Stone Miyao, Hawai'i  Baseball Field Player of the Week  Junior • Second Base • Hilo, Hawai'i

• A walk-off two-run home run highlighted Hawai’i junior Stone Miyao’s weekend in a home sweep over UC Santa Barbara and earned the second baseman a second career Big West Field Player of the Week award.
• Hawai’i was up 9-2 in Saturday’s finale with the 2022 Big West champion and 2023 preseason favorite Gauchos, before the visitors knotted the score at 11-11 in the eighth. That’s when Miyao belted a second long ball on the season after a walk led off the home ninth, for a 13-11 final to cap the sweep and UH campaign in thrilling fashion.
• Miyao homered in back-to-back games to end the year, having launched a solo shot to right to give the Rainbow Warriors a two-run lead while sparking a four-run sixth inning in Friday night’s 8-5 triumph. The product of Hilo, Hawai’i, had entered the series with no home runs in 2023. Miyao concluded the year on a season-best 10-game hitting streak.
• For the series, Miyao hit .500 (6-for-12) and slugged 1.000 with five runs, the two home runs, four RBI, five walks, just one strikeout, and a .647 on-base percentage.
• Miyao handled all 12 defensive chances cleanly and was part of two double plays. Hawai’i finished 19-7 at home with nine consecutive wins inside Les Murakami Stadium. The Rainbow Warriors went 29-20 overall and 18-12 in league play, good for a fifth-place tie with UCSB.
• Miyao is UH’s lone Big West Field Player of the Week for 2023, and in fact was the program’s previous honoree back on April 26, 2021. Current teammates Harry Gustin (March 27) and Randy Abshier (April 24) were pitcher recipients earlier this year.

Also Nominated: Connor Burns (Long Beach State); Joey Kramer (CSUN); Thomas McCaffrey (UC Irvine)

Nick Pinto, UC Irvine  Baseball Pitcher of the Week  Redshirt Junior • Left-Handed Pitcher • Coto de Caza, Calif.

• Veteran arm Nick Pinto was brilliant pitching into the ninth inning of fourth-place UC Irvine’s 9-1 home victory over UC Riverside on Friday night to pick up a fourth career Big West Pitcher of the Week honor.
• The fourth-year junior southpaw went a season-long 8.1 frames and fanned eight, allowing an unearned run on three singles and two hit-by-pitches without a walk. Pinto finished the year with a 7-2 win-loss mark.
• For a second straight home start, Pinto entered the sixth inning with a perfect game, retiring the first 15 Highlanders prior to a single to lead off the sixth, and took that one-hit shutout into the ninth. Pinto faced five batters over the minimum and threw 89 pitches.
• The native of Coto de Caza and 2019 graduate of Tesoro High School’s previous long for 2023 was 7.2 innings, with a career best of 8.2 frames in 2021.
• Pinto finishes 2023 with two Big West Pitcher of the Week awards over the last four weeks, having already been recognized on May 8. Pinto’s first two weekly honors came during the 2021 season, on March 22 and then on May 24. Senior teammate Michael Stanford was the only other Anteater hurler chosen this year, back on March 6.

Also Nominated: Alex Giroux (Hawai’i); Jon Mocherman (CSUN); Nico Zeglin (Long Beach State)
 

2023 Big West Baseball Weekly Winners