Weekend Sweep Earns Awards Sweep for East Bay's Esparza and Brodsky
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Samuel Esparza and Ethan Brodsky led Cal State East Bay to a road sweep of Cal State San Bernardino to begin league play, and came away with their first CCAA Player and Pitcher of the Week awards for Feb. 10-16.
Esparza, a junior shortstop from San Pablo and first-year Pioneer after three at Laney College, batted .444 (8-18) from the No. 9 position with three runs, two doubles, one triple and five RBI. He hit safely in each game as the Pioneers outscored the Coyotes 31-13 on aggregate for the weekend at Fiscalini Field. The three extra-base hits were Esparza’s first of 2020. He was 2-for-3 with a run for starters Friday. Esparza’s two-out RBI single then broke a 5-5 tie in the 11th inning to begin Saturday’s twin bill, as he finished 3-for-6. He went 1-for-3 with a game-tying two-out, first-pitch, two-run triple before scoring early in the seven-inning nightcap, a 5-4 decision. Esparza was 2-for-6 with a run, two doubles and two RBI late in Sunday’s finale.
Brodsky, a true sophomore right-hander out of Mission Viejo, twirled a three-hit shutout Friday in a 5-0 win in both teams’ league opener. He produced a career-best 12 strikeouts, just three off the single-game program record. Brodsky walked a pair and hit one opposing batter, facing five over the minimum in notching his first winning decision of 2020, now at 1-0. He tossed 4.2 no-hit frames prior to a two-out double in the fifth, striking out the next three Coyotes into the sixth. Brodsky was perfect in the first, sixth and eighth innings. He fanned two in four separate frames. Brodsky’s 12 strikeouts are the single-game high in the CCAA here in the early going, with his nine-inning complete game the conference’s first of 2020.
East Bay is already the lone unbeaten left in the CCAA, both overall (8-0) and in league activity (4-0). The Pioneers play their conference home openers this coming weekend with another four-game set against a top foe in Stanislaus State (9-1, 3-1 CCAA), Friday through Sunday.
Also nominated:
Player - Jose Jimenez, Cal State Dominguez Hills; Jackson Kritsch, San Francisco State; Anthony Lucchetti, UC San Diego; Brennan McKenzie, Cal Poly Pomona; Charlie Nasuti, Cal State Monterey Bay; Sergio Rey, Cal State San Bernardino; Zach Schuberg, Cal State San Marcos
Pitcher - Saxon Andross, Cal State LA; Jacob Miller, Cal State San Marcos; Steven Ordorica, Cal Poly Pomona; Kristian Scott, Chico State; Dylan Steen, Cal State Dominguez Hills; Greg Steinbeck, Cal State Monterey Bay; Rylan Tinsley, Stanislaus State