UC Santa Barbara’s Jackson Flora has been named the 2026 College Pitcher of the Year by Perfect Game, a first for a Gauchos hurler. Flora dominated this past season with a 12-0 record and a nation’s best 1.06 ERA. He set the UCSB single-season record with 133 strikeouts.

Pitching Excellence

Flora’s impressive performance has drawn comparisons to other elite pitchers from UCSB, including Shane Bieber, Dillon Tate, Barry Zito, Michael McGreevy, Kyle Nelson, Dan Yokubatis, and Tyler Bremner. Like Bremner, who was drafted second overall by the Angels last year, Flora is expected to be the first pitcher selected in this summer’s Major League Baseball Draft.

Flora has also received the District 9 Player of the Year award and is an ABCA/Rawlings All-West Region First Team honoree.

Original reporting: KEYT (Ventura/Santa Barbara) — read the source article.