Smith wins Pitcher of the Week honors

Brett Smith, a junior on the UC Irvine baseball team, has been named

Big West Conference Pitcher of the Week for the second time this

season.

He secured the honor after tying a career-high 10 strikeouts to lead the Anteaters to a 3-0 win over Minnesota March 18. Smith

pitched 8 2/3 innings and was a batter shy of picking up his first

complete game of the season.

He struck out Minnesota’s first four batters and went on to face

three over the minimum through eight innings. After yielding a single

and a walk in the ninth with two outs, Smith gave way to Anteater

closer Blair Erickson.