Baseball

Larson, De La Guardia Earn CCAA and NCBWA West Region Pitcher, Player of the Week


An historic start to the week and a spectacular finish at the plate earned Stanislaus State’s Brandon De La Guardia and Grant Larson of Chico State CCAA Baseball Player and Pitcher of the Week for March 4-10, respectively. 

The duo was also named West Region Player and Pitcher of the Week by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) on Wednesday. Larson also earned national Pitcher of the Week honors from the organization.

Larson, a junior from San Diego, made Chico State baseball history Monday, with a complete-game, one-hit shutout in a 5-0 win over Cal State Monterey Bay. The lefty retired 10 straight to start the game—five via strikeout. After issuing his lone walk of the day, followed by the Otters’ lone hit, Larson down the next 17 Otters hitters to close it out, striking out a career-high 10 batters in nine innings of work.

Two of his fans came in back-to-back fashion against reigning CCAA Player of the Week Brian Morley and last year’s All-West Region performer Kyle Czaplak with runners on second and third in the fourth.

Hailing from San Jose, Brandon De La Guardia had a powerful weekend at the plate at Cal State Monterey Bay  as he was a huge part of the offense -- and defense -- in leading the Warriors to a 3-1 series win over the Otters in Seaside.

The senior starting shortstop did not commit an error on 20 chances in the field with 11 assists and was a part of four double plays turned. On offense, De La Guardia went 9-for-13 with a .629 batting average and .769 slugging percentage successfully stealing three bases in the series. He closed the weekend going 3-for-4 with 3 RBI and a double while crossing the plate twice in the 15-2 series finale.

Both North squads hit the road this weekend. The Warriors travel to Cal State LA for four this weekend, while the Wildcats match up with Cal State San Bernardino.

Also nominated:
Player -
Jordan Myrow, Cal State LA,
David Osuna, Cal State San Bernardino
Pitcher -
CJ Blowers, Cal State San Bernardino
Tyson Canfield, Sonoma State
 
2019 CCAA Baseball Weekly Awards
Player of the Week Pitcher of the Week
Jan. 28-Feb. 3 Grant Buck, Cal State San Marcos Mike Lopez, Cal State San Marcos
Feb. 4-10 Gabe Chavez, Cal State San Bernardino Rylan Tinsley, Stanislaus State
Feb. 11-17 Austin Ott, Cal State San Marcos Chase Wheatcroft, Stanislaus State
Feb. 18-24 Brian Morley, Cal State Monterey Bay Tim Holdgrafer, Cal Poly Pomona
Feb. 25-March 3 Aaron Kim, UC San Diego Chase Wheatcroft, Stanislaus State
March 4-10 Brandon De La Guardia, Stanislaus State Grant Larson, Chico State