Following a tremendous week at the plate, UC Santa Barbara’s Christian Kirtley has been named one of the National Players of the Week by Collegiate Baseball News, the publication announced on Monday.
The redshirt senior outfielder hit four home runs across the Gauchos’ five games against San Jose State and UC Irvine, posting a .389 average and an OPS of 1.633 for the week. His first two homers came in Monday’s game against the Spartans, with the second winning the game in walk-off fashion for Santa Barbara.
Kirtley hit two more home runs in the series opener against UC Irvine, making him the first hitter in The Big West to crack double-digit homers this season. He is also the second Gaucho this season with multiple multi-homer games.
Even when pitchers managed to keep Kirtley in the yard, they could not keep him off base. He reached safely in all five games this week, working a pair of walks in his only hitless outing. In total, he added a double, two singles, and four walks to his four home runs.
He was flawless with the glove as well, both in left field and behind the plate as an emergency catcher on Tuesday. When Aaron Parker left the game after being hit on his glove hand, Kirtley came in from left and caught the final 5 2/3 innings.
Kirtley and the Gauchos hit the road for four games this week, travelling to Malibu for a mid-week matchup with Pepperdine Tuesday afternoon, then to La Jolla for a three-game weekend series against UC San Diego.