IRVINE, Calif. --- Andrew Morales and Taylor Sparks captured the Big West's weekly awards after leading the Anteaters to a series win against No. 22 Cal Poly.
Morales earned the hat-trick after being voted the conference's Pitcher of the Week for the third time this year. The junior standout improved to 10-0 on the mound after striking out a career-high 10 batters in seven shutout innings to help clinch the series Sunday against the Mustangs.
Morales struck out seven of the 10 in the first three innings and then fanned the side in the fourth to reach his personal-best mark. After giving up a single and a walk in the fifth, Morales retired eight straight before handing the ball off to the Anteater bullpen. Morales owns a 1.79 ERA and has posted 71 strikeouts in 80.1 innings of work as well as pitching in four combined shutouts.
Sparks, who continues to carry the hot bat for the team, earned his initial conference Player of the Week nod after hitting .538 and slugging 1.077 in three games. The third baseman hit for the series cycle, going 7 for 13 with two doubles, a triple and a home run. He belted his ninth home run Friday to move into a tie for fourth in the UCI single-season records and was just a double shy of the cycle after ending the night with his team-leading fourth triple for his third hit of the game. He doubled Saturday to put UCI on the board in an eventual one-run loss and capped the weekend by going 3 for 5 Sunday with an RBI.
Sparks leads the 'Eaters in hits (70), RBI (43), home runs (9) and in triples (4). His .601 slugging percentage tops the conference and he is second with a .363 batting average.
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