While UC Irvine's Justin Cassel shined on the mound with a career-high 15 strikeouts, Brett Bigler was impressive at the plate with a .714 batting average (10-for-14), earning them Big West Pitcher and Player of the Week, for the week ending April 23. This is the first weekly honor of the season for both athletes.

In Friday night's game against UC Santa Barbara, Cassel recorded a career-high 15 strikeouts and gave up just one earned run in 8.2 innings pitched to lead the Anteaters to a 12-2 win over the Gauchos. This win was UC Irvine’s first in a series opener since March 16 against Oral Roberts. The Northridge, Calif., native and reliever Chris Lopez combined for 16 strikeouts, giving the Anteaters the highest number of strikeouts in a game since 2002. He improves to 4-7 and now leads UCI with 71 strikeouts on the season.

Bigler posted four multi-hit games last week, giving him a team-leading 17 for the season. On Tuesday, he had two hits and two RBI at No. 19 San Diego as the Highlanders recorded its first victory over a ranked opponent this year. The Santa Ana, Calif., native continued on his hitting rampage in the three-game series with Cal Poly, going 8-for-9. On Friday, he went 2-for-2 with two RBI and three runs scored in a series-opening win against the Mustangs. Bigler completed the weekend with consecutive three-hit games, including his team-leading third triple of the season. For the week he had an on-base percentage of .722 and slugged .929.