Baseball

Larson, Gordon Nab CCAA Baseball Pitcher, Player of the Week

After picking up critical wins to help their squads in the CCAA standings, Chico State pitcher Grant Larson and Cal State LA outfielder Adam Goron have been named CCAA baseball weekly award winners for April 15-21.

Gordon, a senior from Mission Viejo, had a big series at the plate to help the Golden Eagles to a series split with No. 1 team in the nation, UC San Diego. He slugged four home runs with seven RBI against the No. 2-rated pitching staff nationally entering the weekend. In the opener of Saturday’s doubleheader, Gordon blasted three over the fence against a staff that had only allowed four homeruns in their first 35 games on the season. All told, Gordon finished the four-game series hitting .438 with a .500 on-base percentage and 1.250 slugging percentage.

Scheduled to start Thursday night’s opening game of Chico State’s critical four-game series against Cal Poly Pomona and hoping to set the tone, pitcher Grant Larson didn’t even set foot outside of his apartment. A high fever forced Larson to miss his scheduled start on Thursday, and the first three games of the series against Cal Poly Pomona. He was finally ready to go Saturday, and did not stop until the Wildcats had secured a series split. Larson fired complete-game four-hitter to lead the Wildcats to a 4-1 victory, leapfrogging them past the Broncos and Sonoma State and into fifth place in the CCAA standings.

The junior from San Diego allowed an unearned run in the first inning before retiring 13 straight—five via strikeout—from the start of the second inning into the sixth. He limited the Broncos to three singles and did not walk or hit a batter. Larson struck out nine during his third complete-game effort of the season, continuing his climb up the Chico State career record books with 153.

Next on the docket, the Wildcats take on Sonoma State at home in their penultimate week of play, while Cal State LA hosts Cal State East Bay in their final series of the regular season.

Also nominated:
Player -
Brian Martinez, Cal State East Bay
Matt Pulos, Stanislaus State
Greg Steinbeck, Cal State Monterey Bay
Pitcher -
Grant Buck, Cal State San Marcos
Richard Castro, Cal State San Bernardino
Kyle Dean, Cal State Monterey Bay
Robert Lujan, Cal State East Bay
R.J. Prince, UC San Diego
 
2019 CCAA Baseball We\ekly 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
March 11-17 Shay Whitcomb, UC San Diego Kenton Carruthers, Chico State
March 18-24 Grant Buck, Cal State San Marcos Tyler Murphy, Stanislaus State
March 25-31 Brian Morley, Cal State Monterey Bay Ethan McRae, Cal State Monterey Bay
April 1-7 Gabe Chavez. Cal State San Bernardino Brian Martinez, Cal State East Bay
April 8-14 Blake Baumgartner, UC San Diego Andrew Lopez, Chico State
April 15-21 Adam Gordon, Cal State LA Grant Larson, Chico State