UPCOMING GAMES
Game Notes
UC Irvine Anteaters 9-2 San Diego Toreros
Tuesday, March 29- 6:00 PM
RHP Alonzo Garcia vs. RHP Sean Barry
Live Stats | Radio (Internet)
UC Irvine Anteaters at Hawai'i Rainbow Warriors
Friday, April 1 - 9:35 PM (PDT)
LHP Elliot Surrey vs. RHP Brendan Hornung
Live Stats | Radio
Saturday, April 2 - 9:35 PM (PDT)
RHP Shaun Vetrovec vs. RHP Kyle Von Ruden
Live Stats | Radio
Sunday, April 3, - 4:05 PM (PDT)
LHP Cameron Bishop vs. LHP Alex Hatch
Live Stats | Radio
BREAKING DOWN THE BREAK
+ The Anteaters enjoyed a weekend to take a step back and reflect on the first 2/5ths of the season.
+ It came with a price being dealt a loss in the team's last game falling, 7-2, in a midweek clash with LMU.
+ The Lions avenged their home loss to open the month behind solid pitching Blake Redman who shut down the 'Eaters for seven innings allowing five hits.
STAT PACK
Head Coach Mike Gillespie became UCI's all-time winningest coach with a 5-1 LMU win on March 1. He currently has 321 career wins at UC Irvine.
UCI has 11 non-conference games remaining on its schedule with 14 wins so far. The program has won 20 non-conference games 11 times since joining a conference (last time - 2013, 20 wins).
Alonzo Garcia has a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 5.75 which ranks sixth in Big West and 64th in the nation
Elliot Surrey threw eight innings in his Friday night 4-0 win over Seattle. It was the 9th time he's gone at least eight which includes two complete games.
UCI and USD will meet for the 95th time. UCI has won 53 of those meetings to 45 losses with one tie between the two.
FIRE ANTS
+ Keston Hiura continues to roll on having reached base in 37 consecutive games. His hit streak has hit 11 games giving him two hit streaks of 11 games thus far.
+ Hiura has active streaks of eight straight games with a hit on the road and at home.
+ Parker Coss has reached base in 18 straight games despite going 0 for his last 7.
+ John Brontsema had streaks of eight games with a hit and six with a run snapped. He has reached base in nine consecutive.
+ Cole Kreuter and Adam Alcantara each boast four-game road hitting streaks.
+ Griffin Mazur has used his time wisely building streaks of four games on base and two games with a run scored.
+ Miles Glazier has continued his hot start to his career not allowing a run in his first 9.1 innings and 10 appearances. It's even spilled over into the inherited runner category not allowing any of the six runners he has inherited to score.
+ Calvin Faucher joins Glazier with the highest current shutout streak at 9.1 innings. Elliot Surrey trails closely behind with eight innings of shutout ball.
+ Ben Ritchey has appeared in 12 games, the most in the conference and 60th in the nation. He has not issued a walk in eight of those outings, a run in his last seven innings, and has earned a hold in four of them.
+ Alonzo Garcia has peeked into the national rankings with his impressive midweek form. He is now among the top 150 and eighth in the Big West with 9.7 strikeouts per nine innings while also allowing 1.69 walks per nine, 115th nationally and nine in the conference. Together, he's built a 5.75 strikeout-to-walk ratio, 64th-best in the country and sixth in the Big West.
HIURA I AM, ONCE AGAIN
+ Keston Hiura's name remains plastered amongst the best in the nation offensively. He currently leads the Big West in all three phases of the slashline (AVG / OBP / SLG) as well as total bases, and triples. He's also second in hits, sac flies, home runs, and RBIs.
+ Nationally, he flashes up 5th in batting average, 9th in on-base, 11th in slugging, 27th in total bases, and 44th in hits.
+ All these numbers resulted in a week where he batted .467 with a double, four RBIs, four stolen bases, and five runs scored to earn Big West Field Player of the Week honors on March 21. It's the 'Eaters' first this season and his third overall in his career.
He reached base in all five plate appearances in a Saturday night win over UTSA with two singles, a walk, and two hit by pitch. This was right on the heels of his performance against Nevada when he reached on all seven plate appearances: single, double,
+ triple, two-out bunt single in the ninth, and three walks. He also scored three times and drove home a run in the club's only 4-hit and 3-BB games on the season.
+ Hiura homered in the first and sixth innings at LMU for his first career 2-HR game. It was the 26th 2-HR game in program history and gave him four HRs in four games.
+ 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
FASCINATING FACETS
+ UC Irvine has put itself in a good position with the brunt of non-conference play behind them ready to attack the ever-important Big West schedule.
+ Two of the squad's toughest opponents still lie ahead in UC Santa Barbara and UCLA with preliminary RPIs of 12 and 19, respectively.
+ The toughest opponents its faced was the trip to No. 52 Tennessee where UCI took one of three. 'Eaters have wins over three other teams within the top 100 RPI in LMU, Maryland, and UTSA. Six other opponents lie ahead of them within the top 100 RPI
+ UCI handled business for the most part outside the top 100 with sweeps of Seattle and Nevada, a split with San Jose State, and a win over Bakersfield. The loss to San Diego State, currently the lowest RPI opponent, looms as the one glaring blemish.
