Helping their teams race out to 4-0 starts, UC Riverside senior Joe Chavez and CSUN junior Rayne Raven are the recipients of the initial baseball weekly honors for the 2015 season.
Chavez Leads Highlanders To Sweep Of Visiting Portland
UC Riverside senior Joe Chavez (Ontario, Calif./Damien HS) hit .545 in a four-game sweep of Portland to notch Big West Baseball Field Player of the Week accolades.
The second baseman posted at least one hit and one run scored in each of the four games, and drove in a run in each of the last three games.
Chavez was 2-for-2 with a run scored, two walks and a stolen base in the season-opening 3-1 victory over the Pilots. He registered his second multiple-hit game of the series in Saturday’s game two of a doubleheader, going 2-for-4 with a run scored and a triple.
He posted an offensive slash line of .545 avg/.647 obp/.818 slg for the weekend. In the field, he helped turn four of UCR’s five double plays and did not commit an error in 23 chances.
Chavez, who is tied for first in the Big West in average and leads in runs scored (6), helped the Highlanders to a 4-0 start for the first time since 2010.
Others nominated: Chris Hudgins (Cal State Fullerton); Ryan Raslowsky (CSUN); Zack Rivera (Long Beach State); Kevin Barker (UC Davis); Andrew Martinez (UC Irvine); Dalton Kelly (UC Santa Barbara); Jordan Richartz (Hawai‘i)
Raven Fans 16 Utah Valley Hitters
CSUN junior Rayne Raven (Tacoma, Wash./Western Nevada College) struck out 16 hitters in a combined shutout of Utah Valley, earning Big West Baseball Pitcher of the Week accolades.
The 16 strikeouts for the junior college transfer Raven represented the most by any Matador pitcher since 2003. He is the second Matador to reach 10 or more strikeouts in a game since 2008. Teammate Jerry Keel struck out 10 Hawai‘i batters last season.
Raven finished three strikeouts shy of the school record for a game. He pitched 7.0 shutout innings for the win, surrendering just four hits and walking two. He handed off the ball to the bullpen, which recorded two more scoreless innings for the shutout.
Others nominated: Tyler Peitzmeier (Cal State Fullerton); Tanner Brown (Long Beach State); Orlando Razo (UC Davis); Evan Manarino (UC Irvine); Kevin Sprague (UC Riverside); Shane Bieber (UC Santa Barbara); LJ Brewster (Hawai‘i)