Broadcast Information
 
Radio - KUCI 88.9 FM with Mark Roberts and Tim Becwar 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
 
2-9 - UC Irvine will face a ranked UCLA team Tuesday night for the 12th time since 2002 with UCI just 2-9 in those games. Both wins came in 2011 when UCLA was 12th, in the NCAA regional, and 16th. No. 13 UCLA will try to blemish UC Irvine's 6-0 mark in midweek contests so far in 2018

4 - In the 13 games played at CSUN under Head Coach Mike Gillespie's tutelage, UCI and CSUN have combined to score 10 or more runs in a game 4 times. In the other 9 games, neither team has needed to score more than five runs to earn the victory

2013 - The Anteaters won both Big West weekly awards following their 3-1 week with Ryan Fitzpatrick drawing best Field Player and Trenton Denholm as the best Pitcher, firsts for each guy. The last sweep of weekly awards for UCI was May 2013 when Andrew Morales and Taylor Sparks snagged them
 
UC Irvine continues to heat up in April starting the month 6-2 thanks to a pair of Big West series wins. The 2017 Anteaters won just five games in the month of April. UC Irvine hitters are batting .318 averaging six runs a game pounding six home runs. The pitching staff has a microscopic 1.73 ERA allowing opposing hitters to bat just .223 allowing opponents to score more than two runs just once in the eight games

UC Irvine has yet to be part of a sweep both during a weekend series and an entire week on the year. UC Irvine's series against UC Santa Barbara saw the teams split the first two games for the fifth time in a UCI series this year, and the 'Eaters won the Sunday rubber game for the second time this year. In nine weeks this year, UCI has won multiple games seven times and lost multiple games five times

UC Irvine's 3-1 week was punctuated by two Big West Player of the Week awards. It's the third and fourth weekly awards the 'Eaters have taken home this year - three pitchers and one field player. The 'Eaters also earned Big West Player of the Week for the second time according to College Sports Madness. It's the first sweep of Big West awards in a week since 2013 when Andrew Morales and Taylor Sparks came together to win the awards for UC Irvine

Trenton Denholm secured his first Big West Pitcher of the Week after winning each of his starts. Denholm went four shutout innings on Tuesday allowing just three hits, and followed that up with seven innings on Sunday allowing no hits through six and one hit overall

Ryan Fitzpatrick secured his first Big West Field Player of the Week award hitting .417 (5-for-12) with a triple, two home runs, and nine RBIs reaching 13 times in 20 trips to the plate. He also completed his a three-game home run streak in Friday's game, the first in program history since its return in 2002 and quite possibly predating that.

Andre Pallante added to his marvelous season winning his fifth game on the year allowing one run over seven innings for his eighth quality start in nine this season. He struck out 10 hitters in a game for the third time this season and continues to lead the conference now with 73 on the season. He also leads the conference in ERA at 1.17 (10th in NCAA) and is second in opposing average (.195) and third in innings (61.1).

Anteater pitching ranks top three in the conference in ERA (2nd), opposing average (.254 - 3rd), strikeouts (275 - 2nd)

Ryan Fitzpatrick continues to represent the 'Eaters in the Big West rankings following his weekly award. He now sits atop the Big West in on-base percentage (.480) and close behind in batting (.339 - 5th), slugging (.635 - 2nd), runs (28 - T3rd), RBI (34 - 2nd), doubles (9 - T8th), HR (7 - 2nd), walks (24 - 2nd), and HBP (9 - T3rd). He also assumed the team lead in triples with his second on Sunday.

Jake Palmer found his groove in March hitting .355 with 12 RBI, and he continues to lead the ballclub in hitting at .343, fourth in the conference. Elsewhere, he ranks second on OBP (.465), sixth in runs (26), and third in HBP (9). Other Big West leaders include Cole Kreuter (T5th in doubles) and Nick Anderson (1st in sac flies

Christian Koss returned to the lineup in a big way hitting .600 for the week (6-for-10) scoring five runs along with Coss and Matt Reitano, doubled twice, and did not strikeout.

