Robert Ruiz spent 5 years at Azusa Pacific as an assistant to Cougar head coach Paul Svagdis.

Published

June 5, 2009

AZUSA, Calif. -- Azusa Pacific baseball associate head coach Robert Ruiz has accepted the head coaching position at fellow Golden State Athletic Conference member Westmont College.

Ruiz, who has been a part of 4 conference championships in 9 years of combined playing and coaching experience, inherits a Westmont program that won 3 GSAC titles in the first 8 years of the conference’s history before falling on hard times in the past decade. The Warriors have suffered 9 consecutive losing seasons, although the 2009 campaign snapped a 7-year streak of last-place conference finishes.

Ruiz assisted current Cougar head coach Paul Svagdis for the past 5 seasons, helping guide the Cougars to back-to-back NAIA World Series appearances in 2007 and 2008. Azusa Pacific has posted 3 of the top 8 single-season win totals in the program’s history in the past 3 seasons, tying or setting 21 program team records while producing a combined 5 MLB draft selections in 2007 and 2008.

For the third consecutive season, the Cougars have had 5 players reach double-digit home runs in a single season, with 4 players hitting at least 20. Three different players have surpassed the 22-homer mark, which stood for 10 seasons as Azusa Pacific’s single-season record before Scott Hodsdon hit 26 in 2007 and Brice Cutspec set the new mark with 30 home runs in 2009. In 2009, Azusa Pacific was the only collegiate baseball program at any level (NCAA Division I, II, III, NAIA, and junior college) to have 2 players with 25 or more home runs. All-GSAC third baseman Ryan Delgado hit 25 to go with Cutspec’s 30, and the Cougars set the single-season team record with 111 home runs.

Ruiz played 4 seasons at NCAA Division III Pomona-Pitzer, where he was a career .315 hitter and a 2-time All-Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference selection. He helped lead the Sagehens to back-to-back SCIAC championships, including a perfect 18-0 conference title campaign in 2002.

Ruiz earned his bachelor’s degree in organizational studies from Pomona College in 2003, and he completed a master’s degree in organizational leadership from Azusa Pacific in 2007. He and his fiancée will be married June 13.

Click here to view the Wesmont story on the Ruiz hiring.