Senior Ryan Kochan has been named Cal State East Bay's Male Athlete of the Week, sponsored by the DoubleTree by Hilton Pleasanton at the Club, for Apr. 13-19. He had a monster weekend on both sides of the ball to lead the Cal State East Bay baseball team to a four-game sweep of Cal State San Bernardino.
The Pioneer third baseman had multiple hits in all four contests, posting a .647 batting average (11-for-17) and an .882 slugging mark. He finished the weekend with 11 hits, eight RBI, four doubles, and five runs scored. Kochan keyed the CSUEB offense throughout the series, but the highlight of the week was Friday's opener, in which he went 4-for-5 with two doubles and drove in five of the team's six runs.
The San Ramon native was also a force at third base, handing 12 defensive chances flawlessly. In the second game of Saturday's doubleheader, he made one of the biggest plays of the series. The Pioneers led 3-2 in the top of the sixth, and CSUSB had the bases loaded with two outs. Playing in on the grass, Kochan dove to his left on a hard-hit grounder, scooped it cleanly, and flipped to second to escape the inning and preserve East Bay's lead.
In Sunday's finale, he helped the Pioneers secure the sweep. Already with two hits in the game, he drew a leadoff walk in the ninth inning and came around to score the tying run before CSUEB walked off with a 6-5 win.
