Thomas McCaffrey, UC Irvine  Baseball Field Player of the Week  Sophomore • Catcher • Santa Monica, Calif.

• UC Irvine sophomore catcher Thomas McCaffrey batted .583 (7-for-12) with four runs, one double, three home runs, eight RBI and three walks during a 2-1 series loss in Manhattan, Kan., to the Big 12’s Kansas State over the weekend. He slugged 1.417 with a .667 on-base percentage, and handled all 25 defensive chances cleanly behind the plate, throwing out one of two runners who attempted to steal on him.
• McCaffrey’s three home runs, to give him five on the season, came over four at-bats on Friday and Saturday. The haul included his first collegiate two-home-run effort in the latter contest, which ended in a 16-7 victory for the ‘Eaters. The Santa Monica native produced single-game career highs of four hits and six RBI in that one, and was then walked intentionally for the first time as a collegian, twice, in Sunday’s finale.
• McCaffrey’s first home run on Saturday was a two-out, three-run shot to left center that opened the scoring in the first. He added a two-out, two-run, opposite-field double in the very next frame, and a solo blast to left in the fourth. McCaffrey’s Friday home run was a solo job to left on a 1-2 pitch in his final at-bat of a 13-8 loss. He thus had three home runs, a double and seven RBI over those four plate appearances.
• Earlier last week on Monday, April 18, McCaffrey was one of three Big West backstops named to the watch list for the Buster Poster Award, given annually to the top Division I collegiate catcher.
• This is McCaffrey’s first career weekly award. He is the second ‘Eater to be named Big West Field Player of the Week, after fellow underclassman Dub Gleed on April 11.

Also nominated: Marc Filia (UC San Diego), Jacob Igawa (Hawai’i), Joey Kramer (CSUN), Andrez Melendrez (UC Riverside), AJ Miller (CSU Bakersfield), Austin Schell (Cal State Fullerton), Nick Vogt (UC Santa Barbara), Joe Yorke (Cal Poly)

Zack Ernisse, UC San Diego Baseball Pitcher of the Week  Freshman • LHP • Temecula, Calif.

• UC San Diego true freshman left-hander Zack Ernisse recorded season highs in innings pitched (7.0) and strikeouts (nine) in Saturday’s 6-3 victory at CSU Bakersfield. He scattered a solitary single and did not allow a run in that outing to earn his second winning decision. The Tritons went on to take Sunday’s rubber game, 9-5, to win their second Big West road series of 2022.
• The Temecula product previously had a two-inning relief stint in a 4-2 home triumph over crosstown rival San Diego State on Tuesday night, fanning three. Ernisse thus totaled a team-best 12 strikeouts for the week over two appearances. He did not allow an extra-base hit, and opponents batted just .097 against him.
• Prior to Saturday, Ernisse had not gone longer than 2.2 innings in any of his 12 outings, with a previous high of five punch-outs. He entered as the third Triton pitcher to begin the third after the starter had been knocked out in the second, and went the rest of the way, with 1-2-3 frames in the fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth. Ernisse set down 16 ‘Runners in a row between a two-out single in his first inning, through the eighth, and even then, the leadoff man in the ninth reached only via wild pitch after striking out.
• Ernisse is a first-time Big West Pitcher of the Week, and the second Triton to be selected this season after fellow true freshman Matthew Dalquist back on March 7.

Also nominated: Jaykob Acosta (CSU Bakersfield), Blaze Koali’i Pontes (Hawai’i), Cory Lewis (UC Santa Barbara), Eric Marrujo (UC Riverside), Blake Sodersten (CSUN), Tyler Stultz (Cal State Fullerton), Drew Thorpe (Cal Poly)

2022 Big West Weekly Award Winners