12:00pm | The Big West applause you are hearing today is for three Long Beach State athletes who have picked up the leagues Player of the Week honors. Just underway, softball won two of the awards, pitcher of the week and player of the week.
The Beach women had a 3-2 start to the season at the Fresno State Tournament and the stars were freshman Leilani Tupua-Tautalatasi (player of the week) and Pitcher of the Week was handed to sophomore Erin Jones-Wesley.
Here is the announcement from the Big West office. “In her first season with the 49ers Leilani Tupua-Tautalatasi received this year’s first honor for Big West Player of the Week.. The starting center fielder from Oxnard averaged .368 at the plate in the 49ers’ 3-2 start, recording seven hits in her 19 appearances in the box.
The true freshman led Long Beach State in hitting for the season-opening tournament at Fresno State. Tupua-Tautalatasi got her first career home run with the 49ers in the tournament closer against home team, Fresno State, hitting one over the fence in the first inning of the 4-1 win. For the week, Tupua-Tautalatasi led the 49ers with a .368 batting average, .444 on-base percentage and getting seven hits with four runs scored.”
Meanwhile the returning Long Beach State sophomore, Erin Jones-Wesley, dominated the circle last week for this season’s first Big West Pitcher of the Week honor, one she received last season as a freshman for the 49ers. This is Jones-Wesley’s seventh career honor for Pitcher of the Week in the Big West after receiving the Big West Freshman Pitcher of the Year and Pitcher of the Year awards for the 2011 season.
Jones-Wesley took home three wins last week for Long Beach, tossing a total of 22 innings and allowing four runs on 16 hits. She struck out 24 batters while only allowing eight walks.
In the tournament-opener win against Sacramento State (4-2), Jones-Wesley tied a career-high 11 strike-outs facing 27 batters in her seven-inning appearance. Closing the tournament play against home team Fresno State, Jones-Wesley pitched a complete eight-inning game, giving up one run on a solo home run, but still coming out with the 4-1 advantage.”
One the men’s side of the awards wouldn’t you know it would be the friendly ghost again. The BWC said, “Casper Ware collected his fourth Big West Men’s Basketball Player of the Week honor after record setting performances in twoLong Beach State victories.
Ware exploded for a career-high 38 points to lead the 49ers to a 74-66 win at Pacific on Thursday. He tied a school record with eight three-pointers made (in 15 attempts) and made 12 of 23 floor shots overall. The 38 points tied for the seventh-most all-time by a 49er and was the most by a Big West player this season.
In a 89-69 win at UC Davis on Saturday, Ware dished out two assists to become Long Beach State’s career leader with 509. He also solidified his place in the Big West career top 10. Ware finished the game with 16 points on 6 of 11 shooting, including 3 of 7 from three-point distance.
For the week, Ware averaged 27.0 points and 3.5 rebounds while making 52.8% (18 of 34) from the field, 50.0% from three-point territory (11 of 22) and 87.5% (7 of 8) at the free throw line. The senior guard now has six career Big West Player of the Week awards, tying him for third all-time in league history.” Oh yes, there are four more chances for CW and the POW hardware.