A handful of impressive performances last week resulted in Easton Big West Co-Player and Co-Pitcher of the Week selections, for the week ending April 20. UC Irvine's Scott Gorgen and UC Davis' Eddie Gamboa shared pitching honors, while UC Riverside's Ryan Goetz and Long Beach State's Shane Peterson split the player award.
Gorgen struck out a career-high 14 batters in seven innings to lead UC Irvine to its lone victory against Big West defending champion UC Riverside. The Concord, Calif., native struck out nine batters in the first four innings, including four straight, en route to picking up his seventh win of the season. Gorgen gave up just three hits and walked only two in Friday night’s contest.
Gamboa shutdown Cal Poly Friday afternoon with a three-hit complete game to lead the Aggies to a 3-2 win over the Mustangs. Hailing from Merced, Calif., the 6-2 senior did not allow an earned run in the game and struck out three to earn his team-leading sixth victory of the season. In his second complete game of the year, he walked only one batter and picked off his conference-leading seventh base runner of the season, while facing just four over the minimum.
Going 6-for-14 (.428) against nationally-ranked UC Irvine, Goetz guided UC Riverside to its second straight conference series win with the Highlanders downing the Anteaters in both Saturday and Sunday's contests. On Saturday he drove in two runs during the three-run first inning which contributed to a 5-3 UC Riverside win. He followed up that performance with an eventual game-winning two-run triple in Sunday’s series-clinching win. The first baseman from Temple City, Calif., native was also perfect on defense with a 1.000 fielding percentage in 42 chances. For the week, Goetz produced a .389 batting average and registered two runs, seven RBI and two stolen bases.
Peterson hit .667 (10-of-15) for the week and reached base safely 16 of 21 times. In Tuesday’s nonconference game against nationally-ranked Pepperdine, the Temecula, Calif., native hit for the cycle, going 4-for-4 with three runs, 5 RBI and a walk. In Long Beach State's series sweep over Cal State Northridge, Peterson scored seven runs and drove in two. Friday he went 3-for-4 with five runs and an RBI and Saturday he recorded three hits and tallied two runs and an RBI. At one point during the week he went 10-for-11 from the plate.
Other pitchers nominated: Matt Larkins (UCR), Daniel Renken (CSF), Chuck Huggins (UCSB), Billy Ott (CSUN), Steven Fischback (CP)
Other players nominated: Jake Jefferies (UCD), Mike Zuanich (UCSB), Gary Brown (CSF), Brent Morel (CP)