Smart and savvy catchers have been the backbone of the best Riverside City College baseball teams over the years.

Lachlan Thorburn in 2000, Chris Stewart in 2001, Luis Robles in 2002, Orlando Torres in 2007 and Max Shor in 2022 all won state titles. Richie Tejeda from last year’s team is playing at USC now.

This year, Ian Nguyen is the backstop leading the Tigers into the California Community College Athletic Association’s Southern California super regionals for the second consecutive season.

“He’s been an iron man for us,” RCC coach Rudy Arguelles said. “He stepped up and expressed, ‘I want to be that guy,’ and boy has he been. He’s been one of the best players, not just one of the best catchers, in the Orange Empire Conference.”

Nguyen crushed a three-run home run last Friday and smacked the game-winning RBI double in the 10th inning on Saturday to lead Riverside to a sweep of Antelope Valley in the 3C2A SoCal Regional first-round matchup at Evans Sports Complex in Riverside.

With the series wins, the Tigers (30-12 overall) took on San Diego Mesa on Thursday in the first game of the 3C2A SoCal super regionals at Palomar College.

“We know what’s expected (and) we know what we have to do to make it to where we want to go,” Nguyen said. “We’re holding ourselves to that higher standard. We can’t take anything for granted or any team for granted.”

A Cajon High graduate, Nguyen hit .312 with 53 hits and 31 RBIs in 61 prep games over three varsity seasons and was a two-time all-Citrus Belt League first-team pick.

This season, the 5-foot-11, 185-pound sophomore leads RCC with a .368 batting average and is second on the team with 50 hits and 36 RBIs.

Thorburn went from Riverside to Cal State Fullerton before playing professionally in Australia. Stewart was drafted from RCC by the White Sox and played 12 seasons in the major leagues. Robles and Torres were both drafted by the New York Yankees, and Shor is in his junior season at Fresno State. Tejeda made 20 starts this season at USC.

“I feel like I’ve gotten more than I expected to come in here and get,” Nguyen said. “I never expected to be headed to a top-20 program and now I am.”

He recently committed to Western Kentucky, which has qualified for the NCAA tournament three times since 2004.

“I’m very excited about it. There’s a lot of very good competition over there,” Nguyen said. “They’re in a good conference (C-USA) and in preseason we get to play SEC schools and ACC schools.”

Nguyen credits the hands-on tutelage he has received at RCC with his leap in development.

“It’s for sure the coaching,” he said. “The coaching staff does a great job with everything that they do, and the history is here to prove it.”

CAL STATE SITTING PRETTY

Cal State San Bernardino athletic director Shareef Amer knows his men’s basketball coaching spot is among the hottest openings in NCAA Division II, and he’s determined to hire a coach who can continue to raise the bar.

The departure of Andy Newman to Cal State Northridge in 2023, and Gus Argenal’s recent hiring at UC Riverside means each of the Coyotes’ last two coaches have moved on to Division I.

“I feel like we’re the hot one at prom that everyone wants to dance with before going off to college,” said Amer, who said he intends to hire a new coach by the end of May.

The Coyotes have won 20 or more games in nine of the last 16 seasons, peaking with back-to-back D-II Final Four appearances in ’23 and ’24.

BRONCOS TRACK AND FIELD

The Cal Poly Pomona women’s track and field team captured its fourth consecutive California Collegiate Athletic Association conference championship in dominant fashion last weekend in Turlock.

Junior Neshara Smith earned newcomer of the meet after winning the 100-meter hurdles in 13.84 seconds and placing second in the high jump (1.64 meters). Her 36-point total was more than the team totals of four schools.

The Broncos 400-meter and 1,600-meter relay teams both placed second, while Vivian Martinez took second in the 1,500 meters, Jessica James was third in the 400 meters and Arissa Hatcher was third in the 800 meters.

RCC’S MATHEWS RETIRES

Riverside City College will be hiring new head coaches in football, women’s volleyball and men’s basketball ahead of the fall after long-time men’s basketball coach Phil Mathews publicly announced his retirement on Saturday.

A Riverside native and North High graduate, Mathews had privately retired following the end of the season when the Tigers lost six of their last seven games, but said that he was “stepping away” during his Riverside Sport Hall of Fame Wall of Distinction acceptance speech.

The four-time 3C2A champions made six postseason appearances and were 177-144 in 11 seasons under Mathews.

ODDS AND ENDS

UC Riverside first-year golfer Hartej Grewal was named Big West freshman of the year. ... Sophomore Andrew Walters (Chino Hills High) had two hits and three RBIs as California Baptist (26-22 overall, 9-9 WAC) beat Tarleton State 5-3 on Sunday and swept the three-game series. ... The NCAA Division II West/South Central Regional men’s golf championship is Thursday through Saturday at Victoria Club in Riverside. … The Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference baseball tournament is underway. Senior left-hander Nathan Buchan improved to 10-1 as No. 5 Redlands (27-14) defeated No. 4 Cal Lutheran 5-3 in a first-round single-elimination game on Wednesday, earning a spot in the double-elimination bracket. The Bulldogs were scheduled to play at No. 1 La Verne (31-8) later on Thursday. The tournament continues through the weekend.