After exploding for three home runs in as many days in a three-game sweep of New Mexico, ASU junior third baseman Riccio Torrez was named the Pac-10 Baseball Player of the Week Tuesday.
“If you watch him day in and day out and how he prepares himself, he practices like it’s a game; he loves to play,” ASU coach Tim Esmay said over the weekend. “I have total trust in that young man.”
For the series, Torrez hit .462 with seven RBIs.
Two of his long balls came in the season opener on Friday while the third was an inside-the-parker on Sunday.
Torrez won the Pac-10 batting title last season hitting .393 and knocking out 10 home runs.
The accomplishment marks the fourth consecutive season a Sun Devil has earned the honor in the first week of the season.
Junior second baseman Zack MacPhee did it in 2010 with Jason Kipnis and Brett Wallace earning the honor the two years prior.