+ UCI's current RPI stands at 95 while tackling a schedule deemed the 174th-strongest in the nation.
+ The 'Eaters as a squad are hitting .282 averaging five runs per game. They draw an average of just over four walks a game while striking out just over six times a game.
+ On the mound, UCI has a 4.21 ERA with a WHIP of 1.41 meaning they allow 1.4 baserunners per inning. On average, Anteater pitchers allow four walks a game and strike out just over seven hitters.
+ Starters and relievers share very similar numbers with starters throwing 15 more innings. The bullpen has been particularly stingy picking up three saves and seven wins to one loss on the season.
CENTER OF ATTENTION
+ The Anteaters were represented once again the World Baseball Classic with Dominique Taylor representing Germany in the qualifiers last week. The Germans were eliminated with losses to Nicaragua, in 10 innings, and the Czech Republic.
+ Taylor started in CF and batted second going 1-for-8 with a single.
+ Anteater assistant coach, Ben Orloff, represented Israel in the 2012 WBC Qualifiers. He appeared in one game, a 4-2 win over Spain, where he batted ninth and played second base.
ANALYZING THE ANTEATERS
The 'Eaters are searching for its 10th win of the month, something the squad has done six times under Coach Gillespie and nine times since reinstating the program. Tuesday's game will be the 14th March contest, tied for the least amount in the month of March under Gillespie. The 2005 Anteaters were the only squad to play 13 games. The 2009 and 2012 teams each played 18 games.
All-time, the Anteaters are 152-78 in the month of March since reinstating the program. Under Gillespie, the team is 98-45. During the entirety of the program, the 'Eaters are won 338 games in March.
Tuesday's game marks the third straight time UCI and USD have matched up in the last game of a month.
UCI made a little bit of history during their last weekend series locking up the 300th win in Anteater Ballpark on Saturday, March 12 with its 3-2 walk-off win against Seattle.
UCI also opens up Big West conference play over the weekend with a trip to Hawai'i for a three-game set.
The 'Eaters have opened against Hawai'i just once, last season, sweeping the series at home.
All-time, the Anteaters are 17-12 in conference openers. Since joining the Big West, they are 14-5 in conference openers. Since reinstatement, UCI is 11-3, and 7-1 under coach Gillespie with its lone loss coming at Riverside in 2013.
UCI has won the opening conference series 11 times in 29 seasons. In the Big West, UCI is 9-10 in the opening series. Since reinstatement, UCI is 9-5, and 6-2 under coach Gillespie.
The 'Eaters haven't opened conference play on the road since 2013 at UC Riverside. In Big West play, UCI is 5-4 in conference openers on the road and have three wins in those nine series with all three of those coming since the return of the program. Coach Gillespie and the squad are 1-2 in Big West-opening series on the road.
All-time, UCI has 448 road wins and 209 since the program returned. Away from Anteater Ballpark, UCI is 494-493 all-time.
TORERO TALES
USD enters Tuesday winning two in a row after winning a series at Pepperdine making them 15-11 on the year. Notable results have been wins over Nebraska, Tulane, and two over SDSU, but lost to UCSB, split with Baylor, and were swept by Oregon State and Vanderbilt.
USD hits similar to UCI at .278 racking up the doubles with 51. Riley Adams has 11 of those along with 3 HR and 20 RBI. He and Ryan Kirby pick up the offense each batting over .365 with Kirby contributing 4 HR and 28 RBI.
The pitching has not been spectacular with a 5.38 ERA, but the fielding has backed it up with a .977 percentage, 31st in the nation. Sean Barry starts on the mound, his second of the season along with a Sunday outing (3/13) against Baylor allowing three runs, one walk, and striking out six over five innings with the no decision.
ISLAND VIBES
The Rainbow Warriors are 11-14 with 22 of the 25 coming in Hawai'i. UH has wins over New Mexico, Santa Clara and West Virginia, and series wins over Chicago State and San Francisco. Four-game sweep to Michigan and a loss to Hawai'i-Hilo have stung.
Hawai'i plays good defense, 68th in the nation fielding .972, and lead the conference turning 23 doubles plays and even has a triple play which in turn has helped the staff to a 3.63 ERA, fourth in the Big West and 62nd in the country.
The rotation includes Brendan Hornung and Kyle Von Ruden with sub-3.00 ERAs and Alex Hatch. The main bullpen arms are Cody Culp with 13 strikeouts and two walks in 10 appearances along with eight appearances from Matt Valencia and seven from Isaac Friesen and Casey Ryan.
The hitting is down at a .253 average, sixth in the Big West, and near the bottom in on-base and slugging.
Jacob Sheldon-Collins leads the team in hitting and is one of three UH hitters with double-digit RBIs along with Kekai Rios and Eric Ramirez. Matt LoCoco has two of the three homers, but is down among one of the six regulars hitting under .240.
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