UPCOMING OPPONENTS
Game Notes | Game Program
Loyola Marymount Lions 4-2 UC Irvine Anteaters
Cicerone Field at Anteater Ballpark (3,408) - Irvine, Calif.
Cal Poly Mustangs (8-15, Big West Conference) vs. UC Irvine Anteaters
Cicerone Field at Anteater Ballpark (3,408) - Irvine, Calif.
* - Probable Starter
Saturday, April 1 - 2:00 PM
RHP Spencer Howard vs. RHP Louis Raymond
ESPN3 | Live Stats | KUCI | Tickets
Sunday, April 2 - 1:00 PM
RHP Bobby Ay vs. RHP Chris Vargas*
Live Stats | Radio (Internet only) | Tickets
Broadcast Information
Radio
KUCI 88.9 FM with Mark Roberts and Tim Becwar (Friday and Saturday). All games also available live on the internet at kuci.org.
ESPN3
Friday and Saturday's games will be on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app with Sam Farber, John Jackson (Friday), and Keith Ramsey (Saturday) on the call.
LAST WEEK RECAP
+ The 'Eaters were beaten by the weather and the Houston Cougars getting only three games in and dropping all of them for their longest losing streak of the season at four games.
+ A Friday tussle saw both UCI and Houston lead before the Cougars punched out a run in the ninth inning to take the game, 4-3.
+ Houston jumped out to a 5-0 lead on Saturday, and the 'Eaters would come roaring back with help from a Cole Kreuter 3-run HR, but the rally fell short dropping the series in a 5-4 loss.
+ Sunday belonged to UH's John King who tossed a complete game limiting the 'Eaters while his offense pulled through for the series sweep and a 7-3 win.
+ For UCI, it was swept for the first time since 2015, the first time at home since 2014, and the first time by a non-conference opponent at home since Baylor in 2003.
WHO SHOWED OUT
+ Despite three losses, the pitching staff held its own against a fairly potent offense as it went up against arguably the best rotation and staff in the nation. Louis Raymond took a beating allowing 11 hits in six innings, but did not walk a batter as he kept the 'Eaters in the game.
+ Jordan Bocko took his spot in the weekend rotation for the first time and performed masterfully allowing a run and scattering seven hits and four walks in a career-high 5.1 innings. Bocko left with the lead, but did not factor in the decision.
+ The bullpen flexed its muscles led by an effective Michael Martin going five innings including four Sunday. Miles Glazier and Chris Vargas combined to not allow a hit or run while each going at least two innings.
+ The defense continues to excel committing just one error over the weekend now with 11 on the year. The team fielding percentage of 0.986 lead the NCAA.
+ One of the sticks that caught fire on the weekend was that of Cole Kreuter. Coming into the weekend, he had hit two home runs in his 112 games as an Anteater, and then he connected for one each on Friday and Saturday as part of a five-RBI weekend.
+ Keston Hiura is still hitting among the best in the nation as he went 5-for-9 against the shutdown pitching staff of Houston including an opposite-field HR on Sunday when he reached base all four times. The junior leads the squad in multi-RBI games (7), multi-run games (7), multi-walk games (5), and has streaks of 10 home games with a hit and 20 games overall reaching base.
+ Mikey Duarte took the role as sparkplug over the weekend with four hits and a pair of stolen bases. He's been put together a solid March hitting .432 now standing with streaks of 10 straight games with a hit and 12 straight reaching base.
HIURA-IC SEASON
+ Baseball America's most recent mock draft release slotted Keston Hiura to go 10th overall in the upcoming MLB Draft. A fellow Anteater in incoming freshman Royce Lewis was also projected in the top 10 at No. 3 overall.
+ Keston Hiura ranks among the top 30 nationally in doubles (T4th), slugging (5th), on-base percentage (13th), and batting average (17th). He is the leader in the Big West in seven different offensive categories, and averages a hit and RBI per game.
+ Hiura earned the spotlight early on being named to five Preseason All-American lists from publications such as Baseball American, the National Collegiate Baseball Writer's Association, D1Baseball.com, Collegiate Baseball News, and Perfect Game USA. He received Preseason All-American status by three publications heading into his sophomore season.
+ Hiura's most recent accolade was a return to the Golden Spikes Award Preseason Watch List for the second year in a row. USA Baseball's list of 55 players also includes two high school players, one of which is Royce Lewis who signed his NLI to UCI back in November. Hiura was named to the Golden Spikes Award Midseason and Preseason Watch Lists in 2016.
He spent the summer with the U.S. Collegiate National Team on their global trip to play national teams in Taiwan, Japan, and
+ Cuba. Hiura hit .289 hitting three homers and driving in six including a go-ahead HR in Cuba to give the team its first-ever series win at Cuba.
