2026 Orange Empire Conference JUCO Alumni Leaderboard: Golden West Leads a Deep Field
2026 Orange Empire Conference JUCO Alumni Leaderboard: Golden West Leads a Deep Field
Golden West leads the 3C2A Orange Empire Conference with a 180.0 Alumni Placement Score, the highest in the conference and one of the highest in all of 3C2A this season.
Updated Aug 15, 2026: Golden West’s alumni total was corrected from 39 to 40 following CBI’s internal transfer-verification process. This post has been updated to reflect the correction.
Across all 8 reporting Orange Empire colleges, 234 alumni are active on four-year rosters — spanning NCAA D1, D2, D3, NAIA, NCCAA, and USCAA programs. That’s the largest total alumni count of any 3C2A conference in the 2026 reporting year.
Which Orange Empire College Has the Highest Alumni Placement Score?
Golden West tops the Orange Empire Conference with a 180.0 Raw APS, built on 23 alumni at the NCAA D1 level alone. Saddleback (157.7) and Riverside (157.6) are in a near-dead heat for second — separated by just 0.1 points.
Full Orange Empire Conference Alumni Rankings (2026)
Saddleback edges ahead of Riverside for the conference’s #2 spot under Alumni Placement Score, even though Riverside has a higher win percentage this season (.690 vs. .587) — a reminder that Raw APS reflects alumni pipeline strength, not this year’s win-loss record. By Efficiency APS (Raw APS per alumnus), Santa Ana leads the conference at 4.668 — its smaller, more concentrated alumni group places at a higher average level than Golden West’s larger, more D1-heavy roster. Santa Ana posted the conference’s best win percentage (.846) this season, though its Raw APS (130.7) ranks 5th — a reminder that a strong season and a deep four-year pipeline don’t always move together.
How These Rankings Are Calculated
Each college is ranked by Alumni Placement Score (APS) — a weighted measure of alumni currently active on four-year rosters, giving more weight to higher levels of four-year competition. Overall alumni count is shown for reference. See the full APS methodology for the exact formula, division weights, and Efficiency APS definit Raw APS reflects an alumnus’s current four-year level, not necessarily a level the program directly placed them into — a JUCO’s directly attributable contribution is the initial transfer, and any later move between four-year programs reflects the player’s own path more than continued involvement from the original two-year program. See what “placement” means in APS for more.
Frequently Asked Questions
Which JUCO college in the Orange Empire Conference has the highest Alumni Placement Score?
Golden West leads the 3C2A Orange Empire Conference with a 180.0 Alumni Placement Score, the highest in the conference and one of the highest in all of 3C2A this season. See the full Orange Empire rankings above for the complete Raw APS breakdown.
How many colleges are in the 3C2A Orange Empire Conference?
Eight: Golden West, Riverside, Saddleback, Cypress, Santa Ana, Fullerton, Orange Coast, and Irvine Valley.
What is Alumni Placement Score (APS)?
Alumni Placement Score weights each alumnus by the level of four-year baseball they currently play, rather than counting every alumnus equally. See the full APS methodology for the exact formula and division weights.
How does Orange Empire compare to other 3C2A conferences?
Orange Empire’s 234 total alumni is the highest of any 3C2A conference in the 2026 reporting year — about 14% of all 3C2A alumni. See the full 3C2A summary leaderboard for a conference-by-conference comparison across all 87 reporting colleges.
More Than Just Rankings
A CBI subscription unlocks the full Orange Empire Conference leaderboard, plus the detailed division breakdown for every program — exactly how many alumni play at each NCAA division, NAIA, NCCAA, and USCAA level.
Insights reflect data available at time of publication and are subject to change.
