Connor Burns, Long Beach State  Baseball Field Player of the Week  Junior • Catcher • Chino, Calif.

• Connor Burns slashed .500/.550/.889 as third-place Long Beach State went 2-2 with a third straight Big West series victory, earning the true junior catcher a first career Big West Field Player of the Week award.
• Burns recorded a hit in all four games, extending a current hit streak to a career-best nine straight contests, with three multiple-hit efforts for the week. Five of the Chino native’s nine hits (9-for-18) went for extra bases, through four doubles and a career-high sixth home run of the season. Burns wound up with five runs, four RBI and a pair of walks.
• Burns began the week by going 3-for-6 with two doubles, a run and an RBI in a 4-3 home loss in 13 innings to No. 23 UCLA on Tuesday night. Burns then went 2-for-4 with a double, walk and two runs on Thursday and 3-for-5 with a double, home run, two runs and two RBI on Friday as LBSU clinched the series in Irvine.
• The reigning Big West Defensive Player of the Year, Burns handled 42 of 43 chances cleanly behind the plate, with five assists and one error (interference), and threw out two of three would-be base-stealers.
• Burns makes three straight Dirtbags to pick up Big West Field Player of the Week distinction, following teammates Kyle Ashworth (March 27) and Jonathon Long (April 3).

Also Nominated: Michael Fuhrman (UC San Diego); Riley Kasper (CSU Bakersfield); Ryan Lee (UC Davis); Thomas McCaffrey (UC Irvine); John Newman, Jr. (UC Santa Barbara); Cole Urman (Cal State Fullerton); Joe Yorke (Cal Poly)

Matt Ager, UC Santa Barbara  Baseball Pitcher of the Week  Sophomore • Right-Handed Pitcher • Pleasanton, Calif.

• Matt Ager worked a third quality start in as many conference outings on Thursday night, firing a season- and career-high-tying 7.2 scoreless innings and earning a fourth win of 2023 for third-place UC Santa Barbara at second-place Cal State Fullerton (14-0) to pick up a second Big West Pitcher of the Week honor.
• The 6-foot-5 true sophomore right-hander scattered two hits and one walk while striking out nine Titans, two of them looking. Ager combined with Elliot Gallegos on the three-hit shutout, throwing 109 pitches on the night and facing four over the minimum.
• The first two batters of the game reached via error and a walk, but Ager retired the next 11 Titans before working around a two-out triple in the fourth and a two-out double in the fifth. The Pleasanton product sat down the final nine hitters, striking out the side in order in the seventh.
• Ager (4-1, 2.82 ERA) leads The Big West in innings (51.0) and batters struck out looking (22), while tied for second in total strikeouts (59).
• Ager’s initial Big West Pitcher of the Week selection came back on Feb. 27, after another combined shutout (6.0 IP) at No. 25 Oregon two days prior. Ager is one of two two-time selections, along with Long Beach State newcomer Graham Osman, for this 2023 campaign.

Also Nominated: Thomas Bainton (CSUN); Matt Comnos (CSU Bakersfield); Ryan Forcucci (UC San Diego); Evan Yates (Cal State Fullerton); Nico Zeglin (Long Beach State)
 

2023 Big West Baseball Weekly Winners