Andrew Guana found his footing in community college and now he’s tearing up the league for USD

Andrew Gauna, a self-described “bad student” at San Diego High and later Patrick Henry, took the long way home.

A late bloomer, the 6-foot-4, 220-pound corner outfielder began his college career at San Diego Mesa College, where he tied the program’s all-time hits record with 106 — since broken — before transferring to Division I Cal State Northridge.

Now a graduate transfer at the University of San Diego, Gauna has turned his final season into a heater, emerging as one of the Toreros’ most productive hitters.

“The harsh truth was I had to go to junior college and get my grades up,” Gauna said. “I kind of dug myself into a hole and then tried to get out of it taking summer classes — all that. There wasn’t anything wrong with me. It was just a lack of focus. You hear it when you’re young —
take care of things off the field so you can have success on it — but I didn’t really understand that until later. I’m so glad that I went to junior college. My body was always a little underdeveloped. I definitely wasn’t mature enough to play Division I baseball out of high school. I say that with no shame at all.”

Gauna, a right-handed hitter, is pacing USD (17–27) – he’s among the leaders in the West Coast Conference – with a .369 batting average and a team-best .581 slugging percentage. He also leads the team with 42 RBIs alongside six home runs.

“He has the talent, the ability to hit,” head coach Brock Ungricht said. “Once he simplified things at the plate and started using the opposite field, that’s when he really took off. The home runs started coming without him even trying to hit them. He’s done a great job working with our staff, accepting coaching and becoming a real middle-of-the-lineup presence for us.”

Gauna’s hottest stretch came in the opening week of April, when he helped lead USD to a three-game sweep of West Coast Conference rival Santa Clara. He went 6-for-12 in the series, homered in all three games, and finished with eight RBIs, three home runs, two doubles and six runs scored, earning WCC Player of the Week honors.

“We were coming off a series loss to Pepperdine,” Gauna said. “I had been swinging it well and didn’t expect anything too crazy. In that first game against Santa Clara, I was 0-for-3 going into my last at-bat, and that home run kind of flipped the switch for that weekend. It was almost like a fire got lit under me.”

Gauna stayed hot on April 19, lining a first-pitch walk-off single up the middle in the bottom of the ninth to score sophomore utility man CJ Moran and lift USD to a 13-12 win over Seattle University to close out a back-and-forth afternoon at Fowler Park.

“He’s such a people person,” Ungricht said. “He does a really good job of connecting with the team — checking in on everyone, from the coaching staff to support staff to every player. That’s hard to do when you’ve only been here 10 months, but it says a lot about him as a person. And it shows up in his game, because he’s able to just be himself.”

Gauna singled out teammates Diego Gutierrez – who transferred in with him from Northridge and is his roommate – and Moran as key to making him comfortable with his new team.

“Diego has been our Friday starter, and he’s been electric to watch,” he said. “Seeing his development over the last few years has been awesome — he’s really turned into a dominant pitcher. CJ Moran is another one; he’s one of the best athletes I’ve ever seen. He’s been swinging the bat like no other, tapping into power he didn’t even know he had. He’s just a joy to watch — and he loves to talk.”

Doubling as a pitcher at Mesa before arm troubles took him off the mound at Northridge, Gauna joked he’s still lobbying to get back on the bump.

“I miss it every day,” he said. “With pitching comes a little bit of narcissism — I love having the ball in my hand every play. If you understand pitching, you understand hitting.”

“You never know — there might be a time,” Ungricht said.

Gauna said he’s hoping his performance at the plate this season opens the door to professional baseball.

“Playing baseball for as long as I can has always been the number one goal,” he said. “It’s been a crazy collegiate journey for me. Professional baseball has always been a dream of mine.”

“If he keeps having success over the next two months, he can put himself in position to play past college,” Ungricht added. “With his ability to hit to all fields, handle multiple pitches, not strike out much, and still provide slugging, he’s shown he can keep playing beyond college.”

The Toreros play UC Irvine at home Tuesday, then have two more series – against Pacific on the road and Loyola Marymount at Fowler Park – before the WCC Tournament, set for May 20–23.