UPCOMING OPPONENTS

Game Notes

UC Irvine Anteaters at No. 18 Long Beach State Dirtbags (21-13, 5-4)

Friday, April 15 - L(12), 2-3
LHP Elliot Surrey vs. RHP Chris Mathewson
Live Stats | Radio (Internet)

Saturday, April 16 - L, 3-8
LHP Cameron Bishop vs. RHP Darren McCaughan
Live Stats | Radio

Sunday, April 17 - W, 7-2
RHP Alonzo Garcia vs. RHP Tanner Brown 
Live Stats | Radio (Internet)

Tuesday April 19 6:00 PM
RHP Chris Vargas vs. LHP Dominic Purpura
Live Stats | Radio (Internet)

UP AND INLAND

+ UCI has righted the conference ship with a series win at home against UC Riverside now at 3-3 in the Big West.

+ The 'Eaters struggled against Austin Sodders Friday falling 3-1 with just four hits despite taking the 1-0 lead in the first inning.

+ The 'Eaters gave up the first inning run on Saturday before stringing together a pair of runs in the fourth and win 2-1, evening the series.

+ The 'Eaters jumped out to a 2-run lead after one on Sunday and had seven by the fourth inning to secure the 8-3 win.

+ UC Irvine has split its wins with nine each in night and day games. They continue to excel on Sundays with a perfect 5-0 record posting over nine runs a game with a .365 average.

+ UCI continued its winning ways with a 7-6 victory at Bakersfield on Tuesday. It put up a three-run 1st and four-run 5th to build a 7-1 lead before CSUB clawed back to within one.

ANT-ALYTICS

FIRE ANTS

+ Keston Hiura extended his on-base streak to 45 games with a single and a walk Tuesday night. He's also posted hit streaks of 11 and 14 this season, and an RBI streak of nine games.

+ His 45-game streak is second in the nation only to West Virginia's Jackson Cramer currently at 49 straight games on base.

+ Adam Alcantara has scored in three straight games, one of eight Anteaters to do that this year. Hiura and John Brontsema have six-game streaks this season.

+ Alcantara has also reached base in 10 straight, one of seven active players to post an on-base streak of 10 or more.

+ Grant Palmer has been on a bit of a tear was hits in seven of his last nine at-bats. He's raised his average to .365, second on the club, thanks to a .550 average (11-for-20) in conference.

+ John Brontsema has tripled twice in the last four games giving him the lead on the team and in the conference with three.

+ Miles Glazier's scoreless inning streak to begin his career came to an end Tuesday night from a PH HR. His shutout streak last 14.1 innings into his collegiate career. It's 1/3 of an inning short of the team's high on the season of 14.2 set by Shaun Vetrovec.

+ Calvin Faucher is now the squad's scoreless inning leader at 13.

+ Mitchell Miller came back from his short starting debut to fill in Tuesday night with three scoreless innings in relief to capture his third win. He also stranded his 12th inherited runner on the season. He and Glazier (10) lead the squad in that category.

+ UCI's offense came alive Sunday in Hawai'i in the first inning. The 'Eaters sent 15 men to the plate with the first 12 reaching base. The entire lineup the first time through scored and finished with 10 runs in the inning, something the 'Eaters have never done in Anteater Ballpark.

RIGHT HIURA, RIGHT NOW

+ Keston Hiura's name remains plastered amongst the best in the nation offensively. He is currently the Big West leader in slugging, and stands second in batting and on-base. In addition, he is tops in total bases, home runs, and RBI.

+ Nationally, he flashes up 38th in slugging, 39th in sac flies, 63rd in on-base, 64th in average, and 78th in HRs.

+ Hiura produced another statistical anomaly Sunday in Hawai'i. The Anteaters had 19 hits with eight starters going for multiple hits, however, Hiura was not one of them. He did score twice.

+ 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, the 'Eaters' first this season and his third overall.

+ 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 for one of the club's two  4-hit and 3-BB games on the season.

+ Hiura homered in the first and sixth innings at LMU on March 1 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 the National Collegiate Baseball Writer's Association (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.

CONFERENCE CALAMITY

+ Big West play is underway with UCI stuck in the middle with a 3-3 record. They don't fall in the middle on everything though:

+ The 'Eaters lead all Big West squads with a .280 batting average. Within their six conference games, they're batting .285, second-highest, along with their 59 hits.

+ UCI has scored 34 runs in conference play, second-most, and average 5.4 runs a game on the season, also second-most.

