UPCOMING GAMES

Game Notes

UC Irvine Anteaters at Loyola Marymount Lions

Tuesday, March 1 - 6:00 PM
LHP Cameron Bishop vs. LHP Brenton Arriaga
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UTSA Roadrunners at UC Irvine Anteaters 

Friday, March 4 - 6:30 PM
LHP Elliot Surrey vs. RHP Chance Kirby
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Saturday, March 5 (Game 1) - 12:00 PM
RHP Shaun Vetrovec vs. RHP Karan Patel
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Saturday, March 5 - 40 minutes following Game 1
LHP Cameron Bishop vs. RHP Aaron Burns
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PACK MENTALITY

+ UCI mustered up a sweep against Nevada in its first weekend series at home.

+ Pitching was key on Friday and Sunday in 4-1 and 6-0 victories as starters Elliot Surrey and Shaun Vetrovec each dealt quality starts combining for one unearned run and 11 strikeouts over 13 innings of work.

+ Saturday saw the Anteaters return from trailing 7-2 entering the bottom of the eighth to bring home three runs with two outs in the ninth to tie it at 7-7 and send it to extra innings where UCI would pull out the 8-7 victory on an Alex Guenette, pinch-hit, two-out RBI single up the middle.

+ The 'Eaters began the week with a 4-2 midweek loss to San Diego State. The Aztecs scored twice in the eighth to break a 2-2 tie and score its first win of the season.

ANT-ALYTICS

+ Head Coach Mike Gillespie currently has 312 wins with UC Irvine. His next will make him the program's all-time winningest surpassing Mike Gerakos (1981-92).

+ UCI and LMU have met 80 times, tied for 6th-most against a single opponent. This matchup is the only in program history to end in a tie three times including the most recent occurrence on February 11, 2007 when the game finished tied 15-15.

+ The 'Eaters are sporting a .954 fielding percentage, the only category UCI ranks last in the Big West. The team has committed 14 errors including 4 in a game twice.

+ Of the 55 strikeouts from the pitching staff, 38.2 % of them (21) have been looking, which leads the conference.

FIRST RESPONDERS

+ More Anteater firsts came out of this first home series for many of the guys:

+ Debuts on the mound for freshmen Daniel Alvarez and Dylan Riddle came through. Alvarez threw a scoreless fourth on Saturday. Riddle appeared in the ninth vs. SDSU, and again on Saturday allowing an unearned run in the third.

+ Junior Calvin Faucher registered his first career save working a scoreless ninth Friday. He did the same Sunday in a non-save situation.

+ Fellow transfer Ben Ritchey locked up his first win in Saturday's thriller working a scoreless 10th inning.

+ Freshman Matt Reitano continues to search for his first hit, but did score his first run as did Jake Hazard.

+ Cameron Bishop and Grant Palmer each got on the hit column over the weekend. Palmer also got his first RBI.

FIRE ANTS

+ Hiura isn't the only Anteaters rolling early in the season:

+ Two 'Eaters have built double-digit on-base streaks as Jonathan Muñoz now has 11 in a row while Cole Kreuter has 10.

+ Mitchell Holland's six-game hitting streak stands as the team's second longest thus far. He and Evan Cassolato each have four-game run-streaks snapped on Sunday.

+ Cassolato and Hiura each have three-run games early in the season. Hiura even has a three-game run-streak going at the moment.

+ Anteater hitters have been hit by a pitch 18 times. That leads the Big West and is 3rd in the nation (Arkansas State - 22). Adam Alcantara's five lead the team, and he is tied atop the conference and ranks second nationally in that category. Matt Reitano and Wyatt Castro each have four ranking them ninth in the nation.

+ UCI hitters have hit eight sacrifice flies. That leads the conference and is fourth in the nation (Arkansas - 11). Parker Coss and Keston Hiura each have two to their credit this season.

+ Hiura also lands in the top 20 nationally in triples (4th), sac flies (12th), total bases (13th), and hits (18th).

+ Hiura leads the conference with a .871 slugging percentage and 27 totals bases. Nationally, he's 13th in total bases and 44th in slugging. He is also currently riding a three-game streak with an extra-base hit.

+ Evan Cassolato has struck out just once in 24 at-bats making him the 92nd-toughest player to K in the nation and 2nd-toughest in the Big West. Teammate Alex Guenette has yet to K in 14 PA.

+ Cassolato also ranks 2nd in the Big West and 75th nationally with a .567 on-base percentage.

+ Guenette has also impressed reaching base in six times, five via a hit, and is the only player to drive home multiple runs on one hit on two occasions.

+ UCI has grounded into one double play, least in the Big West.

+ Keston Hiura extended multiple streaks and has now reached base in 24 consecutive games, delivered hits in 10 straight, and collected an RBI in seven in a row.

+ In Saturday's comeback win, Hiura reached base in all seven plate appearances going 4-for-4 with a double, triple, two-out bunt single in the ninth, and three walks. He also scored three times and drove home a run. In that one game, he has produced the club's only 4-hit and 3-BB games on the season.

