Broadcast Information
 
Radio - KUCI 88.9 FM with Mark Roberts and Tim Becwar will be available on Friday and Saturday. Sunday's broadcast will be internet only. All games also available live on the internet at kuci.org and ucirvinesports.com
 
Live stats are available for every Anteater baseball game through ucirvinesports.com and the UCI Sports Front Row app.
 
Around The Horn
 
11 - The Anteaters have recorded 11 sacrifice flies and sacrifice bunts on the season. They are 1 of 13 programs with at least 10 of each and 1 of just 6 with at least 11 of each. UC Irvine is the only West Coast school with 11 of each while UCLA, Arizona, and UNLV are the West schools with 10 of each

2 - The 'Eaters had used at least 2 catchers in their first 14 games including three catchers three times until Sunday's loss when Jacob Castro went all 9 innings. Catchers threw out 3 of 7 attempted basestealers over the weekend upping their total on the season to 6 caught stealing in 13 attempts

42 - UC Irvine has played 42 games all-time against Utah schools earning 30 wins (12 vs. SUU, 9 each vs. Utah and BYU). This will be the first meeting with Utah Valley from the WAC, a conference in which UCI holds a 41-12 record against its current members
 
The 'Eaters earned a split over the weekend in their four-game series at Portland. The last four-game series the 'Eaters played in was to open the 2016 season, also splitting at San Jose State. Last season, UC Irvine played in two doubleheaders splitting with Seattle U and swept by Oregon and Tennessee in the Tony Gwynn Classic

Andre Pallante took home his second Big West Pitcher of the Week award this week after tossing a career high eight innings in a Friday night win while not allowing a run and just five hits to Portland. Pallante lowered his ERA down to 0.33 on the season, best in the Big West and 13th-lowest in the nation. He also tops the conference in strikeouts adding eight more Friday night for 35 on the year, and that stands 27th-most in the country. Pallante is also the conference's leader in WHIP (0.80) and hits allowed per nine innings (5.27), and sits in a nearby second in strikeouts per 9 (11.52)

The rest of the rotation struggled over the weekend totaling just 7.2 innings over the other three starts allowing nine earned runs. The team ERA still sits at 3.16, second in the conference and 50th overall and is 1 of 2 Big West squads to post a pair of shutouts

The bullpen helped carry the staff through a majority of the weekend led by impressive performances from Sean Sparling (3.1, 2 H, 0 R) in Saturday's win, Chris Vargas (4 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 K) keeping the 'Eaters in Saturday's loss, and Brendan Brooks (3 IP, 3 H, ER, 0 BB, 2 K) pitching and hitting the 'Eaters back into the lead on Sunday

Jordan Bocko was the bullpen's cornerstone earning a pair of saves over the weekend allowing one run over three innings with five strikeouts and not issuing a walk. Bocko overtakes the team's save lead, and he now has three in his career joining his other career save that came in his first career game to open the 2016 season

The Anteater offense was relatively quiet hitting .248 against Portland. UCI had more than seven hits in 1 of the 4 games, Sunday's loss, while holding even with the Pilots and each team scored 18 runs over the course of the series. The offense remains one of the conference's best scoring nearly five runs a game, third-best, and among the top half of the Big West with a .256 batting average and earning 59 walks including 19 over the weekend

Brendan Brooks fueled the offense with a .462 batting average reaching in 10 of 17 plate appearances and extending his streak to 14 straight games reaching base. He led the 'Eaters with six hits, scored three times, earned four walks, and was a force as a pitcher and in the field. He also became the first 'Eater this season with a three-hit game and a three-BB game on the season.

Ryan Fitzpatrick also holds a lengthy on-base streak now up to 23 games. His 10-game hit streak was snapped Friday night, but continues to lead the team in average, tied with Brooks at .340, doubles at five, and RBI at 13

Jake Palmer had another impressive weekend as the only 'Eater to earn a hit in all four games. He now owns an 11-game on-base streak while leading the squad with 14 runs and 10 walks. He also joined the conversation in sacrifice flies with a pair on Sunday becoming the first Anteater since Adam Alcantara in 2016 to do it. The 'Eaters as a team have 11 this season, leading the Big West and two off of the national leaders.

The defense returned to form only committing one error in the four games. UC Irvine's fielding percentage at .980 is tops in the Big West and 23rd in the nation. Mikey Filia stood out Saturday afternoon making eight putouts alone in CF. The OF as a bunch picked up four assists over the weekend as well with a pair from Brendan Brooks and one each from Ryan Johnston and Jake Palmer. The catchers got into the act as well catching four baserunners stealing headed by Jacob Castro with three and Griffin Mazur adding one

The Anteaters were without grad transfer and DH Nick Anderson over the weekend as he continues to nurse and injury he suffered midway through Saturday's game at TCU sustained on the basepaths as he attempted to avoid a tag on a force play between first and second base
UC Irvine has already seen the return of four players that missed all or a considerable amount of the 2017 season:
 
Pitchers Alonzo Garcia and Sean Sparling were shut down after their first few outings in 2017 - Sparling has returned to allow just one earned run in four outings and currently sporting a nine-inning scoreless streak. Garcia has been effective in two midweek starts earning the win in the midweek victory over San Diego State. He lasted just 1.2 innings making a start in the second end of Saturday's doubleheader

Catcher Griffin Mazur struggled through a foot injury in 2017, but has returned to see action in 12 games this season earning three starts and recording a pair of hits, three walks, and a sacrifice hit.