+ In 129 career games, Hiura has failed to reach base in eight games while producing 179 hits, 43 doubles, 20 HR, and 114 RBIs. He recently became the 23rd Anteater all-time to drive in 100 career RBI, is currently fourth in program history in HR, and second in slugging.
+ 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 made it, following a 2015 campaign where he landed near the top of many Anteater freshman records including second in doubles (18), hits (75), and at-bats (227) while setting new marks with seven home runs and 52 RBIs.
CLASS ACT
+ Monday brought the announcement of the 30 Senior CLASS Award candidates which included senior outfielder Adam Alcantara.
+ The award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities, and highlights notable achievements in community, classroom, character, and competition.
+ The list of 30 candidates will be narrowed to 10 finalists in April. UC Irvine has been the home of two Senior CLASS Award winners in Andrew Morales (2014) and Daniel Bibona (2010) along with a third finalist in Ben Orloff (2009).
INJURY REPORT
+ Hiura's arm issues have drawn the interest of many in the college and professional ranks alike. Baseball America's John Manuel wrote of it prior to the season, and Aaron Fitt touched on it early this season about Hiura's offseason dealing with a partial tear in his elbow. Hiura was completely shut down for a majority of it, and underwent platelet-rich plasma (PRP) treatment in January to aid in the recovery. For now, he will be limited to DH duty early in the season while the progress of his arm is monitored.
+ Devin Pettengill did not see any action over the weekend nursing a hamstring he injured on a stolen base attempt at UCLA.
+ The bullpen will be without the services of left-hander Dylan Riddle in 2017 as he recovers from a fractured collarbone.
+ Cameron Bishop has yet to play in 2017 dealing with an oblique issue. He is scheduled to begin throwing again this week.
PRESEASON PATROL
+ The Anteaters were picked to finish in fifth place in the Big West, the lowest preseason projection under Head Coach Mike Gillespie
+ Every season that UCI has been projected to finish worse than second, it has finished higher (2008, 2014, 2015)
+ The Anteaters received one first-place vote, the other eight went to projected champion Cal State Fullerton. UCI has received at least one first-place vote in five of the last six seasons
+ Gillespie claims the toughest schedule they've put together in his 10 seasons at the helm. UCI's opponents boast an overall winning percentage of .524 from last season
+ UCI's non-conference schedule includes the unanimous preseason No. 1 program in TCU along with Seattle, San Diego, all chosen to win their respective conferences, and Houston, picked for second.
RANKED GRAVEYARD
+ The Anteaters are now 8-2 in Anteater Ballpark against non-conference ranked opponents winning two of three against No. 1 TCU this year and No. 25 Cal in 2006, and earning sweeps of No. 23 Baylor in 2013 and No. 8 Washington in 2005.
+ Since Head Coach Mike Gillespie took over in 2008, UCI has played 100 games against ranked opponents, 78 coming during the regular season, and the 'Eaters have won 46 of those games.
+ Anteater Ballpark specifically has seen UCI go 23-14 against ranked squads and 3-3 against No. 1 teams.
UCI and LMU are back to complete their home-and-home series on the season. UCI won in dramatic fashion at LMU thanks to a three-run, ninth-inning HR from Evan Cassolato to cap and 4-hit, 5-RBI night and bring UCI back to win, 7-6.
LMU has chugged right along since with wins over Cal Poly and USC and WCC series wins over USF and BYU. The highlight came Saturday afternoon as Cory Abbott pitched the first perfect game in program history striking out 13 Cougars in a 2-0 victory over BYU. The 'Eaters won't see him Tuesday, but the staff has a 3.97 ERA helped by a 2.70 clip in its last six games.
CAL POLY MUSTANGS
The Mustangs have gotten off to a rough start after being picked to finish fourth in the conference in the preseason poll following a 32-25 fourth-place finish in 2016. CP took single wins from Nebraska, USC, Cal, and LMU, but two of three from Wichita State remains its only series win out of six thus far including sweeps at the hands of SDSU and Pacific.
CP is fresh off a 12-game homestand where they went 6-6 to raise their record to 8-15, and took two of three in their home park last year against UCI.
The Mustangs have struggled with the sticks hitting .247 with conference-lows in slugging and homers averaging less than four runs a game. The pitching has been phenomenal with a 3.81 ERA and a full head above the rest of the conference in strikeouts at 210. They need the Ks having committed the most errors in the Big West at 39.
Sophomore Alex McKenna is the bright spot among the Big West's top 10 in hits (27), runs (16), walks (12), and SB (6). Josh George adds speed, and transfer Elijah Skipps can get on base. Spencer Howard has impressed as a starter and closer with a 1.37 ERA. Erich Uelman has been effective with a 2.52 ERA and 41 strikeouts, second in the conference, despite a 1-4 record, but eight different Mustangs have made starts and nine pitchers have thrown at least 14 innings giving CP a lot of options to go up against the prolific Anteater offense.
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