Morales Brings Home Pitcher Of The Year Award; Headlines List of Five Honorees
May 27, 2014 | Baseball
IRVINE, Calif. --- Andrew Morales was voted the Big West Pitcher of the Year and becomes the fifth Anteater to earn the award. A UC Irvine hurler had won the honor four straight years from 2008-11, including current pitching coach Daniel Bibona, who captured the title back-to-back years (2009-10).
Morales leads a list of five Anteaters to come away with all-conference nods. Grabbing inaugural first-team honors are first baseman Connor Spencer, designated hitter, Jonathan Munoz and closer Sam Moore. Catcher Jerry McClanahan was voted to the second-team for his first All-Big West recognition.
Morales is a two-time all-conference first-team choice and he received the top honor after ending the regular season with a 9-2 record with a 1.56 ERA. The senior was undefeated through most of the season and did not allow an earned run in the first 34.1 innings of the 2014 campaign. He then logged a 31.1 scoreless inning streak that included consecutive complete-game shutouts. He is ranked seventh in the nation in strikeouts with 119 and is holding teams to a .183 batting average. Morales, who is 19-2 at UCI, also dots the national rankings in ERA (29th), hits allowed per nine innings (13th), strikeout to walk ratio (5th), strikeouts per nine innings (26th), wins (40th) and WHIP (12th).
Spencer leads UCI and is third in the conference with a .361 batting average. The junior, who was an all-conference second-team performer in 2013, tops the league in hits with 78 and is eighth in runs batted in. He has 12 doubles on the year and is tied for third with five triples. He was voted the Big West Pitcher of the Week this season after posting a .688 average and a 1.000 slugging percentage in a 3-1 week for the 'Eaters. He added a second weekly award after hitting .500 and slugging .625 in a 4-0 week that included a sweep of then-No. 19 UC Santa Barbara. Spencer sits nationally in hits (49th) and triples (34th).
Munoz was voted the conference's first-team designated hitter after batting .321 with 43 hits and 15 RBI in 48 games. The redshirt sophomore posted nine doubles and scored 20 runs in his first year as the designated hitter. He also logged seven doubles in Big West games to tie for fourth in the conference.
Moore earned the closer's role in the fall and went on to erase the UCI (17) and Big West (20) single-season records for saves. Leading the nation with 23 saves, Moore is one shy of tying the NCAA mark of 24. The junior has converted 23 of 27 save opportunities and owns a 1.90 ERA. He has struck out 38 batters in 42.2 innings of work while allowing nine earned runs. He is holding teams to a .214 batting average and has pitched in three combined shutouts. He is second in the Big West with 30 appearances and in games finished with 25.
McClanahan earned a spot on the second team after delivering much of the 'Eater offense in league games. McClanahan, who hit .319 on the year, is third on the team with 31 RBI and 58 hits. In Big West games, the junior was fourth with a .391 batting average and a .477 on-base percentage and eighth with 15 RBI. Defensively, he threw out 12 of 26 base-runners this season and has caught in 56 of the team's 57 games.
The Anteaters ended the regular season at 35-22 and 15-9 in the Big West, giving UCI its fifth top three finish in the last seven years. The team makes its eighth Division I NCAA postseason appearance this Friday when the team takes on UNLV in the opening game of the Corvallis Regional at 2:00 p.m.
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