Parking Information

UC Irvine will be the site of the Big West Women's Water Polo Championships taking place from April 27-29 at Anteater Aquatics Complex and the annual Steve Scott Invitational track meet on April 27th and 28th in Anteater Stadium. Fans attending the baseball games over the weekend are advised to plan their visit to Anteater Ballpark accordingly as parking spaces in the adjacent Mesa Parking Structure could be impacted by the events.

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
 
8 - The Anteater offense has found its swing recording 8 home runs in their last 8 games. The 'Eaters have homered in each of their last five games, and in six straight road games. On the season, UC Irvine is 17-1 in games they've homered in, and the team is 7-0 in games its home run leader Ryan Fitzpatrick has gone deep in

6-19 - The Anteaters have never won a three-game series at home against Cal State Fullerton, and have just two series wins against them in any location. All-time, the 'Eaters are 40-84 against the Titans and 19-44 at home. Since the program returned
in 2002, the Anteaters are just 6-19 at home in the series

5th - The Anteaters captured its 5th weekly Big West award this week as Cole Kreuter won his second Big West Field Player of the Week award in his career. Other award recipients this year have been Ryan Fitzpatrick (Field Player) and three pitcher awards to Andre Pallante, (twice), and Trenton Denholm
 
UC Irvine is in first place in the Big West Conference, percentage points ahead of its opponent this week Cal State Fullerton who is 6-3. The last time UCI was in first in the conference was May 15, 2015, when the 'Eaters entered the week 13-5 in a tie with Cal State Fullerton and UC Santa Barbara. The 'Eaters had been alone in first every week up to that point in Big West play.

The Anteaters have won five straight games, the longest streak of any nature for the Anteaters this season. It's the team's longest streak since March of 2017 when the squad won six in a row.

UC Irvine improved to 10-2 in the month of April, the first 10-win month since April of 2015. UCI has won 10 times in the month of April 16 times previously. With the four remaining games in April, UCI ceiling for the month would be 14 - a number the program has reached five times (1973, 1974, 1977, 1980, 2009).

In the month of April, the team is hitting .304 with 35 extra-base hits, 10 of the team's 20 homers on the season, and are scoring just over six runs per contest. The team ERA of 2.06 is complimented by an opposing batting average of .234. Anteater starters are 6-2 with a 1.87 ERA, and the bullpen has recorded five saves on the backend.

UC Irvine took part in its first sweep of the season when it took down CSUN over the weekend. It was also the first unbeaten week for the Anteaters adding an 8-1 midweek win over No. 13 UCLA. Through four weeks of Big West play, there have now been three sweeps, and the other two were won by the home teams in the series (CSF over CP, CP over LBSU) while UCI's was won on the road.

The Anteaters also picked up its second win over a ranked team with its Tuesday win over No. 13 UCLA. UCI also beat a No. 7 TCU team in March. Both wins came on the road. UCI is now 3-9 all-time against ranked UCLA squads.

For the second week in a row, UC Irvine claimed a weekly Big West award as Cole Kreuter was named Big West Field Player of the Week following him hitting .357 (5-for14) with a triple, 2 home runs including a grand slam, and a team-high seven RBI. For Kreuter, it's the second of his career after winning one in 2017 following the team's series win over No. 1 TCU. The award is the fifth for UC Irvine on the season adding to three pitcher of the week honors - two for Andre Pallante and one for Trenton Denholm. The 'Eaters swept the honors last week including its other Field Player of the Week thus far, Ryan Fitzpatrick.

Among the Big West ranks, UC Irvine's offense is tops in sacrifice flies with 24. It's also top three in on-base (.364 - 3rd), runs (212 - 3rd), hits (362 - 3rd), and hit by pitch (49 - 2nd)

UC Irvine's pitching staff is on top of the Big West in ERA (3.46). Its also among the leaders in opposing batting average (.257 - 2nd), innings pitched (340.2 - 3rd), strikeouts (296 - 2nd), saves (10 - T3rd), and least HR allowed (13 - T2nd).

The 'Eaters continue to lead the Big West with a .977 fielding percentage committing two errors over the week. Overall the team is 31st nationally, and its 33 total errors is least in the Big West. UCI's catchers have caught 15 basestealers, fourth in the conference, with eight from Castro which is fifth

Anteater individuals among the Big West leaders include:

Ryan Fitzpatrick who is the conference leader in on-base (.488) and slugging (.638). He's also among the leaders in hitting (.354 - 3rd), runs (31 - T3rd), hits (46 - T5th), RBI (37 - 2nd), doubles (12 - 5th), HR (7 - 2nd), walks (25 - 2nd), and HBP (11 - T2nd).

Brendan Brooks improved his stock now hitting .315 (10th) to go with his 45 hits (T9th).

Cole Kreuter burst into the Big West ranks now slugging .474 (9th) with five HRs (T5th), 10 doubles (T7th), and 25 RBI (T7th).

