Long Beach State University Athletics
Peterson Named Big West Player of the Week
4/21/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 21, 2008
IRVINE--Long Beach State first baseman Shane Peterson (Temecula) was named the Big West's Player of the Week for the second time this season after going 10-for-15 with 10 runs and seven RBIs in the Dirtbags four wins last week.
LBSU (23-14, 5-4 Big West), which moved back into the top-25 in Baseball America's national poll, remained at No. 25 in the Coaches Poll, and will play at No. 9-ranked San Diego (31-11) on Tuesday at 3 p.m.
Peterson had a stellar week at the plate, beginning by hitting for the cycle in the team's 10-0 win over Pepperdine last Tuesday, before going 3-for-4 with five runs in the series opener against CS Northridge. Peterson continued his on-slaught on Saturday, going 3-for-5 with a solo home run, before walking twice on Sunday. At one point Peterson was 10-for-11, as he finished with a .762 on-base percentage and 1.267 slugging percentage for the week. This is Peterson's third career honor.
Peterson currently ranks seventh in batting (.377), second in on-base percentage (.476), fourth in RBIs (38) and doubles (13) and first in walks (25) in the Big West.
The Dirtbags are slated to send RHP Brett Lorin (2-2, 3.26) to the hill against Ricardo Pecina (3-2, 4.04) on Tuesday. The first meeting this season, on February 26, was the fourth game of the season, and saw USD win 5-3 behind 4.1 innings by Pecina. The Toreros scored four runs off Manny McElroy in his only start of the year prior to McElroy's season-ending rib cage injury.
The Toreros, who have won 12 straight, are led by OF James Meador's .366 average and 2B Kevin Hansen's .354 clip. Meador also has 40 RBIs on the season, while 3B Victor Sanchez has a team-best 11 home runs and 44 RBIs. USD is hitting .309 with a .970 fielding percentage and 3.46 ERA.
Pacific (8-28, 2-10 Big West) will come to Blair Field this weekend for a three-game set, and having the week off, will have the following rotation; RHP Tyler Waldron (2-4, 4.74) on Friday at 6:30 p.m., RHP Mark McCain (1-3, 3.81) on Saturday at 2 p.m. and LHP Joey Centanni (0-2, 4.15) on Sunday at 1 p.m. LBSU will counter with the familar trio of RHP Andrew Liebel (4-2, 2.04), RHP Vance Worley (5-2, 3.44) and RHP Jake Thompson (2-4, 4.34).
So far in Big West games only this season, SS Danny Espinosa has driven in 10 runs, while batting .343, while 3B Brandon Godfrey is hitting a team-best .379 with nine RBIs.
