LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) - UNLV baseball's Cooper Esmay was named the Mountain West's Player of the Week for games played through May 21. The Conference also recognized Air Force's Griffin Jax as its Pitcher of the Week. It's the first weekly award for Esmay and the third for Jax.

Esmay helped the Rebels to a 1-1 record on the road last week in the northern portion of the Silver State. As the Rebels' designated hitter, he hit .571 with four hits, two of which were home runs, in seven at-bats, which attributed to astonishing 1.429 slugging and a .625 on-base percentages. In addition, he knocked in six RBI and scored three runs.

In Thursday's 7-1 win over Nevada, Reno, he went 2-for-4 with two RBI. He had a two-run single in the fifth inning that helped break open a 2-1 affair for UNLV.

In Saturday's rubber game â€" a 9-7 loss, he crushed a pair of home runs in back-to-back at-bats. In the sixth, he had a solo shot that cleared the left field fence. Two innings later, he drilled a three-run homer to left-center. Those four RBI helped pull the Rebels within three, 9-6, late in the affair. Earlier in the contest, he scored the first of his three runs in the second inning.

Esmay and his fourth-seeded Rebels will meet Jax and his fifth-seeded Air Force Falcons in Albuquerque, N.M., at Santa Ana Star Field at 2:00 pm PT (3:00 pm MT). The encounter is the second scheduled on day one of the 2016 MW Baseball Championship.