UCI duo earn All-American honors

UC Irvine baseball players Andrew Morales and Taylor Sparks became the school’s first All-Americans since 2011 after earning second- and third-team honors, respectively, from Collegiate Baseball.

Morales, pitching his first season with the Anteaters, was 10-0 mark on the mound with a 1.89 earned-run average. He is the first Anteater to hold a perfect mark, with a minimum of 10 decisions, and his ERA is third-best in UCI single-season annals.

Morales, a first-team All-Big West Conference performer, struck out 85 and allowed 78 hits in 95 1/3 innings. He held opponents to a .227 batting average, third-best in the Big West.

A transfer from Rio Hondo Community College, Morales now holds a dominant 31-1 mark following three seasons of collegiate baseball. The right-hander was a three-time Big West Pitcher of the Week.

Sparks, the Big West Co-Field Player of the Year, hit .360, and led the Big West in slugging at .581 as a sophomore third baseman. He hit a conference-best 10 homers and drove in a team-leading 50 runs. He scored 38 runs and stole seven bases in 10 attempts.

Sparks was a first-team all-conference honoree and is a semifinalist Gregg Olsen Award that honors collegiate baseball’s Breakout Player of the Year.

— From staff reports