Chris Malec '01 - Varsity Head Coach / Program Director

Santa Margarita alumnus Chris Malec '01 is in his seventh season as the head coach of Santa Margarita Catholic High School Baseball. Malec was appointed head coach in December 2017. He has a career record of 129-77-1 with the Eagles, who have made the CIF playoffs in four of his five full seasons. In 2024, Malec guided Santa Margarita to Trinity League series wins against all five opponents and the Eagles advanced to the quarterfinals in both the CIF-Southern Section Division I playoffs and the State regional playoffs in Division I.

In 2023, Malec guided Santa Margarita to a Trinity League championship, finishing the league
season with a sterling 14-1 record. The Eagles went on to play for a CIF Southern Section
Division I championship and later advanced to the CIF State Division I Southern California
Regional, sweeping their three games to win the title. For his efforts, Malec was chosen by the
Orange County Register/Southern California News Group as Orange County’s Baseball Coach of
the Year.

Accolades are nothing new to Malec. In 2019, his second season at the helm, the Eagles went
26-11 and won the CIF Southern Section Division 2 championship. Malec was chosen Division 2
Coach of the Year and a “Coach of Character” by the Orange County Athletic Director’s Assn.
Malec and his staff have also earned a reputation of producing high-caliber college players. The
2023 senior class alone sent 11 players to the college ranks – 10 of them at the Division I level.
Before coming to Santa Margarita, Malec was Associate Head Coach / Associate Faculty at
Saddleback College from 2012-15. He primarily worked as the infield coach and hitting coach in
addition to running the Gauchos’ offense. While at Saddleback, 41 of Malec’s players moved on
to play at four-year universities. The three starting shortstops he coached all matriculated to
four-year schools and, eventually, professional baseball -- Josh Fuentes with the Colorado
Rockies, Colby Schultz with the Kansas City Royals and Luke Jarvis with the Miami Marlins. The
Gauchos made the playoffs in three of Malec’s four seasons, advancing to Super Regionals
twice.

Founder of the Saddleback Cowboys
In 2014, while coaching at Saddleback College, Malec founded the Saddleback Cowboys
Baseball Club, a developmental youth (ages 11-17) baseball program. The Cowboys have grown
into a nationally recognized organization, both for their tournament success and ability to assist
players in moving to the next level. More than 75 former Cowboys have gone on to play at fouryear
universities and the program has placed in the top four at the USA National Team
Championships numerous times at different age-group levels.

Early Years
As a player at Santa Margarita, Malec earned All-Serra League honors three consecutive
seasons and was selected to the All-Orange County team. He then attended UC Santa Barbara,
where he became a Freshman All-American. By the time Malec finished his college career, he
was a three-time All-Big West Conference selection. He had also been chosen by Baseball
America as a Summer All-American for his performance with the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox in
the prestigious Cape Cod League, where he was an All Star.

During his senior season at Santa Barbara, Malec gained national media attention when he was
diagnosed with cancer. After missing four weeks while undergoing surgery and chemotherapy
treatments, Malec returned to action against Long Beach State and hit a grand slam in the first
at-bat of his first start. He continued treatments through the season while continuing to play.
The cancer has been in remission since the summer of 2005.

Malec began his professional career in 2005, after being drafted in the 16th round of the Major
League Baseball draft by the New York Yankees. During his minor-league career, his teams won
three league championships. He was a 2008 Eastern League (Double-A) All Star and he reached
as high as the Triple-A level, one step from the major leagues. Malec had more career walks than strikeouts when he retired from professional baseball after the 2010 season, one reason he was once recognized by Baseball America as the minor leaguer with “The Best Plate Discipline.”

Malec resides in Rancho Santa Margarita with his wife Caitlin, a teacher at Santa Margarita Catholic High School, and their children, Tomás (10), Colin (8) and Emilia (4).
 
Malec in the Media:

• Malec’s Dreams Become a Reality - ESPN
• Malec’s Return Inspires Gauchos - ESPN 
• Jim Rome Show - Featured Guest, June 2005
• Beating Cancer Bonds Two Ballplayers - New York Times 
• UCSB Celebrates Chris Malec Day
• Malec’s Return Sparks UCSB - Santa Barbara News Press

   

  Willie Kuhl - Varsity Associate Head Coach / Program Pitching Coordinator

  Coach Kuhl is in his sixth season as varsity pitching coach, and his staff is coming off a stellar 2023 season in which it posted a staff earned-run average of 1.94, with 248 strikeouts and only 70 walks in 256 2/3 innings.