+ Included in his standout week was a pair of home runs; a solo shot Friday in the fifth inning to give UCI the lead, and a two-run bomb to dead center to extend UCI's two-run lead to four.

+ He even added some on the defensive end throwing out a runner at second base on Saturday for his team-leading second outfield assist. Hiura was even part of a fielders choice on Sunday getting the lead runner at 2B after a short fly ball dropped

+ Hiura was named to the Golden Spikes Award Preseason Watch List amongst 60 collegiate players nationwide

+ Hiura was named a Preseason All-American by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA), D1Baseball.com, and Perfect Game publications

+ The sophomore landed on four freshman All-American lists including NCBWA, D1Baseball.com, Baseball America, and Collegiate Baseball

+ Hiura was named Big West Freshman Field Player of the Year, a first for the program, and made the All-West Region team, the third straight season an Anteater has made it

+ Hiura landed near the top of many Anteater records including second in doubles (18), hits (75), and at-bats (227) while setting new marks with seven home runs and 52 RBIs

ANALYZING THE ANTEATERS

The 'Eaters finish February with a 5-3 record making the program 46-22 in under Coach Gillespie all-time in the month. The team has finished February with a winning record eight times in nine tries under Gillespie. This season is the fifth in which they've won at least five games in the month of February.

UCI takes a day off this year on Leap Day. It has played five times in its history (1972, 1984, 1992, 2004, 2008) going 3-2 with wins over Gonzaga, San Francisco, and Cal Lutheran.

The team as a whole batted .290 over the four games last week pumping out 38 hits in the four games.

The pitching staff marched out an impressive 1.95 ERA allowing eight earned runs and striking out 30 in 37 innings.

Parker Coss struggled Saturday night going 0-for-7 at the plate. He did become the 26th Anteater with a 7-AB game, and first since Jordan Fox against Lamar in 2012. Matt Fisher still stands with the lone 8-AB performance that came May 9, 2004 at Cal Poly.

Shaun Vetrovec has impressed with back-to-back seven-inning scoreless efforts to start the campaign. Another start like that will put him up with the likes of Scott Gorgen who threw 20 consecutive scoreless innings in 2007 and Andrew Morales who holds the record at 31.1 IP set back in 2014.

The Anteaters continued its extra-inning prowess with a win in the 10th inning Saturday. The 2015 Anteaters were 6-2 in extra inning games outscoring their opponents 10-4 in those innings.

UCI has not allowed a run on Sunday yet pitching two shutouts so far. UCI only had two shutouts over the entire 2015 season. Reaching back to the last Sunday game of 2015, the 'Eaters have a scoreless string of 21 innings in Sunday baseball built up.

The sequence of the weekend came Sunday to start the fifth inning. Adam Alcantara was hit by the first pitch, Parker Coss singled on the second moving Alcantara to third base, Keston Hiura drove him home on the third with a sac fly, and Mitchell Holland clubbed the fourth pitch into the corner for a ground rule double.

LEARNING THE LIONS

The 'Eaters will meet up twice with LMU this season with the first on Tuesday and the return matchup in Anteater Ballpark on March 22.

LMU is 3-4 after taking one in TCU and two of three at San Jose State. The Lions dropped its only home game last Tuesday, 4-3, to USC.

The LMU lineup relies heavily and juniors and sophomores with third-year catcher Cassidy Brown pacing the team thus far with a .385 average, HR, and 6 RBIs early on. The team as a whole is batting .232, but averages just over four runs a game.

Pitching comes in with a 4.20 ERA. Starter Brenton Arriaga went 5.2 IP in his last go allowing three ER on eight hits. Blake Redman has seen the most action out of the pen with 7.1 IP over three outings striking out seven and not issuing a free pass.

RUNNERS ON THE MOVE

UT San Antonio visits Anteater Ballpark after hosting the 'Eaters last year in early March. UTSA won the opener in extra innings before UCI swept a doubleheader to finish the series out.

Early on, the Roadrunners have series wins over Connecticut and McNeese State with a midweek win at Sam Houston State mixed in. UTSA has a trip to No. 12 Houston on Tuesday before heading out to California.

UTSA has a solid core blend of veterans and rookies between senior infielders Geonte Jackson and Tyler Straub alongside freshmen Bryan Arias and Ryan Stacy.

Junior 3B C.J. Pickering is batting .414 with four doubles out of the 3-hole. The team is hitting .288 scoring nearly eight runs a game. Four hitters have 7+ RBIs while sophomore RF Skyler Valentine has a pair of homers.

Starters Chance Kirby, Karan Patel, and Aaron Burns have come together for 19 ER in 33.2 IP posting 10 strikeouts each.

The bullpen has picked up six of the seven decisions led by Andre Shewcraft, Karl Craigie, and Patrick Herbelin's four appearances each. Herbelin does have a save to his credit.

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