Baseball Heads to San Diego State, Rice

Tuesday, February 19

San Diego, CA

6:00 pm

UC Irvine

San Diego State

Baseball Heads to San Diego State, Rice

February 18, 2019 | Baseball

By: Alex Croteau

THIS WEEK IN ANTEATER BASEBALL

Game Notes | Season Preview with Head Coach Ben Orloff

No. 25 UC Irvine Anteaters (2-1, 0-0 Big West)
at San Diego State Aztecs (2-1, 0-0 Mountain West)
Charlie Smith Field at Tony Gwynn Stadium (4,000) - San Diego, Calif.

Tuesday, February 19 - 6:00 PM
RHP Alonzo Garcia (1-0, 0.00) vs. RHP Justin Goodson-Brown (0-0, 4.50)
Live Stats | K UCI 88.9 FM

No. 25 UC Irvine Anteaters (2-1, 0-0 Big West)
at Rice Owls (2-1, 0-0 Conference USA)
Reckling Park (7,000) - Houston, Tex.

Friday, February 22 - 4:30 PM PT (6:30 PM CT)
Pitching Matchup TBD
Live Stats | Listen online at kuci.org | CUSATV ($)

Saturday, February 23 - 12:00 PM PT (2:00 PM CT)
Pitching Matchup TBD
Live Stats | K UCI 88.9 FM | CUSATV ($)

Sunday, February 24 - 11:00 AM PT (1:00 PM CT)
Pitching Matchup TBD
Live Stats | Listen online at kuci.org | CUSATV ($)

Broadcast Information

Radio - KUCI 88.9 FM with Mark Roberts and Tim Becwar. UC Irvine will be featured on KUCI 88.9 FM Tuesday at San Diego State and Saturday at Rice. Friday and Sunday will be internet only broadcasts. All games throughout the season are available live on the internet at kuci.org and ucirvinesports.com

Video - CUSATV will stream all three games over the weekend at Rice which can be viewed with the purchase of a subscription.

Game Updates - All UC Irvine baseball games can be followed via live stats with links found on ucirvinesports.com and the UCI Athletics app. Each game is also live tweeted at @UCIbsb

Around The Horn
9th - Ben Orloff begins his head coaching career in 2019 as the 9th head coach in program history taking over for Mike Gillespie who led the program to 393 of his 1,156 career wins. For the program, it's the 41st season of Anteater baseball, 33rd in Division I, and 18th since the program returned in 2002
3 - Anteater pitchers emerged from the weekend series with a 2.00 ERA allowing 14 runs, but 6 earned, in the three games. On top of that, UCI pitchers issued a grand total of 3 walks including just one from a starter. Washington finished with a .248 on-base percentage
8 - UC Irvine's season begins with Pac-12 opponent and 2018 CWS participant, Washington, 1 of 8 games against Pac-12 opponents in Anteater Ballpark this year. The 'Eaters play the Pac-12 a total of 10 times in addition to 4 Big Ten games, and meetings with 40-win schools St. John's and Missouri State

UC Irvine won its opening weekend series against Washington, the second straight weekend series victory over a Pac-12 school after downing Oregon in May of 2018. UCI is now 14-11 all-time vs. UW

UCI managed a pair of wins despite a .193 batting average. Just three hits leads the team from Brandon Lewis and Brendan Brooks. Brooks hit in all three games adding an RBI. Lewis also homered in each of his first two games, and all three hits are for extra bases. Lewis scored three runs as did Matt Reitano. John Jensen and Christian Koss each have three walks, part of 13 walks from Anteater hitters. Nine different 'Eaters drove in a run including Konnor Zickefoose providing the go-ahead run Sunday in a five-run seventh.

The pitching staff has a 2.00 ERA including 3.14 from starters (14.1 IP, 15 H, 6 UER, 21 K) and a microscopic 0.71 from the bullpen (12.2 IP, 8 H, 2 UER, 13 K). Anteater pitchers issued three total walks including one from the starters. UCI struck out 15 Huskies Sunday night in the win including a career high seven from Trenton Denholm. Tanner Brubaker allowed three hits in his debut, Alonzo Garcia won his 10th career game in relief, and Taylor Rashi struck out five of six batters he faced to earn two saves.