  Under Kuhl’s tutelage, three Eagles senior pitchers earned Pac-12 scholarships – Jack Svinth to Stanford and both Colin Clarke and Sammy Cova to Oregon. Clarke and Cova were both first-team All-Trinity League and CIF Southern Section Division 1 selections, and Clarke was the league’s Pitcher of the Year as well as Orange County’s Pitcher of the Year, according to the Orange County Register/Southern California News Group. Clarke was also a first-team choice by the Los Angeles Times, which honored the best players from across Southern California.

  Cova was second-team All-County and junior Hayden George (a UCLA commit) was a second-team All-Trinity League choice in 2023. Svinth was second-team All-Trinity League in 2022.

  Kuhl’s pitching staff has a cumulative 2.79 ERA in his five seasons at Santa Margarita. In his debut season, he helped guide the Eagles to the 2019 CIF Southern Section Division 2 championship. The Eagles posted a 2.31 earned-run average in 2019 and had a 1.83 ERA in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. In 2019, Eagles pitcher Alex Schrier was first-team All-Trinity League and Spencer Edwards and Matthew McClure were second-team selections. McClure was second-team All-CIF.
   
  Kuhl began his coaching career in 2016 at his alma mater, Mission Viejo High, before becoming pitching coach at Fullerton College from 2017-18. In his two seasons at Fullerton, he guided the careers of four all-conference pitchers and had several players from his staff earn scholarships to four-year universities. In 2018, the Hornets pitching staff finished in the top three of the Orange Empire Conference in ERA and (fewest) walks allowed. In his second season, Hornets’ pitchers lowered their ERA and averages for hits and walks per nine innings while increasing their strikeouts per nine innings.
   
  As a player, Kuhl in 2011 helped Mission Viejo High win its first CIF Southern Section Division 2 championship. He got the win in the title game, giving him 22 in his career -- a school record at the time. Kuhl then pitched four years for Cal State Fullerton, helping the Titans reach the NCAA playoffs each season, advance to a pair of Super Regionals, and make a College World Series appearance in 2015.
   
  Kuhl’s 87 career appearances ranks ninth in the Titans’ storied history, and his 1.37 ERA in 2014 led the team. In his college career, Kuhl posted a 6-6 record with two saves, 137 strikeouts in 110 innings (11.01 strikeouts per nine innings) and a 3.13 ERA.
   
  Kuhl teaches IB Business Management at Santa Margarita. He and his wife JD reside in Lake Forest with their year-old daughter, Kennedy.

  Ryan Crowe - Varsity assistant / Program Catching Coordinator

  Coach Crowe is in his fourth season with the SMCHS baseball program, which is rapidly gaining a national reputation for turning out top catchers.

  In 2023, the Eagles sent three senior catchers – Blake Balsz, Luke Lavin and Bryce Humphry -- to Division I programs and another, Charlie Lapp, to Division 3.

  In 2020, before joining the Santa Margarita staff, Crowe was an assistant at Biola University, a perennially nationally ranked Division II program.
   
  The past two years, Crowe has divided his time at two high schools in two states. In the Fall, he serves as Defensive Coordinator for the football team at Rigby High in Idaho, which in 2022 won the state’s 5A (highest classification) championship. He returned to coach Eagles Baseball in December.

  Before accepting the post at Rigby, Crowe coached football for six seasons at his alma mater, SanJuan Hills High. He helped build that program into one that won a 2019 Southern Section championship.
   
  A two-sport athlete, Crowe graduated from San Juan Hills in 2012 after leading the baseball team to its first playoff appearance in school history.
   
  Crowe started his college playing career at Santa Barbara City College and later won a Gold Glove as a catcher for Westmont College, where he received NAIA All-American honors. He finished his college career at Hope International, helping his team win a Golden State Athletic Conference championship in 2019.

  Josh Nicoloff - Varsity Assistant / Program Hitting Coordinator

  Coach Nicoloff, a 2017 SMCHS graduate, is in his second year as a coach with Eagles Baseball after a stellar college career as both an athlete and student.

  In his first year as a coach, the result of Nicoloff’s knowledge and dedication was felt throughout Santa Margarita’s program as the Eagles secured outright Trinity League championships at the Varsity and Junior Varsity levels while the freshman team tied for the title.

  Nicoloff was a career .293 hitter for Columbia University, where he played three seasons and helped the Lions to the 2018 Ivy League championship as a freshman. He was All-Ivy League as a sophomore, when he was among the team’s leaders with a .313 batting average, .374 on-base percentage, 50 hits, 10 doubles, 67 total bases and eight stolen bases. After that 2019 season, he played in the Northwoods Summer Collegiate League and was a Major League Dreams Top Prospect invitee. As a junior at Columbia, in the COVID shortened 2020 season, he led the Lions with a .394 batting average.

