UC Riverside's season to remember continues as they pick up four of the five 2007 Easton Big West Annual honors. Tabbed as one of the nation's best pitching staffs, the Highlanders walked away with both pitching honors as James Simmons collected Easton Big West Pitcher of the Year and Joe Kelly nabbed Easton Big West Freshman Pitcher of the Year accolades. Teammate Joey Gonzales was named Easton Big West Freshman Player of the Year, while UCR’s head coach Doug Smith, received Easton Big West Coach of the Year. Picking up the fifth honor of the day is Cal Poly's Grant Desme, who was crowned 2007 Easton Big West Player of the Year.
Desme becomes just the second Mustang to earn Big West Player of the Year honors, with Kyle Blumenthal picking up the first award in 2005. The junior outfielder's explosiveness at the plate this season propelled him to become the first Big West player in three years to earn baseball’s triple crown, leading the conference in batting average (.405), home runs (15) and RBI (53). Along with those impressive marks, Desme also paced the league in slugging percentage (.733), on-base percentage (.494) and total bases (143). The Bakersfield, Calif. native, who was out for the final two weeks of the season with a fractured wrist suffered when he was hit by a pitch, was just one long bomb from tying Cal Poly's season-best of 16 home runs.
Two-thousand seven was a stellar year for UC Riverside's ace James Simmons, who nabbed Big West Pitcher of the Year honors after closing out the regular season with a league-leading 2.32 ERA. The Friday-night starter became the first Highlander since 2003 to produce a 10-win season. Simmons, who recorded a conference second-best 113 strikeouts this season, held his opposition to a .219 batting average to pace the Big West Conference. The Norco, Calif., native added a variety of accolades to his extensive resume as he picked up three Easton Big West Player of the Week honors and a variety of national player of the week awards. His best outing of his career came against San Francisco (2/16/07) when he threw a complete-game, four-hit shutout and tied the school Division I record with 15 strikeouts. Simmons, who will continue the 2007 season in the NCAA Tournament, owns a 10-3 record in 116.1 innings of work.
In just his third year at the helm of the Highlander squad, Smith guided UC Riverside to its first Big West Conference Championship, earning him the prestigious honor of Big West Coach of the Year. Smith made an immediate impact at his alma mater, becoming the fastest coach in school history to reach 50 wins (two years) and the first coach to have a winning record in his first two seasons ( 57-52). After year three, he has continued that success and boasts a record of 94-71 (.570) and a 36-27 (.571) mark in conference play.
The future looks bright for UC Riverside as they nab both Big West Freshman Player and Pitcher of the Year accolades - OF Joey Gonzales and RHP Joe Kelly. Gonzales, who started all 56 UC Riverside games, batted a team-best .360 in his rookie campaign, which also ranked him seventh in the Big West. The Riverside, Calif., native enters the postseason riding a 14-game hit streak, 10th best in the league. During the 14-game span, Gonzales blasted 10 multi-hit games to increase his total to 18 on the season.
Teammate Joe Kelly is an integral part of the UCR pitching staff that boasts a conference-low 3.53 ERA and a top-15 ranking in the country. He has allowed just two earned runs all season long and owns a 3-1 record. In 26.1 innings pitched, the Corona, Calif., native posted a 0.68 ERA, while collecting six saves. Kelly’s sixth and final save of the season came in the 4-2 win over UC Irvine, which clinched UC Riverside’s first-ever Big West title.
UC Riverside Long Beach State and UC Irvine each received three 2007 Easton All-Big West First Team honors to lead all conference teams. Cal Poly and Pacific each placed two on the first team, while Cal State Fullerton and UC Santa Barbara claimed one spot each. Cal State Fullerton’s Clark Hardman and Pacific’s Justin Baum are making their second appearance on the first team list.