+ They're tied atop the conference with 10 triples.

+ The defense has turned eight double plays in six conference games, three more than any other school, and are tied overall with 25 doubles plays turned. Mitchell Holland has been a part of 24 of them to lead the conference.

+ On the flip side, the 'Eaters have only hit into one double play offensively in their six Big West games. Overall, they've hit into nine in the entire season.

+ UCI's 17 sac flies rank second in the Big West led by Hiura's four, the four in Big West play by the team lead all schools.

CENTER OF ATTENTION

+ The Anteaters were represented once again the World Baseball Classic with Dominique Taylor representing Germany in the qualifiers last month. 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.

The 'Eaters and Dirtbags have faced off 121 times, the most between UCI and an opponent. UCI's 66 wins against them are the program's high taking 30 of them at Long Beach.

Neither team has swept the series since 2010 when the 'Eaters did it in consecutive years. LBSU's last sweep was at home in 2006. UCI has won the opener each of the last five years, but its resulted in just two series wins. LBSU has won five straight Sunday games. Saturday matchups are split, 3-3, over the last six.

All-time, the Anteaters are now 17-13 in conference openers. Since joining the Big West, they are 14-6 in conference openers. Since reinstatement, UCI is 11-4, and 7-2 under coach Gillespie with losses at Riverside in 2013 and this past weekend in Hawai'i.

In the Big West, UCI is now 9-11 in the opening series. Since reinstatement, UCI is 9-6, and 6-3 under coach Gillespie following last weekend's series.

In Big West home openers, the 'Eaters are now 11-4 since 2002. Under coach Gillespie, the squad is 7-2 snapping a string of seven straight wins on Friday.

UCI is now 497-495 in games away from home following Tuesday's win in Bakersfield.

Elliot Surrey and Cameron Bishop each made a mark in their starts over the UC Riverside series as they put up a quality start and their highest strikeout performance of their careers. Surrey allowed three runs in seven innings to take the loss, but struck out a career high 10. Bishop sat down eight with a K, also a career high, while allowing two runs over 7.2 innings, another career high.

Catcher usage stays fairly even. Alex Guenette has started the most with 12 going 9-3. He's 4-3 in full games played. Matt Reitano has played five full games winning three, and is 7-7 overall. Griffin Mazur is 10-4 when he plays going 6-1 as a sub and winning all four games he's played every inning for.

UCI made a little bit of history during their last home weekend series locking up the 300th win in Anteater Ballpark on Friday, March 11 with a 4-0 victory over Seattle.

UCI and LBSU renew their rivalry for the 122nd time. The 'Eaters took two of three last year, but have lost their last six at Blair Field. LBSU is 12-7 in front of their home fans this season.

The Dirtbags are ranked No. 18 and have gone 17-8 in non-conference play including wins over Arizona State, Nebraska, Oklahoma, LMU, and even Cal State Fullerton.

LBSU just took a rain-modified series at CSUN following a series loss at home to UCSB. The offense is hitting .245 in Big West play, but have held UCSB and CSUN to a .197 batting, and its staff held a 1.87 ERA

The team's ERA dropped to 2.94, 15th in the nation, backed by a 19th-best .979 fielding percentage. Their staff also boasts top 10s WHIP (1.13) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.23).

The offense is hitting just .238, eighth in the conference, but have stolen 36 bases, fourth in the conference.

Garrett Hampson paces the offense with 41 hits and a .328 average. His 13 stolen bases lead the team. Luke Rasmussen has capitalized as the four-hitter with five HRs and 22 RBIs to lead the Dirtbags.

LBSU has run with the same three starters going a combined 14-6 and a 2.70 ERA with 45 innings each. The pen is founded on Austin McGeorge and Joshua Advocate, each with sub-1.00 ERAs, and 11 saves from Chris Rivera in his 14 appearances.

AZTEC ADDITIONS

The Aztecs are slowly starting to get off the mat with a 10-20 record and wins in four of their last five. Their win back on February 23 in Anteater Ballpark was the only win in its first 11 games. Since, it has snagged wins from Fresno State, New Mexico, Long Beach State, on the road at Oregon State and USD, and a pair each vs. Northwestern and UNLV. They've also fallen to Nevada, Cal State Fullerton, Oregon, and Kentucky.

Their pitching's ERA of 4.97 is middle of the road, but they walk less than three batters a game, top 20 in the nation.

The team is hitting .275 squaring up 18 HRs and 68 extra-base hits.

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