  The Lions’ 2021 season was canceled because of COVID, but Nicoloff graduated from Columbia with a degree in Political Science. He played the 2022 season at Kansas State, starting all 58 games for the Wildcats and finishing with seven home runs, 27 runs batted in, 12 multiple-hit games, a 13-game hitting streak and a team-leading 19-game on-base streak. He also earned Big 12 Conference Newcomer of the Week and was a finalist for the American Baseball Coaches’ Assn./Rawlings Gold Glove Award as a second baseman.

  As a player at SMCHS, Nicoloff was a three-year letter winner, a 2016 Trinity League All Star and in 2017 was the Eagles’ team captain and a member of the South Team in the Orange County All-Star game.

  In 2020, Nicoloff helped found the Whitecaps Baseball Academy. He is a substitute teacher at SMCHS.

  Ryan McGuire - Varsity Assistant Coach

  Coach McGuire is in his first year as an Eagles’s varsity assistant after a career in which he starred at El Camino Real High in Woodland Hills, Calif., then UCLA, and played parts of six seasons in the Major Leagues.

  McGuire was a third-round draft choice by the Boston Red Sox out of UCLA in 1993 after three stellar seasons with the Bruins. He was a career .339 hitter for UCLA, with 47 home runs and 182 runs batted in. At the time, his career home-run total was second in school history.

  McGuire’s best season with the Bruins was his junior campaign in 1993, when he batted .376 with 26 home runs, 91 RBIs, 71 runs scored and 14 stolen bases. His home runs led the nation and he was second in the nation in RBIs. He also pitched for the Bruins, producing a 3-0 win-loss record with two saves and a 1.73 earned-run average. That earned him Co-Player of the Year in the Pacific-10 Conference and he was a first-team All-American.

  McGuire played for Team USA before signing with the Red Sox. He was traded by Boston to the Montreal Expos before the 1996 MLB season and made his big-league debut a year later.

  McGuire, a first baseman/outfielder in the majors, was with the Expos for parts of three seasons. He also played one season each with the New York Mets, Florida Marlins and Baltimore Orioles.

  He was inducted into UCLA’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2003.

  McGuire and wife Kristy have been married for 26 years and have three children – Connor (23), Cade (21) and Maggie (19), who is a former standout swimmer for SMCHS now competing at  Auburn.

  Nate Bacosa - Varsity Assistant Coach / Bullpen

  Coach Bacosa is in his first year with SMCHS baseball, having launched his coaching career while he was still playing high school and college ball.

  Bacosa grew up in San Jose and contributed on Bellarmine College Prep teams that won the NorCal version of the Boras Classic in 2017 and followed that up by defeating JSerra to win the Boras Classic played in Southern California the following year. As a senior, he earned the Father Shinney Award, presented to the player who best exemplifies a Bellarmine man to his teammates.

  Bacosa next played at Whittier College, where he made the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference All-Academic team from 2020-22 and was team captain for the Poets in 2022.

  The son of a longtime high school varsity pitching coach, Bacosa served as a junior varsity assistant at Willow Glen High in San Jose and helped the school’s varsity in its CIF Central Coast Section playoff run in 2021, when Whittier’s season was placed on hold by COVID. He also has six years of experience coaching youth travel teams.

  Bacosa resides in Whittier and is a graduate assistant in the strength and conditioning department at Whittier College, where he is scheduled to receive his master’s degree in education in May of this year.

  Nick Punto - Varsity Assistant Coach

  Coach Punto is in his first year on the SMCHS staff, working primarily with the Eagles’ infielders, after a 14-year Major League Baseball career with the Philadelphia Phillies, Minnesota Twins, St. Louis Cardinals, Boston Red Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers and Oakland Athletics.

  A 1996 graduate of Trabuco Hills High, Punto was drafted out of high school in the 33^rd round by the Twins but did not sign. He then played a season at Saddleback College, was drafted again – this time by the Phillies in the 21^st round – and signed his first professional contract.

  A trusty fielder, Punto made 408 appearances at second base, 360 at third and 337 at shortstop in his big-league career and fielded at a .978 clip. He even made 12 appearances in the outfield, 17 as designated hitter, 123 as a pinch-hitter and 64 as a pinch-runner. Twice in his career he finished in the top 10 in a season for sacrifices and he had 104 stolen bases in his career.

