All four senior Imperial Valley High School baseball players who played in last week’s CIF San Diego Section’s Annual Padres High School All-Star Night at Petco Park were recently named to the 2025 All-Imperial Valley League First Team in baseball.

Two of the four were also voted as the 2025 IVL’s outstanding players, with Calexico High Bulldog Randy Baez named the Player-of-the-Year and Imperial High Tiger Carter Tucker as Pitcher-of-the-Year.

Playing for the victorious East Team at Petco Park in San Diego, Baez tripled off the outfield wall, demonstrating his offensive skills, which saw him as a career .346 batting average hitter for the Bulldogs.

“He’s very athletic and can play anywhere,” Calexico coach Luis Briseno said. “Randy’s one of the smaller players in the IVL, but he has a big impact… he has strength, power, speed, and a great glove on defense…he has everything.”

In addition to the obvious physical skills, Briseno points to other attributes that Baez, who was a catcher on the 2023 CIF Division IV championship team and a shortstop on this spring’s 2025 CIF Division III runner-up team, brings to the field.

“Randy’s effort, his performance, demeanor on the field, and his leadership were obvious to the other coaches who voted for him,” Briseno said. “His baseball IQ is something else…he was a mentor to his teammates and the players accepted him as a leader.”

To no one’s surprise, Tucker was a standout at the High School All-Star Night Game, as he threw shutout innings for the East Team, leading the pitching staff by striking out three West batters.

Brawley High Wildcat coach Pedro Carranza noted that, as the Valley’s representative at the CIF-SDS Baseball Coaches Advisory Meeting where the All-Star Night Game players were selected, Tucker was a no-brainer.

“Tucker was one of the unanimous choices to play in the game, and as the others were presented, they were accepted… I know it’s because we consistently get teams to championship games,” Carranza said.

At Imperial, Tucker, at 6’0” and 170 lbs, was a beast on the mound and at shortstop for the Tigers over his career, playing 108 varsity games.

“Carter worked hard to establish himself as a top pitcher in the IVL this season,” Imperial coach Javier Ramos said. “He is a competitor and wants the ball against the best opponents.”

Ramos believes that Tucker, who had an impressive 14-4 record and a 1.48 ERA and will play for Cal Baptist University next spring, is yet to reach his potential.

“It has been a pleasure to watch his progression in Imperial the past four years,” Ramos said. “He is only beginning, and we expect to hear great things from him at CBU.”

Joining Baez and Tucker on the 2025 All-IVL Baseball First Team were fellow High School All-Star Night Game East teammates Brawley Wildcat outfielder Sergio Garcia and Cole Redden from the IVL Champion Southwest Eagles (23-6, 11-1 IVL).

Redden was joined on the All-IVL First Team by Eagles junior Jerry Niebla and sophomore Jose Salcido, while Southwest juniors Isaiah Aguilera and Nico Montano and sophomore Anthony McFarland were named as Second Team selections.

Joining Baez on the First Team from second-place Calexico (23-5, 10-2 IVL) was senior David Lara, with Bulldog juniors Ander Garcia and Jose Ortega named to the All-IVL Second Team.

Meanwhile, for third-place Brawley (14-13, 7-5 IVL), Garcia was joined on the All-IVL First Team by junior Ozyel Villanueva, while getting Second Team honors was Wildcat senior Jackson Brummet.

For fourth-place Imperial (13-13, 6-6 IVL), Tucker has been joined by All-IVL Second Team selection senior Izaiah Perez.

The Holtville Vikings (7-21, 2-10 IVL) were represented on the 2025 All-IVL Team by First Team selection junior Ayden Avila and Second Team selection junior Davian Ambrocio.

The Central Spartans (12-18, 2-10 IVL) saw junior Angel Carrillo named to the All-IVL Second Team, while the Palo Verde Yellowjackets (16-14-1, 4-8 IVL) had junior Drew Wright voted to the First Team and junior Kole White to the All-IVL Second Team.

For guiding the Calexico Bulldogs to a second-place IVL finish in his first season as a baseball coach, Briseno was named the IVL’s 2025 Coach-of-the-Year.

“I wasn’t involved at all; I was coaching softball… I saw maybe two games last season, and we had a completely new coaching staff, and everyone took a while to buy into a new culture, but then we were a team,” Briseno said. “I’m honored…and it was unexpected. As a rookie coach, you don’t think about that…but we got them to play together… I played with the other coaches, and we all connected, and that contributed to our success, too.”