UC Irvine junior Connor Spencer and Hawai‘i senior Matt Cooper delivered outstanding performances for their respective clubs as the Big West Baseball Field Player and Pitcher of the Week, respectively.
Spencer Hits .688 In 3-1 Week For Anteaters
Junior Connor Spencer (Trabuco Canyon, Calif./Tesoro HS) headlined the UC Irvine offense, hitting .688 with a team-leading 11 hits as the Big West Baseball Field Player of the Week.
In addition to going 11-for-16, Spencer scored three runs and drove in three more to lead UCI to a 3-1 week. He started out with a 4-for-4 effort against Cal State Bakersfield in Tuesday’s 7-4 victory. Spencer doubled and clubbed his first career home run, the latter hit trimming a four-run deficit to one.
Spencer helped the Anteaters take two out of three games to open conference play against UC Riverside. He went 7-for-12 in the series.
In the series opener, he went 3-for-4 with a pair of runs scored and two stolen bases. Spencer recorded two more hits and knocked in the game-winning run with a fifth inning go-ahead single. He tallied his fourth consecutive multi-hit game of the week in Sunday’s finale, posting a 2-for-4 day which included his second double of the series.
Spencer leads the team in average (.384) and hits (38).
Others nominated: Mark Mathias (Cal Poly); J.D. Davis (Cal State Fullerton); Nick Blaser (Cal State Northridge); Richard Prigatano (Long Beach State); Thomas Walker (UC Riverside); Marc Flores (Hawai‘i)
Cooper Stifles Big West’s Top Hitting Offense
Hawai‘i senior Matt Cooper (Marysville, Wash./Bellevue CC) tossed a complete game gem against No. 10 UC Santa Barbara to earn Big West Baseball Pitcher of the Week honors.
The right-hander allowed six hits and one run while walking two and striking out nine to lead the Rainbow Warriors to a 3-1 victory in Friday’s Big West opener. He missed tying his career high for strikeouts by one as he delivered his second complete game of the season.
UCSB entered the series as the Big West team leader in average (.316), home runs (11), runs scored (146), RBI (132) and slugging percentage (.428), but Cooper held the Gauchos to their season-low for runs.
Others nominated: Matt Imhof (Cal Poly); Thomas Eshelman (Cal State Fullerton); Shay Maltese (Cal State Northridge); Ryan Millison (Long Beach State); Andrew Morales (UC Irvine); Ben Doucette (UC Riverside)