Parker Coss led the team with seven hits adding a pair of RBI

Brendan Brooks continues to roll along hitting .400 on the week (6-for-15) including three hits and four RBI on Sunday. His 11 multi-hit games this season leads the team

Konnor Zickefoose had six hits over the week including his first career triple, and leads the team in April with a .375 average and three doubles. He even saw his first time in CF starting there twice

The 'Eaters continue to lead the Big West with a .976 fielding percentage committing four errors over the week. Overall the team is 43rd nationally, and its 31 total errors is least in the Big West. UCI's catchers have caught 13 basestealers, third in the conference, with eight from Castro which is tied for fourth

UC Irvine kept its spotless midweek record intact defeating San Diego State, 10-2, Tuesday. Coming off the shutout of Long Beach State on Sunday, the 'Eaters shutout SDSU until two outs in the ninth inning, narrowly missing consecutive shutouts for the first time since 2013, but did build a season-best scoreless streak of 23 innings

Andre Pallante has taken home two Big West Pitcher of the Week awards thus far in the season. He struck out 12 Gonzaga Bulldogs over seven one-hit innings to score the first. His second come in a 3-0 win at Portland where he struck out eight over a career high eight scoreless innings scattering five hits

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 and third to finish the weekend series win over Long Beach State

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 381 UCI wins, 1,144 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

UC Irvine took the series at Long Beach State giving the Anteaters five points toward the Black and Blue Rivalry Series this season, and taking back the lead from LBSU now up 19-17 on the season series. Remaining sports left to tangle in the series including Big West Championship matchups for men's golf (Apr. 29-May 1), women's golf (Apr. 15-17), men's and women's track and field (May 11-12), and women's tennis (Apr. 26-29), and the women's water polo squads who meet at UCI on April 19 and then return for the Big West Championships at UCI, April 28-30.
 
NO. 13 UCLA BRUINS
The Anteaters and Bruins pickup their rivalry here in 2018 after UCI won each matchup in 2017, the Bruins still maintain a 52-31-1 lead in the series.

The Bruins, who finished 2017 30-27 reaching the Long Beach regional, have jumped up to No. 13 in the nation at 22-9. It's just the third Big West team they've met defeating CSF and falling to LBSU. They've also taken two wins from LMU and three from Portland, but have excelled in Pac-12 play going 11-4 coming off a road sweep at Utah.

As with every UCLA squad, pitching reigns supreme, and its 2.68 ERA ranks fifth in the nation. It's complimented by the 12th-best WHIP, 18th-best fielding percentage, and has issued just around three walks per game.

The offense has stepped it up this year scoring almost seven runs a game hitting .277 with the second-most doubles and stolen bases in the Pac-12. Jeremy Ydens is hitting .372, Michael Toglia has 38 hits, 13 doubles and Chase Strumpf has provided 27 runs, eight HR, and 35 RBI powering the Bruin attack
 
CSUN MATADORS
The Anteaters return to Northridge for the first time since 2015 to take on a Matador team that finished fourth in the Big West last year going 12-12, 26-29 overall.
CSUN took two of three in Irvine in 2017 with a pair of one-run wins. The 2018 Matadors have single wins against BYU and Grand Canyon, and a pair against Bakersfield and Pepperdine, but were unable to snag one on its long road trip to Ohio State, Illinois, and a ranked Missouri State squad going 0-7.

CSUN's home park has had a distinct advantage in the past, and it has been the scene of 21-5 and 31-5 victory over Manhattan earlier in the season. CSUN's offense has worked wherever it has gone this season averaging 6.8 runs per game helped by 50 home runs (6th in NCAA), 356 hits, 67 doubles, and a .481 slugging percentage (11th in NCAA) which all lead the Big West.

The offense is powered by Albee Weiss, whose 14 HR and 43 RBI both lead the conference, and the Big West's hits and doubles leader, Trevor Casanova, who will each provide a tough test for the stout Anteater pitching.

The Matador pitching sits with a 4.76 ERA with nine different pitchers earning a start. Isaiah Nunez has been the most effective with a 3.00 ERA in 36 innings. Walker Armstrong leads the team in innings (52.1) and strikeouts (38) making seven starts, but has pitched into the sixth inning just twice. Matt Acosta's eight stats lead the team, but has only posted 38.2 innings and reached the fifth four times.

The staff has turned the corner in conference play with a 3.18 ERA in nine games. The bullpen has factored in six of the nine decisions, and Cassius Hamm, who has picked up two of his three saves in Big West games, also has a pair of losses.
CSUN and UC Irvine enter the weekend locked together at 5-4 each in Big West play with CSUN winning series at UCR and vs. CP while falling at home to LBSU last week.