  Punto won a World Series ring with the Cardinals in 2011, a season in which he batted .278 with a .388 on-base percentage in 63 games as a utility player. He contributed three hits and five walks in 19 World Series plate appearances as the Cardinals defeated the Texas Rangers in seven games.

  After spending the 2012 season with the Red Sox, the Dodgers traded for him but it took five players to get him – along with Adrian Gonzalez, Carl Crawford and Josh Beckett.

  Punto also played for Team Italy in the 2009 and 2013 World Baseball Classics. In 2013, he batted .421 (8 for 19) in five games.

  Punto and wife Natalie have been married for 17 years and reside in Ladera Ranch with children Nicole (15), Nash (14) and Nixon (12). Nicole is a freshman at SMCHS and a junior varsity cheerleader.

  Michael Willett - Junior Varsity Blue Head Coach

  Coach Willett is in his 15th year with SMCHS baseball and has multiple Trinity League championships to his credit at the junior varsity and freshman levels – including the league’s JV title in 2023.

  Willett has coached at every level in the Eagles’ program, and his leadership has been instrumental in preparing the younger players for success at the varsity level.
   
  Willett has coached youth, club and high school baseball in Orange County for more than 30 years and has been a member of the American Baseball Coaching Association for 23 years. Several of Willett’s former players have gone on to play baseball at the college and professional levels.
   
  Willett played baseball at Mt. San Antonio College as well as football and baseball at Pomona High. He earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Business from the University of Redlands.
   
  Willett and his wife, Beth, will celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary in 2022. They have resided in Mission Viejo for 38 years and have been a part of the Santa Margarita Eagles family for more than two decades. Their three children and their son-in-law are SMCHS graduates: Megan and Jordan in the Class of 2003, Kyle ‘07 and Troy ‘10.

  Matt Wainshel - Junior Varsity Gold Head Coach / Lower-Level Pitching Coach

  Coach Wainshel, a former Eagles baseball player who graduated from SMCHS in 2017, is in his first year as a member of his alma mater’s baseball coaching staff.

  Wainshel has nearly three years of coaching experience as an assistant with the Whitecaps Baseball Academy, and he spent one season (2022) as the head freshman coach at Capistrano Valley High.

  A scholar-athlete at SMCHS, Wainshel matriculated to Gonzaga University, from where he graduated Cum Laude with a degree in History in 2021. He received his teaching credential in 2023 from Concordia University in Irvine.

  While at Gonzaga, Wainshel served as an intern for the Athletic Director at Lewis and Clark High in Spokane, Washington.

  Now a substitute teacher at SMCHS, Wainshel was a student teacher in Social Sciences at Marco Forster Middle School in San Juan Capistrano in 2023.

  Mike Lutterloh - Junior Varsity Assistant Coach

  Coach Lutterloh is entering his third season with Eagles Baseball, his second as an assistant at the JV level. In 2021, he was an assistant for the freshman program, which had two teams. Before that, he was a varsity assistant for the Eagles’ softball program for eight seasons.
   
  Lutterloh was also head coach of Firecrackers-Lutterloh, a travel softball team that earned national rankings as high as 6th in Triple Crown, ASA, and PGF.  All of Lutterloh’s former travel players went on to play in college at some of the most prestigious athletic and academic universities in the country, including Harvard, Penn, Duke, Georgetown, Notre Dame, Cal and Oregon.
   
  Lutterloh played baseball at El Toro High and earned second-team All-South Coast League as a senior.  He played college baseball at Cal State Los Angeles for legendary Coach John Herbold and was nominated to try out for the U.S. Olympic team his freshman year.

  Lutterloh played in the New York Collegiate Baseball League in Up-State New York for two summer seasons and was invited to play in the Houston Astros minor league system.
   
  Lutterloh and his wife, Kindra, celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary in 2022 and are longtime residents of Rancho Santa Margarita. They have been part of the Eagle family for eight years. All four of their children have graduated from or are currently attending SMCHS: Makenna (2017) played softball for and graduated from Duke; Abby (2020) is a senior volleyball player at Georgetown; PJ is a freshman at Texas and Jake is a junior at SMCHS.

  Tony Gray - Freshman Head Coach

  Coach Gray is in his second year with Eagles Baseball, his first as head coach of the freshmen. Last season, his JV Gold team had the best winning percentage of any SM team.

  Gray has been involved with baseball his entire life as a player, coach, volunteer and executive. He was an all-state second baseman in high school and helped lead McNary High in Keizer, Oregon, to a second state championship in four years. He played in college at the NAIA level for Western Oregon and later club ball at Oregon as a middle infielder.

