KOLE KALER, HAWAI‘I
BASEBALL FIELD PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Junior • Infielder • Queen Creek, Ariz. • South Mountain CC
• Kole Kaler joined exclusive company as the Hawai‘i junior nabbed his second career Big West Baseball Field Player of the Week accolade for games played between April 5-11.
• Kaler became the first Rainbow Warrior in 25 years – and the sixth in program history – to hit for the cycle. In Saturday’s game two of a doubleheader at UC Riverside, Kaler produced a leadoff single in the first inning, a triple in the second, a double in the fourth and a two-run blast in the sixth, helping UH to the 13-4 victory.
• The shortstop hit .421 (8-for-19) with two doubles, a triple and a homer among his eight hits.
• His 2-run single knotted the score at 5-5 in Friday’s series opener, a game the Rainbow Warriors trailed and eventually won, 7-5. Kaler scored three times and drove in a pair to account for five of UH’s seven runs.
• Kaler ended up with three multi-hit games in the series, including a 2-for-5 effort with one run scored and an RBI in Saturday’s game one 7-0 shutout.
• He slugged .789 while swiping a pair of bases in three attempts for the week.
OTHERS NOMINATED: Jacen Roberson (CSU Bakersfield); Cole Urman (Cal State Fullerton); Aidan Malm (Long Beach State); Kyler Arenado (UC Davis); Ely Stuart (UC Riverside); Broc Mortensen (UC Santa Barbara)
JOHNATHAN LAVALLEE, LONG BEACH STATE
BASEBALL PITCHER OF THE WEEK
Junior • RHP • Simi Valley, Calif. • Royal HS
• Long Beach State junior Johnathan Lavallee turned in a masterful performance against Cal Poly to garner his first career Big West Baseball Pitcher of the Week award.
• Lavallee, who leads the conference and ranks fourth nationally with a 0.48 ERA, tossed seven shutout innings in Friday’s 7-0 win over the Mustangs.
• He threw 6.1 no-hit innings before surrendering his lone hit of the evening, a double to Brooks Lee that put runners on second and third. Lavallee loaded the bags with a walk but wiggled out of the jam with a strikeout and ground out.
• The Simi Valley native fanned a career-high eight batters and walked only two.
• He combined with Matt Fields to achieve the first Dirtbag shutout of a league opponent since May 19, 2018.
OTHERS NOMINATED: Andrew Alvarez (Cal Poly); Roman Angelo (CSU Bakersfield); Tanner Bibee (Cal State Fullerton); Blaine Traxel (CSUN); Austin Teixeira (Hawai‘i); Jake Spillane (UC Davis); Trenton Denholm (UC Irvine); Kyle Anderson (UC Riverside); Michael Mitchell (UC San Diego); Rodney Boone (UC Santa Barbara)