Mark Contreras and Angel Landazuri earn the Big West Baseball weekly awards after helping UC Riverside win the series against visiting Tulane.
Contreras Knocks In Six Against Nation’s Top ERA Team
UC Riverside sophomore Mark Contreras (Moreno Valley, Calif./Canyon Springs HS) notched Big West Baseball Field Player of the Week accolades as he drove in nearly half of his team’s runs in a series victory over a tough Tulane team.
Contreras batted .545 (6 for 13) with six RBI as the Highlanders took two out of three from a Green Wave squad that came into the weekend leading the nation in ERA. He had at least one RBI in all three games.
The left fielder went 1-for-3 with an RBI in UCR’s series-opening 2-1 victory on Friday. He banged out a pair of doubles among his three hits in Saturday’s 6-5 loss, scoring once and knocking in a a pair.
In Sunday’s rubber game, Contreras notched his second multi-hit game of the series with two hits and three RBI in the 6-2 triumph. His first RBI proved to be the game winner.
He improved his batting average from .278 to .323 and extended his hitting streak to five consecutive games. Tulane has been ranked as high as No. 25 nationally this season.
Others nominated: Chester Pak (CSUN); Alex Bishop (Long Beach State); Andrew Martinez (UC Irvine); Andrew Calica (UC Santa Barbara), Eric Ramirez (Hawai‘i)
Landazuri Fans Career-High In Solid Performance
UC Riverside sophomore Angel Landazuri (San Bernardino, Calif./Redlands HS) had an exceptional performance against Tulane to garner Big West Baseball Pitcher of the Week honors.
The right-hander fanned a career-high 13 Green Wave batters in eight innings, yielding just two hits with no walks in a Highlander 2-1 victory on Friday. He got the tough luck no decision as UCR ended up winning the game in the 13th inning.
Landazuri started out by retiring the first 16 batters he faced. His 13 strikeouts are the most for a UC Riverside pitcher since Eddie Orozco had 15 back on March 10, 2012. On the year, Landazuri has an impressive strikeout to walk ratio of nearly six to one – 40 strikeouts against just seven walks.
Others nominated: Calvin Copping (CSUN); Chris Mathewson (Long Beach State); Elliot Surrey (UC Irvine); Shane Bieber (UC Santa Barbara); Jarrett Arakawa (Hawai‘i)