  Professionally, Gray has spent the last 20-plus years in sports – most of it at Nike World Headquarters in finance and product development, including making shoes for MLB and college players.
   
  Outside the office, Gray has been a coach and administrator for baseball programs in Orange County the past 13 years. He has coached players 4-18 years of age to several championships and also formed South Orange County’s first all-girls Little League Baseball team (which had just one loss in three years). He doubled the size of Aliso Viejo Little League’s Challenger Program during his time as league President. Gray also spent four years as Little League District 55 Administrator, directing the operations of seven leagues.
   
  Gray and his wife have been married 20 years and have two children: a son, 17, who is a sophomore soccer player for SMCHS, and a daughter, 11.

  Mike Hiserman - Program Assistant Coach

  Coach Hiserman is in his fourth season with the SMCHS baseball program, though his role will be limited as he recovers from full knee replacement surgeries on both legs.

  The past two seasons, Hiserman has guided the Eagles’ freshman team, winning an outright Trinity League championship in 2022 and tying for the title in 2023. He was the head coach of JV Gold and an assistant for JV Blue in 2021, his first season.
   
  Before coming to Santa Margarita, Hiserman coached high-level youth and club teams in Ventura and Orange Counties while completing a 38-year career with the Los Angeles Times, with whom he won several writing and editing awards and rose to Sports Editor.
   
  In 2021, Hiserman joined the SMCHS baseball staff as a volunteer. In 2022, SMCHS hired him as Associate Director of College Relations, an advisory role to all Eagles student-athletes who are seeking to compete in college. The program he has established is one of only a handful of its type at high schools across the country.
   
  As an athlete, Hiserman played football and baseball at Kennedy High in La Palma. His sons, Stephen and Matthew, graduated from Capistrano Valley High. Stephen is a Captain in the Los Angeles City Fire Department. Matt played on four South Coast League championship teams at Capo before pitching for one season for Santa Clara and three for the University of San Francisco. He was then an assistant for one season at CSUN and was pitching coach for four at USF.
   
  Hiserman and wife Ronnie celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary in 2021. They are 24-year residents of Mission Viejo and are the proud grandparents of three.

  Patrick Visconti '06 - Program Chaplin

  Patrick Visconti, a former Eagles player and 2006 SMCHS graduate, is in his sixth year with Santa Margarita Baseball. He is Santa Margarita Catholic’s Assistant Principal in charge of Mission Integration.

  Visconti had opportunities to play college baseball but instead pursued a career in education/ministry. He coached baseball at SMCHS for four seasons and credits his love for the game to his experience playing alongside several future pros and from coaching in the Challenger Baseball League, an organization for players 5-20 with developmental disabilities.

  Visconti earned his Bachelor’s Degree from the University of San Francisco and has a Master’s Degree in Theological Studies from Loyola Marymount.

  Before returning to Santa Margarita, Visconti was the Campus Minister for Regional Service at LMU. Before that, he taught for six years at Servite High.

  Visconti was hired by SMCHS in 2017 as the Director of Campus Ministry, overseeing an office that runs 10+ retreats for students a year, offers multiple liturgies, including all-school masses, and provides a service-learning program that is uniquely built for each grade level.

  As Assistant Principal, he assists the school’s mission as a Catholic institution by sitting on the Administrative Board several committees, including Threat Assessment, Mental Health and Wellness, and Curriculum Council. In these roles he works to ensure the charism and mission of the school are present throughout the campus.

  Visconti and his wife, Maria, who is also a 2006 SMCHS graduate, reside in Rancho Santa Margarita with their son Rocco, 7, and daughter, Stella, 5.

2017 | Under Armour All-American | Chandler Champlain

Congratulations to senior Chandler Champlain for being selected to the 2017 Under Armour All-American team. The game, which will be played at iconic Wrigley Field on Saturday, July 29th, is the 10th annual event, bringing together the top 40 high school players in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. The game will be broadcast on MLB Network.

Champlain, a 6’5” 220 right handed pitcher verbally committed to the University of Southern California in his freshman year at Santa Margarita. Chandler is the first Eagle baseball player to be named an Under Armour All-American in the history of the school. By the end of his junior year, Champlain had created a new school record for number of career strikeouts at 303, and will look to add to that number during his senior year. His fastball has been clocked at 95mph, surpassing Griffin Canning’s school record of 93.

CIF Champions- 2014, 2019, 2002, 1995