2007 Easton Big West All-Conference Team
2007 BIG WEST PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Grant Desme, Cal Poly | 2007 BIG WEST FRESHMAN PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Joey Gonzales, UC Riverside |
2007 BIG WEST PITCHER OF THE YEAR
James Simmons, UC Riverside | 2007 BIG WEST FRESHMAN PITCHER OF THE YEAR
Joe Kelly, UC Riverside |
2007 BIG WEST COACH OF THE YEAR
Doug Smith, UC Riverside |
| FIRST TEAM |
| Player | School | Ht. | B-T | Yr. | Pos. | Hometown |
| Travis Howell | Long Beach State | 6-2 | R-R | Jr. | C | Los Gatos, Calif. |
| Joe Oliveira | Pacific | 6-0 | R-R | So. | C | San Diego, Calif. |
| Robbie Blauer | UC Santa Barbara | 5-11 | L-L | Sr. | 1B | Huntington Beach, Calif. |
| Cody Cipriano | UC Irvine | 6-0 | R-R | Sr. | 2B | Agoura, Calif. |
| Justin Baum^ | Pacific | 6-1 | R-R | Jr. | 3B | La Mesa, Calif. |
| Jaime Pedroza | UC Riverside | 5-10 | S-R | Jr. | SS | Covina, Calif. |
| Grant Desme | Cal Poly | 6-2 | R-R | Jr. | OF | Bakersfield, Calif. |
| Clark Hardman^ | Cal State Fullerton | 6-1 | L-R | Jr. | OF | Trabuco Canyon, Calif. |
| Robert Perry | Long Beach State | 5-9 | L-L | Sr. | OF | Sunnyvale, Calif. |
| Shane Peterson | Long Beach State | 6-0 | L-L | So. | DH | Temecula, Calif. |
| Taylor Holiday | UC Irvine | 5-11 | R-R | Jr. | UTL | Dana Point, Calif. |
| Scott Gorgen | UC Irvine | 5-10 | R-R | So. | SP | Concord, Calif. |
| Thomas Eager | Cal Poly | 6-2 | R-R | So. | SP | Merced, Calif. |
| James Simmons | UC Riverside | 6-4 | R-R | Jr. | SP | Norco, Calif. |
| Joe Kelly | UC Riverside | 6-1 | R-R | Fr. | RP | Corona, Calif. |
| SECOND TEAM |
| Player | School | Ht. | B-T | Yr. | Pos. | Hometown |
| Jorge Andrade | Cal State Northridge | 6-1 | R-R | Sr. | 1B | San Diego, Calif. |
| Matt Cline | Long Beach State | 5-10 | R-R | Sr. | 2B | Huntington Beach, Calif. |
| Tyler Vaughn | UC Irvine | 6-2 | R-R | Jr. | 3B | Colorado Springs, Colo. |
| Danny Espinosa | Long Beach State | 6-0 | S-R | So. | SS | Santa Ana, Calif. |
| Ben Orloff | UC Irvine | 5-1 | R-R | So. | SS | Simi Valley, Calif. |
| Joey Gonzales | UC Riverside | 5-10 | L-L | Fr. | OF | Riverside, Calif. |
| Ollie Linton | UC Irvine | 5-8 | L-L | So. | OF | Winnetka, Calif. |
| Logan Schafer | Cal Poly | 6-1 | L-L | So. | OF | Los Gatos, Calif. |
| Aaron Wible | UC Riverside | 6-3 | R-R | Jr. | OF | Riverside, Calif. |
| Mike Vass | UC Riverside | 6-1 | R-R | Jr. | DH | Orange, Calif. |
| Wes Dorrell | Cal Poly | 6-2 | L-R | Fr. | UTL | Clovis, Calif. |
| Wes Etheridge | UC Irvine | 6-1 | R-R | Jr. | SP | Huntington Beach, Calif. |
| Jeff Kaplan | Cal State Fullerton | 6-0 | R-R | Jr. | SP | Dana Point, Calif. |
| Wes Roemer | Cal State Fullerton | 6-0 | R-R | Jr. | SP | Glendora, Calif. |
| Evan Reed | Cal Poly | 6-4 | R-R | Jr. | RP | Quincy, Calif. |
| HONORABLE MENTION |
| Player | School | Ht. | B-T | Yr. | Pos. | Hometown |
| John Curtis | Cal State Fullerton | 6-2 | L-R | Sr. | C | Newhall, Calif. |
| Jeff Dunbar | UC Riverside | 6-4 | R-R | Jr. | C | Chino Hills, Calif. |
| Aaron Lowenstein | UC Irvine | 6-1 | R-R | Jr. | C | Calabasas, Calif. |
| Chris McMurray | UC Santa Barbara | 5-11 | R-R | So. | C | Mission Viejo, Calif. |
| Brent Morel | Cal Poly | 6-1 | R-R | So. | 3B | Bakersfield, Calif. |
| Kyle Smith | Cal Poly | 6-1 | R-R | Fr. | SS | Visalia, Calif. |
| Chris Fox | UC Santa Barbara | 5-10 | L-L | Jr. | OF | Redondo Beach, Calif. |
| TJ Mittlestaedt | Long Beach State | 5-10 | L-R | Fr. | OF | Mission Viejo, Calif. |
| Sean Madigan | UC Irvine | 5-11 | L-L | Fr. | DH | Yorba Linda, Calif. |
| Andrew Liebel | Long Beach State | 6-0 | R-R | Jr. | SP | Pomona, Calif. |
| Marc Rzepczynski | UC Riverside | 6-3 | L-L | Sr. | SP | Yorba Linda, Calif. |
| Derrick Saito | Cal Poly | 5-9 | L-L | So. | RP | Wailuku, Hawaii |
^Two-time All-Big West First Team selection