College Baseball: Three ‘Eaters earn honors

UC Irvine pitchers Andrew Morales and Sam Moore have been named All-Americans and All-West Region by the American Baseball Coaches Assn.

Morales garnered first-team All-American honors, while Moore was a third-team pick.

They were both first-team all-region honorees, while UCI sophomore designated hitter Jonathan Munoz was named second-team all-region.

Morales, the Big West Conference Pitcher of the Year who also won the Senior CLASS award and has collected numerous All-American plaudits, went 11-2 with a 1.53 earned-run average with an NCAA-best 141 strikeouts in 135 2/3 innings in 2014.

The 71st player chosen in the Major League Draft by the St. Louis Cardinals, Morales led the Anteaters (41-25) to a fifth-place finish in the College World Series.

He was 21-2 in two seasons at UCI and his 1.68 career ERA is a school record.

Moore, who won the Gregg Olson Award that goes to college baseball’s Breakout Player of the Year, had 23 saves, a school and conference single-season record. His NCAA-leading save total was one shy of the national single-season record.

Moore posted a 1.85 ERA with 39 strikeouts in 43 2/3 innings. Named first-team All-American by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Assn., he was drafted in the 40th round by the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Munoz hit .281 with 19 runs batted in. His 10 doubles ranked third on the team and he scored 21 runs on his way to first-team all-conference recognition.

— From staff reports