Cal Poly freshman Nick Torres and UC Riverside senior Eddie Orozco parlayed stellar performances into Big West Baseball Player and Pitcher of the Week honors, respectively.
Extra Base Hit Spree Nets Torres Honor
Cal Poly freshman Nick Torres (Lakewood, Calif./Lakewood HS) put on a power display with five extra base hits and eight RBI to claim Big West Baseball Player of the Week honors.
The right fielder batted .500 (8-for-16) and had a whopping 1.125 slugging percentage as the Mustangs went 2-2 for the week, including a series win over Pac-12 foe Washington.
Torres belted a double and a triple, and finished 3-for-4 with five RBI in Friday’s series-opening 6-3 win against the Huskies. He accounted for the game-winning RBI in that game.
He recorded the first home run of his Mustang career with a solo shot against Santa Clara on Tuesday, and followed with another dinger in Sunday’s series finale against Washington.
For the season, Torres ranks second in the Big West in RBI with 15 and sixth in batting average (.381).
Others nominated: Michael Lorenzen (Cal State Fullerton); Adam Barry (Cal State Northridge); Scott Kalush (UC Davis); Christian Ramirez (UC Irvine); Dustin Torchio (Pacific)
Orozco Ties Highlander Division I Record For Strikeouts
Eddie Orozco (Riverside, Calif./Rubidoux HS) tied a UC Riverside Division I era record for strikeouts in a game and fired a three-hit shutout against Sacramento State for Big West Baseball Pitcher of the Week honors.
The right-hander struck out 15 Hornets as the Highlanders eked out a 1-0 victory on Saturday. The 15 punch outs tied James Simmons (Feb. 16, 2007 vs. San Francisco) and Chris Smith (May 25, 2002) for the single-game program record.
In addition to the strikeout total, Orozco did not walk a batter while improving to 3-0 with a 0.78 ERA over his last three starts.
Orozco has 29 strikeouts in 27.1 innings on the season.
Others nominated: Kyle Anderson (Cal Poly); Grahamm Wiest (Cal State Fullerton); Jerry Keel (Cal State Northridge); Shawn Stuart (Long Beach State); Tom Briner (UC Davis); Crosby Slaught (UC Irvine); Andrew Vasquez (UC Santa Barbara)