Cameron Santos is a senior infielder on Chico State’s baseball team and was recently awarded preseason first-team honors for the all-west region.

When asked about first-team honors, Santos said, “It is an awesome honor. Knowing I have worked extremely hard this entire year up to this opening weekend. The only reason I have the opportunity for that honor though is because of the teammates I have pushing me to compete and the coaching staff at Chico State who demand effort and energy every day.”

Santos is in his fourth year at Chico State, and plays third base for the Wildcats. He was a standout in 2017, hitting .359 with two home runs and 47 runs-batted-in. His .359 average ranked ninth in the conference, while his five triples led the conference. Santos was also a huge part of the Wildcats running game, finishing third in conference with 24 steals.

Although Santos was clearly proud of his accomplishment, the star infielder emphasized that individual awards were not his top priority.

“Individual awards are not my end goal and never have been,” Santos said. “Wanting to succeed as a team and collect team accolades is my biggest goal, year in and year out, and if me doing my part and helping the team win as an individual enables me to receive that award, then that is a plus.”

It’s fair to say that there are some big expectations for Santos and the Wildcats this year, but he isn’t too worried about that. He insists that he must stay focused on the important aspects of the game, such as producing runs and having quality at-bats.

“Productivity and producing runs is more of my interest point. As a team we push having quality at-bats at the plate more than anything, and if that is something I am able to repeat along with the other 35 guys wearing a Wildcats jersey we will be in a good position to win many games this year,” Santos said.

With the 2018 season approaching in a matter of days, Santos and the Wildcats will look to build on last year’s strong performance. Their first game is scheduled to start at noon on Friday at Nettleton Stadium against Fresno Pacific University.

Austin Schreiber can be reached at [email protected] or @aschreiber94 on Twitter.