Jake Palmer remains a Big West leader despite a down week, but has scored 29 runs (5th) with a .434 on-base percentage (3rd) and nine hit by pitch (T4th) which is one away from tying a freshman record set by Keston Hiura in 2015

Nick Anderson lifted his sixth sacrifice fly of the season which tops the Big West and is 11th in the nation
 
Andre Pallante has the conference's best ERA (1.30) which also ranks ninth nationally in addition to his Big West leading 77 strikeouts. His six wins are tied for first, and he's allowed a .199 batting average (2nd)

Taylor Rashi's 2.83 ERA is 7th-best alongside his .225 batting average against which is fifth in the Big West.

Jordan Bocko has three Big West saves. His six on the season is fourth in the conference.

UC Irvine kept its spotless midweek record intact defeating No. 13 UCLA, 8-1, now at 7-0 on the year

The Saturday win for the Anteaters was its first when trailing entering the ninth and eighth innings in 2018. Matt Reitano homered to break the tie in the ninth inning, his second tiebreaking HR in the ninth inning or later adding to his 11th-inning HR at USD March 3.

CSUN scored first in all three games over the weekend, however the Anteaters game back to win all three. On the season, UC Irvine is 10-8 when surrendering the opening run. The squads also finished even in the hits category twice over the weekend. Entering the weekend, UC Irvine had finished even in hits just once in a loss at TCU, 6-2.

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 107 games against ranked opponents, 85 coming during the regular season, and the 'Eaters have won 49 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 four points toward the Black and Blue Rivalry Series this season, and taking back the lead from LBSU now up 20-19 on the season series. Remaining sports left to tangle in the series include 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 (April 28-30).
 
SAN DIEGO TOREROS
The Toreros and Anteaters met three weeks ago needing 11 innings before San Diego-native Matt Reitano crushed a solo home run to give UC Irvine the 2-1 victory. Since then, USD won a home series against LMU before losing a home series to Saint Mary's and being swept at Pepperdine with midweek wins against UC Riverside and Cal State Fullerton mixed in for a 5-6 mark.

The last two meetings between these squads have gone extra innings now along with the 14-inning affair at Anteater Ballpark in 2017. USD has put up double-digits runs in each of its last two midweek games as it leads its conference in runs scored and averages 5.3 a game with a .278 average.

The Torero staff continues to be an enigma striking out 9.2 hitters a game, 34th in the country, but sitting with a WCC-worst 5.29 ERA. The Toreros slowed down the 'Eaters last time out with nine shutout innings between Nate Kuchta, Doug Nimura, Justin Friedman, Travis Kuhn, and closer Anthony Donatella before the homer.

CAL STATE FULLERTON TITANS 
The Big West's postseason mainstay Cal State Fullerton has marched a difficult road in 2018 seeking a 27th straight trip to the NCAA Tournament. CSF began the season ranked No. 10 in the country, and then promptly lost its first four games and seven of its first eight, granted most came against No. 13 Stanford and No. 24 Houston. The Titans have come all the way back to an even 19-19 record swiping wins from No. 1 Oregon State, a pair each from Tulane and Arizona State, and even one in a three-game series against Long Beach State through its non-conference route as it searches for a 44th consecutive winning season.

Fullerton began Big West with a bang no-hitting UC Santa Barbara behind starter Colton Eastman, but ended up losing the series on the road to the Gauchos. Since, it produced the conference's only sweep through three weeks downing Cal Poly at home, then lost two of three at San Diego State before a big home series win against Hawai'i to put it at 6-3 in a virtual tie for first with the Anteaters.

The 2017 series went to Cal State Fullerton, 2-1, featuring a 14-inning marathon that CSF won, 3-2, on a wild pitch, while the Anteaters won the finale, 12-4. The Titans hold the all-time series lead at 84-40 and a 44-19 record at Anteater Ballpark. In fact, the Anteaters have never won a three-game series at home against Cal State Fullerton, and are just 6-19 at home against the Titans since the program returned in 2002.

The Titans are led by their pitching staff with a 3.72 ERA (60th in NCAA) and a Big West-best 2.67 strikeout-to-walk ratio (25th in NCAA) allowing less than three walks a game have helped make up for an offense ranked seventh in the conference in batting (.255), scoring (4.4 runs per game), and eighth in slugging (.332).  They are among the bottom third of the country in most offensive categories outside of sacrifice bunts (14th in NCAA) and triples (71st in NCAA).

Cal State Fullerton's nine home runs are near the bottom in the country with just four players leaving the yard led by Daniel Cope's four and team-leading 24 RBI and eight doubles. Chris Prescott has a pair while hitting .297, Ruben Cardenas also has a pair after missing most of 2017 coming back to put up a team-high 42 hits and 27 runs scored, and Hank LoForte has been a catalyst with 23 runs of his own, 40 hits, 20 RBI, one of two Titans hitting over .300 (.301), and the ninth and final home run.
CSF's rotation starts with Colton Eastman who is 5-3 with a 2.47 ERA and 66 strikeouts. Opponents are hitting a microscopic .193 against Eastman who has also struck out a Big West-most 25 hitters looking. Fellow junior Andrew Quezada has also grown into his starting role following his second complete game of the season over the weekend to secure Big West Pitcher of the Week honors, and he's walked just 11 hitters in his nine starts. The Titans get solid bullpen work out of Blake Workman, Dillon Brown, and Jimmy Endersby that get it to closer Brett Conine whose managed eight saves, but is coming off a blown save in his last appearance to Hawai'i.