 2018, finishing with a team-high .317 batting average while also notching 32 hits, 14 runs and 13 RBI.

Overall All-Conference Selections:
Alex LeForestier: 3 (2021- WCC Honorable Mention, 2018 WCC Honorable Mention, 2018 All-WCC Freshman Team)
James Arakawa: 2 (2021- WCC Honorable Mention, 2019 All-WCC Freshman Team)
Thomas Gavello: 2 (2021- All-WCC First Team, All-WCC Freshman Team)
 
The full 2021 All-WCC Baseball Teams can be viewed below:
 

2021 West Coast Conference Player of the Year:  Thomas Luevano, San Diego
2021 West Coast Conference Pitcher of the Year:  Alek Jacob, Gonzaga
2021 West Coast Conference Freshman of the Year:  Luke Keaschall, San Francisco & Andrew Pintar, BYU
2021 West Coast Conference Defensive Player of the Year:  Brett Harris, Gonzaga
2021 West Coast Conference Coach of the Year:  Mark Machtolf, Gonzaga
2021 All-WCC Baseball First Team
Name	Yr.	Pos.	School
Reese Alexiades	Sr.	OF	Pepperdine
Ky Bush	Jr.	LHP	Saint Mary's
Holden Christian	Jr.	LHP	LMU
Billy Cook	Sr.	INF	Pepperdine
Thomas Gavello	So.	INF	Pacific
Brett Harris	Sr.	INF	Gonzaga
Alek Jacob	Sr.	RHP	Gonzaga
Luke Keaschall	Fr.	INF	San Francisco
Thomas Luevano	Sr.	INF	San Diego
Jake Miller	So.	RHP	San Diego
Andrew Pintar	Fr.	INF	BYU
Chad Stevens	Jr.	INF	Portland
Jack Winkler	Jr.	INF	San Francisco
2021 All-WCC Baseball Second Team
Name	Yr.	Pos.	School
Josh Agnew	Sr.	RHP	LMU
Landen Bourassa	Sr.	RHP	San Francisco
Sam Brown	Fr.	INF/LHP	Portland
Brandon Buckley	Gr.	RHP	Santa Clara
Julian Bury	Sr.	OF	LMU
Jason Dicochea	Sr.	INF	Santa Clara
Cole Gambill	So.	OF	BYU
Gabriel Hughes	Fr.	RHP/INF	Gonzaga
Cody Jefferis	So.	INF	San Diego
Mitch Mcintyre	Sr.	OF	BYU
Kenny Oyama	Jr.	OF	LMU
Christian Peters	Sr.	RHP	Portland
Tyler Rando	Sr.	C	Gonzaga
2021 WCC Baseball Honorable Mention
Name	Yr.	Pos.	School
Peter Allegro	So.	RHP	Portland
James Arakawa	Jr.	INF	Pacific
Mike Bowes	Gr.	OF	Santa Clara
Alec Cargin	Sr.	C	LMU
Jack Costello	Fr.	UTL	San Diego
Brett Gillis	So.	INF/RHP	Portland
Michael Hobbs	Sr.	RHP	Saint Mary's
Jake Holcroft	Fr.	OF	Portland
Brody Jessee	Fr.	RHP	Gonzaga
Briley Knight	So.	OF	Portland
Alex LeForestier	Sr.	INF	Pacific
Adam Lopez	Sr.	3B	San Diego
Shane Mcguire	Jr.	C/1B	San Diego
Reid Mclaughlin	So.	RHP	BYU
Eli Morse	Jr.	RHP	Portland
Andrew Orzel	Sr.	INF	Gonzaga
Tora Otsuka	Jr.	OF	San Diego
Alex Pham	Jr.	RHP	San Francisco
Austin Reyes	Gr.	INF	Santa Clara
Ryan Robinson	So.	RHP	San Diego
Kieran Shaw	Sr.	RHP	San Diego
Carter Smith	Fr.	RHP	BYU
Michael Spellacy	Sr.	RHP	Gonzaga
Liam Steigerwald	Sr.	RHP	Saint Mary's
Grayson Sterling	Fr.	INF/OF	Gonzaga
Jacob Talamante	Sr.	OF	Saint Mary's
Jake Tsukada	Fr.	INF	Portland
Trystan Vrieling	Fr.	RHP	Gonzaga
Jordan Vujovich	Jr.	OF	San Francisco
2021 All-WCC Baseball Freshman Team
Name	Pos.	School
Sam Brown	INF/LHP	Portland
Jack Costello	UTL	San Diego
Thomas Gavello	INF	Pacific
Jake Holcroft	OF	Portland
Gabriel Hughes	RHP/INF	Gonzaga
Luke Keaschall	INF	San Francisco
Andrew Pintar	INF	BYU
Grayson Sterling	INF/OF	Gonzaga
Jake Tsukada	OF	Portland
Trystan Vrieling	RHP/INF	Gonzaga

 
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