DJ Mauldin's stellar performance on the mound awarded Cal Poly a win over No. 3 Rice and earned him Big West Pitcher of the Week honors, while Pacific's J.B. Brown and UC Irvine’s Francis Larson power at the plate led their respective teams to impressive wins to secure Big West Co-Player of the Week accolades.
Mauldin started the first game of a doubleheader Saturday afternoon against No. 3 Rice and threw 107 pitches, 72 for strikes, in seven innings. The Livermore, Calif., native gave up just three runs to a team that registered 10 runs the night before. He struck out four and walked one in the Mustangs’ 10-3 victory.
Also picking up a win against a ranked opponent were the Pacific Tigers, thanks in part to the power of J.B. Brown who drove in the winning run in Saturday’s 9-8 win over No. 8 Baylor. The Texas native, who notched a two-run double to ignite's Pacific's offense Saturday, did not commit an error in the weekend series. Sunday, Brown slapped an infield single to load the bases with no outs and scored the eventual game-tying run to send the game to extra innings. During their three-game series at Baylor, Brown tallied three runs and three RBI and led the team with a combined .500 batting average (6-for-12), a .583 slugging percentage and a .538 on-base percentage.
UC Irvine's Francis Larson also had a tremendous showing in the Anteaters' opening weekend as he hit for the cycle in the series, which included two doubles, a triple and a home run, and led UC Irvine to a 3-1 mark at Hawaii. Friday, Larson was 2-for-4, including a double in the first contest, and in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader he was 3-for-4 and fell just a single shy of the cycle for the game. Hailing from Yorba Linda, Calif., Larson doubled in the first inning to cap off a four-run first and his home run in the third would prove to be the eventual game-winning run. For the week, he scored three runs and drove in five while batting .462.
Other pitchers nominated: Taylor Krick (Long Beach State), Daniel Bibona (UC Irvine), Paul Applebee (UC Riverside), Joe Gardner (UC Santa Barbara)
Other players nominated: D.J. Gentile (Cal Poly), Jake Thompson (Long Beach State), Carl Uhl (UC Riverside), Shane Carlson (UC Santa Barbara) Joey Centanni (Pacific)