Anteaters turned in sparkling collegiate debuts starting with Andre Antone driving in three RBI in Saturday's loss. Michael Frias cleaned up in the loss going 4.1 innings of relief allowing three hits and striking out five including UW's Joe Wainhouse twice.

The Anteater defense could use some work committing eight errors over the weekend with at least two in each game turning into eight unearned runs for Anteater pitchers.

The ninth head coach in program history kicked off his head coaching career last weekend scoring his first two career head coaching wins. Ben Orloff returns to the Anteater dugout for a sixth year, but first at the helm. Even though he is the NCAA career and single-season record holder in sacrifice bunts, don't expect to see his the Anteaters bunting their way around the bases.

"You don't have a style, you adjust to your players," the head coach stated recognizing the talent and pop his lineup brings. "Offensively, we have some power bats that are looking to hit in the middle of the lineup with Konnor Zickefoose, Brandon Lewis, and John Jensen. Any of those guys can lift a double or leave the yard so there's potential for the big inning and we look to capitalize on that. A big part of the offense will be an emphasis on walking more, strike zone management, raising that slugging percentage. We'll walk more this year than we ever have in the last five years."

"We can be good. We've shown the potential, but we haven't done anything yet," noted an optimistic Ben Orloff who saw his Anteaters rattle off a pair of impressive fall wins at UCLA and home vs. USD. "The guys handled the newness of the coaching staff and big role players. This is a roster full of guys that haven't played in a postseason game" UCI began the fall traveling to the Bruins with some impressive offense. The 'Eaters led UCLA, 9-3, through nine innings before finishing 14 innings with an 11-10 edge. UCI welcomed the Toreros of USD a week later and took them down, 15-5, through nine innings finishing 14 innings of baseball with a 20-8 edge.

"Alonzo Garcia could be a big bounce back guy that's had a good career as an Anteater, but has been hurt in recent years. He could step into a big role and will be very valuable with the way he pitched over the fall and winter"

"Vergara has interesting potential, but he's been out the whole fall. He only threw three innings in the fall, didn't really get to see him, redshirted last year at Glendale CC, and had a decent summer with the Conejo Oaks. He's kind of a wild card and an intriguing arm, looking forward to seeing what he brings to the fold."

"Mikey Filia is a guy that will step into a much bigger role. He's bided his time over the last three years and now he should be an integral part of the team's success."

The 2019 Anteaters are a squad comprised of players that have a lot of college baseball experience and have put in a lot of time with the Anteater program. Twenty of the 2019 Anteaters are upperclassmen with 14 as juniors and six seniors including graduate student and starter Louis Raymond. Overall, 14 Anteaters have put in at least three years with the program including seven into now their fourth year.

UC Irvine's offense loses 20 of its 30 HRs from last year, but is replenished by the additions of Brandon Lewis and John Jensen in the middle of the lineup. Also returning are 60% of the 'Eaters' hits and most of its speed with 70% of the team's triples and stolen bases.
On the mound, three-quarters of the team's innings are back and 50 of 56 starts including every weekend starter. Pretty much every pitching stat returns around 75% of its totals from a year ago

The Anteaters won six Big West weekly awards in 2018, and four of them return to the team in 2019. Pitchers of the Week Trenton Denholm and Andre Pallante, who won two, rejoin the staff while junior outfielder Mikey Filia was the most recent to take one home.

The 'Eaters are looking for their first postseason trip since the 2014 College World Series season, and are off to a solid start earning some recognition from the baseball coaches, writers, and experts of America earning a spot in the preseason rankings from Perfect Game (No. 23), Baseball America (No. 25), and even earning votes from ESPN/USA Today and Collegiate Baseball Newspaper

Andre Pallante was the story of the 2018 season with phenomenal numbers starting with a 1.60 ERA and adding a 10-1 record leading the conference in wins and becoming just the fifth Anteaters with double-digit wins and one or fewer losses. His 115 strikeouts are the fifth-most in a season for the Anteaters as he finished second in the Big West. He was also among the Big West leaders with a 1.06 WHIP allowing opponents to hit .206 in 101.1 innings pitched. He joined Coss and Fitzpatrick on the All-Big West First Team adding two Big West Pitcher of the Week awards, All-American recognition, and was named 1 of 5 finalists for the National Pitcher of the Year by the National College Baseball Hall of Fame. He also travelled and played with the U.S. Collegiate National Team over the summer against Cuba, Japan, and Chinese Taipei across the Southeast U.S. To start 2019, he's been named to six preseason All-American squads, and is the only Big West player among the Golden Spikes Award watch list.

