Dietrich joins Anteaters staff

Jason Dietrich has been added to the UC Irvine baseball staff as director of baseball operations, the school announced.

Dietrich was pitching coach and recruiting coordinator last season at Cal State Los Angeles, where he worked under then-head coach Pat Shine, now the UCI associate head coach under Mike Gillespie.

Dietrich helped the Golden Eagles win the Division II West Regional championship and finish 45-15-1.

Dietrich was the pitching coach at Irvine Valley College from 2003-06, where he helped the Lasers advance to the 2005 Super Regionals.

Dietrich, 34, a former all-conference pitcher at Pepperdine and Santa Ana Community College, was a 19th-round pick by the Colorado Rockies in the 1994 draft. He played four seasons in the Rockies organization, then pitched for the New Jersey Jackals of the independent Northwest League in 1998, helping the Jackals win the league title.

He began his coaching career with two seasons as pitching coach at Arcadia High, where the Apaches won consecutive Pacific League championships.

He was pitching coach at Los Angeles City College in 2002, helping the Cubs win the South Coast Conference championship.

He also coached for the Hyannis Mets of the Cape Cod League in 2004 and 2005 and was pitching coach for the Western Wood Bat Collegiate Summer League’s Southern California Fire in 2003.

— Barry Faulkner