Cal State Northridge sophomore Kyle Ferramola and Hawaii junior Matt Cooper earned Big West Baseball Field Player and Pitcher of the Week accolades for their outstanding performances in helping their teams to non-conference success.
Ferramola Capitalizes On Starting Lineup Opportunity
Sophomore Kyle Ferramola (Los Alamitos, Calif./Cypress College) was the spark plug in Cal State Northridge's four-game sweep of Utah Valley, notching the Big West Baseball Field Player of the Week award.
A right-handed pitcher, Ferramola was granted his first opportunity at the starting lineup and excelled. He hit .444 (4-for-9) with four runs scored and four RBI, with three of his four hits going for extra bases.
Ferramola also scored or drove in the game-winning runs three times in the series.
In Friday's 8-2 win, Ferramola made his first career start and promptly connected for a two-run triple in his first at-bat. He later singled and came around for the eventual game-winning run.
After sitting out the first game of Saturday's doubleheader, Ferramola returned in the nightcap to smack a pair of solo home runs in the 5-4 triumph. The designated hitter unloaded a one-out homer in the eighth to score and drive in the game-winning run. In addition, Ferramola also collected his first multi-homer game since Little League.
On Sunday, Ferramola was held out of the hit column but produced a pair of walks, coming around to score his third game-winning run of the series in CSUN's 3-1 win.
Ferramola had a .615 on base percentage and 1.333 slugging percentage to spark the Matadors, which have won four games in a row for the first time this season.
Others nominated: Nick Torres (Cal Poly); Michael Lorenzen (Cal State Fullerton); Conner George (Hawaii)
Cooper Shines In Win Against Wichita State
Hawaii junior Matt Cooper (Marysville, Wash./Bellevue CC) set a career-high in strikeouts and held the Wichita State offense scoreless in garnering Big West Baseball Pitcher of the Week honors.
The 6-0 right hander pitched 7.2 solid innings without walking a batter and fanned a team season-high 10 Shockers in the 119-pitch outing. He scattered eight hits as UH went on to post the 7-0 shutout.
Cooper turned in his second consecutive outing without giving up a run and has now hurled 16.2 straight scoreless innings. He was the starter and pitcher of record in both of UH's shutouts this season.
Others nominated: Joey Wagman (Cal Poly); Willie Kuhl (Cal State Fullerton); John Salas (Cal State Northridge)