Stepping into his first campaign as a head coach, Orloff has put himself to the test right away with a fierce non-conference schedule in addition to the Big West slate in which the conference annually ranks within the top five to seven leagues in the NCAA.

The Anteaters will play 10 games against the Pac-12 in 2019, eight of which will be in Anteater Ballpark starting with the opening series against Washington fresh its first College World Series and returning their top four hitters. The 'Eaters end non-conference play with the other Pacific Northwest foe as Washington State plays a weekend series at Cicerone Field. UCLA and USC are usual midweek matchups

A new face in the midweeks is projected Big Ten champ Michigan. The Wolverines start the 2019 ranked as high as No. 17 and have finished in the conference's top two in each of the last two years including a 40-win season. UCI ventures to the Big Ten near in May during the midst of Big West play traveling to Iowa whose projected to finish sixth and have consistently in the upper half of the conference.

Other historically prominent baseball programs dot the Anteater schedule starting with trips to Rice and Missouri State. Rice, like the Anteaters, are transitioning to a new head coach after legendary skipper Wayne Graham called it a career following 2018. New skipper Matt Bragga is on board after an explosive Super Regional appearance with Tennessee Tech as he brings a dominant pitching staff up against the 'Eaters' arms. Missouri State is coming off its third straight regionals appearance, second 40-win season in those years, 36 conference wins in the last two years, and are looking for its sixth trip to the College World Series. Topping the tough road slate is a return trip to Utah Valley who stole the series at Anteater Ballpark in 2018.

The premier series in Cicerone Field features the class of the Big West in St. John's. A program that consistently puts up 40 wins every season and is coming off back-to-back regional appearances is stacked on the mound led by one of the premier Friday night matchups in the nation this season when 2018 National Pitcher of the Year finalists square off in Andre Pallante and SJU's Sean Mooney.

SAN DIEGO STATE AZTECS
The Aztecs snuck in three games in two days to start 2019 winning two of three against San Francisco at home, a place where SDSU won 25 of 35 games in 2018. The 'Eaters managed wins in each 2018 matchup including a 10-2 victory at Tony Gwynn Stadium. Familiar faces Julian Escobedo (6-for-12, HR, 8 RBI) and Matt Rudick (4-for-14, 2 2B) lead the offense while the pitching staff put up 62 strikeouts over the opening weekend with the bullpen accounting for 27 in 14 innings

RICE OWLS
The Rice Owls have had an historically good program which includes a National Championship in 2003. and 896 wins since 1999, third-most of any program in the nation. Rice is under new leadership in Matt Bragga from Tennessee Tech taking over for the legendary Wayne Graham who spent 27 years as the program's head coach taking them to the NCAA Tournament 23 times, collecting 1,173 wins including 40+ in 20 seasons and as many as 50 five times, and a National Title.

The Owls have been estranged from the Big West as the 'Eaters will be the first Big West opponent for the Owls since 2011 when they took on Long Beach State and UC Santa Barbara in a neutral site tournament. It will be the first weekend series against a Big West school since a 2009 series win at Cal Poly, and the first Big West school to visit Reckling Park since LBSU dropped two of three in 2007.

For the Anteaters and Owls, its the first-ever meeting. UC Irvine hasn't dipped into Conference USA much as well outside of series with UTSA in 2015 and 2016 and single-game victories against UAB and Florida International.
The 2018 Owls finished seventh in Conference USA with 2019 preseason poll projecting Rice to finish fourth including a first-place vote.

The Owls begin the year with 19 games in the city of Houston and 16 in their home park. They took two of three games against Rhode Island splitting the first two games that each went extra innings before slamming the door on the rubber match Sunday 15-3 behind two triples, two home runs, and nine RBIs from sophomore SS Trei Cruz. Rice hosts Texas in the midweek before welcoming in the 'Eaters.

The strength of Rice comes from the mound led by Golden Spikes Award watch list member, Matt Caterino. The right-hander starter was 7-5 with a 3.06 ERA last season, and he's struck out at least 110 hitters in each season of his career. He and Evan Kravetz each earned no decisions in starts over the opening weekend without allowing a run and striking out 19 hitters together.