Hawaii shut out of Big West Conference baseball awards
The Hawaii baseball team failed to have a single player recognized with all-conference honors for the first time since 1998 when the Big West awards were handed out on Tuesday.
Call State Fullerton took home five of the six major individual awards. Right-hander Justin Garza was named the pitcher of the year and Rick Vanderhook earned coach of the year honors.
Titans first baseman Carlos Lopez shared the field player of the year award with UC Irvine’s Taylor Sparks. Fullerton’s Thomas Eshelman was named the freshman pitcher of the year and UC Santa Barbara’s Robby Nesovic earned the freshman field player of the year award.
Fullerton shortstop Richy Pedroza was named the Big West defensive player of the year despite making 10 errors and posting a .957 fielding percentage.
Hawaii junior Austin Wobrock made one error in 51 games started at shortstop and ended the season with a .996 fielding percentage.
Fullerton, UC Irvine, Cal Poly and Long Beach State were the only schools represented by players on the first team. Pacific was the only school other than UH that didn’t have a player recognized.
Don't miss out on what's happening!
Stay in touch with top news, as it happens, conveniently in your email inbox. It's FREE!
Hawaii third baseman Pi’ikea Kitamura was named to the All-Western Athletic Conference first team last season as a junior. UH had at least one played named first team All-WAC in nine of its final 10 years in the league.
The Rainbows finished the 2013 season 16-35 overall and 11-16 in their first year of BWC play.