IRVINE, Calif. — The UC Santa Barbara Baseball team's visit to No. 20 Southern Miss was one of the spotlight series across college baseball, and the Gauchos' stars of the weekend have now received the first Big West Player of the Week honors of the year after their stellar outings in Hattiesburg. The conference named second baseman Cade Goldstein its Player of the Week and ace right-hander Jackson Flora its Pitcher of the Week on Monday.
 
The freshman Goldstein turned what looked every bit like a trial by fire into a coming out party, proving a thorn in the side of the Golden Eagles all weekend long. He hit an even .500, going 2-for-4 in all three games, and wore a couple of pitches to boost his on-base percentage to .600 for the weekend. Add in the marquee moment of his first career home run in Sunday's finale, and his slugging percentage rested at .750 across the three games. That Sunday afternoon yard call was a pivotal hit, a two-run shot to tie the game at 4-4 as the Gauchos chased a series upset of their 20^th-ranked hosts. Earlier that day, he had also driven in Santa Barbara's first run of the game with a single, finishing the rubber match with his first three collegiate RBIs. He had some golden moments with the glove too, none better than a just-in-time flip to first base to help Flora get out of a jam on Friday.
 
Thanks in part to that nifty connection with his fellow honoree, Flora put up one of the best pitching performances in all of college baseball, striking out five Golden Eagles and scattering three hits across six shutout innings of work in the Gauchos' 5-1 Opening Day win. The flamethrower touched 100 mph on the radar gun, and mixed in his two-slider combo plus a devastating new changeup. Of the 970 pitchers who took to a mound across Division I's opening weekend, only 14 pitched further into a game than Flora without allowing a run, and only one of those 14 did so against ranked opposition. Santa Barbara's ace picked up the win, ending Southern Miss' 11-year run of winning on Opening Day.
 
Goldstein, Flora and the Gauchos play their first home series of the season this weekend, Feb. 20-22, hosting Portland at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium. Season and single-game tickets are on sale now at ucsbgauchos.com/tickets or by calling the ticket office at (805) 893-UCSB(8272).