Reliever Dylan Riddle was also on the shelf after injuring his shoulder in an offseason accident prior to the 2017 season. He's been flawless in four appearances this season allowing just a one hit and a hit by pitch over 2.1 innings of work.

Anteater pitching has been marvelous to this point in the season now with two Big West Pitcher of the Week awards, most recently this past week after a career high eight innings pitched where he did not allow a run and scattered five hits joining the award two weeks back after he struck out 12 Gonzaga Bulldogs in seven one-hit, scoreless innings. Louis Raymond added the team's first complete game since 2016 hurling an 83-pitch gem to shutdown Gonzaga February 24th.

UCI's 4-0 shutout win in the opener was its first shutout in 73 games dating back to April 29, 2016, a Friday night shutout of Cal State Fullerton. It's the fourth season opener UCI has won with a shutout joining 2008 vs. Nevada, 1992 vs. LMU, and 1972 vs. UCLA. The 'Eaters added a second shutout to begin the Portland series.

The team hit .274 a year ago, second-highest in the Big West, and posted the conference's best on-base percentage of .364, but had a .371 slugging percentage that ranked as the lowest. The Anteaters finished near the top in many offensive categories placing top three in runs, hits, walks, sacrifice flies, and hit by pitch recording the most plate appearances of any Big West squad.

On the pitching end, UCI struggled with the highest ERA in the conference at 5.35 in 2017 and opponent batting average of .299 while issuing 253 walks, highest in the Big West and the program's third-most in a single season.

The defense did stand out committing just 48 errors, the second season in program history where the 'Eaters were charged with less than 50 errors, while leading the conference in putouts and chances finishing with a .978 fielding percentage. The team also turned 55 double plays, second-most in the conference and in program history, and had the second-best percentage of throwing out basestealers throwing out a Big West-best 29 runners.

The Anteaters finished 2017 seventh in the Big West Conference going 9-15, and a 23-33 overall record marks just the second losing season since the program returned in 2002.

Head Coach Mike Gillespie returns for his 31st and final Division I season and 11th with the Anteaters where he is currently the program's winningest coach holding at 370 UCI wins, 1,133 overall

The Anteaters were picked to finish sixth in the Big West according to the preseason coaches poll, however they did land a first-place vote.

The 2017 Anteater schedule included six NCAA Tournament teams and two programs to reach the College World Series. The 2018 schedule has five tournament teams from a year ago on the slate as well as four conference champions overall. Three schools show up in the Baseball America Top 25 to start out the season including perennial midweek foe UCLA at 13, No. 11 Cal State Fullerton who will visit Anteater Ballpark for a series, and TCU at No. 7 that UC Irvine will travel to after winning their series in 2017 with TCU ranked No. 1 in the nation.

The Anteaters are 10-2 in Anteater Ballpark against non-conference ranked opponents winning two of three against No. 1 TCU this year adding to the series win over No. 25 Cal in 2006 and 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 106 games against ranked opponents, 84 coming during the regular season, and the 'Eaters have won 48 of those games. Since 2002, UC Irvine is 32-41 overall against ranked Big West programs

UTAH VALLEY WOLVERINES
The 'Eaters are back home after seven straight games on the road for a three-game series with Utah Valley for a first-time meeting between the schools. UVU will be the only WAC opponent on UCI's ledger this season. Bakersfield and Seattle U were WAC foes in 2017, and UCI is 42-13 all-time against WAC schools.

The Wolverines have only been around since 2004, but put together a 42-win season 2010, 47 wins in 2012, and reached regional in 2016. UVU went 18-36 last season, but returns 4 of its top 5 hitters led by Jackson Overlund who is hitting .342 this season after a .349-campaign, and has a quarter of the squad's RBI (13) and over a third of the 29 extra base hits (11).

The team as a whole is hitting just .239 scoring more than six runs just once in 15 games leading to a 5-10 record, but they have stolen an extra-inning win off No. 21 Mississippi State. The staff's 5.04 ERA has ballooned a lot from the bullpen, but starters Jake Mayer (1-1, 2.48, 1 CG) and Jackson Cofer (0-2, 2.95) have stifled opponents as the Wolverines have yet to be swept taking a game off Mississippi State, USC, Pacific, and Texas A&M Corpus Christi in weekend series.