UPDATED WEEKEND INFORMATION

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
 
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.

.213 - The Anteaters offense has made its hits count scoring 45 runs on just 49 hits and batting .213 toward its 5-2 record. UCI has yet to record 10 hits in a game, have outhit its opponents just three times, and reached more times without getting a hit (56). UCI holds the third-lowest average for teams with winning records behind West Virginia and George Mason

2 - For the Anteaters, it's the program's first ever trip to the state of Missouri. The 'Eaters do have 2 games on their record against Missouri schools, both in the postseason. UCI defeated Missouri-St. Louis in the Division II CWS in 1973 which happened to be in Springfield, IL, and later in 2006, UCI was bounced from the Malibu Regional in 14 innings by the Missouri Tigers, 5-4.
 
UC Irvine won its weekend series in a sweep over the Rice Owls. The 'Eaters have two straight series wins to start the season for the second year in a row. The 'Eaters won the opening road series of the season for the first time since 2014 at Portland, also in a sweep.
The 'Eaters did lose in the midweek matchup earlier in the week to San Diego State. After winning the first eight midweek games in 2018, UCI has now dropped three straight in the midweek

The UC Irvine offense outscored the Owls 29-9 pushing across more runs than recording hits (25). UCI also reached 30 times without the use of a hit including 20 walks and six times via an error. The offense is still hitting just .213 which is the third lowest among schools with a winning record behind West Virginia and George Mason

The Anteaters found their power swing clubbing six home runs over the weekend. Brendan Brooks came forth as the unlikely source hitting three including his first career 2-HR game on Friday. He entered the weekend with one career HR. Brooks' six-game hitting streak to start the season was snapped on Sunday

Brandon Lewis claimed Big West Player of the Week honors after his seven hits on the week and .462 average at Rice. He homered two more times to put him atop the Big West leaders, and five of his seven hits were for extra bases. He also added eight RBIs including five in Sunday's win. He also made his debut at 1B on Saturday

Christian Koss shaved his head completely bald following Friday night's performance that left him 2-for-18 in the young season. He would promptly smack three hits on Saturday including a towering 2-run HR and finish the week four walks, four runs, and a team high three stolen bases
Jake Palmer has reached in all seven games to start the season walking five times and scoring five times during last week. Adrian Damla and Brandon Lewis each have hitting streaks of four games entering the week. Mikey Filia had a road hitting streak of nine games dating back to last season snapped on Friday

The pitching staff held opponents to a .218 batting average last week and .179 at Rice. Saturday, the 'Eaters tossed their first shutout of the season and first since April 8 at LBSU. The last three Anteater shutouts have all now come on the road. UCI also struck out 17 Owls Friday night which was one off a program record set back in 2017 in a 14-inning loss.

Tanner Brubaker allowed just three hits for the second straight start. He produced the 'Eaters' first quality start and first win by a starter of 2019 shutting out Rice through seven innings. His ERA and WHIP both stand at 0.71 through two starts, and he's currently clutching a streak of 11 straight innings without allowing a run

Trenton Denholm held Rice hitless through five innings before being relieved. He's trailing Brubaker closely with an 8.2-inning scoreless streak, and has held opponents hitless the last 6.1 innings

The Anteaters bullpen had some magnificent performances led by the duo of Jordan Bocko and Taylor Rashi on Friday. The pair helped cool down the Rice bats tossing 3.2 scoreless innings allowing two baserunners. Bocko scored his second win of the season while Rashi has retired all 10 hitters he's faced, eight via strikeout. On Sunday, Ryan Johnston appeared for the fourth time in 2019 bailing Michael Frias out of a jam, and then when Johnston loaded the bases, Dylan Riddle bounced back from a rough outing Tuesday to escape the seventh without a run and adding a masterful eighth inning to post his longest career outing of two innings on just nine pitches

More Anteater debuts from last week included Kaz Akamatsu making his first appearance since the 2017 season holding SDSU scoreless in an inning Tuesday night. Darius Garcia made two appearances of an inning each starting at SDSU where he allowed a run and finishing Sunday's win with another inning striking out three overall. Junior lefty John Vergara also took the mound for two hitless innings Tuesday in his UCI debut and followed with a third hitless inning in Saturday's shutout win. Sam Ireland flared a single in his first career at-bat Tuesday against San Diego State. He added his first career start in Saturday's win over Rice. Johnny Pacheco also got his first action batting in the ninth inning Tuesday at SDSU striking out in the process
 
The ninth head coach in program history took home his second series win as he's now the third straight UCI head coach to debut with two series wins and fifth to win his first road series. Of the nine UCI head coaches, Orloff is now the sixth to have a winning record through his first seven games. 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."

"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.

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. UC Irvine has maintained those rankings through the first two weeks of the season

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

Other historically prominent baseball programs dot the Anteater schedule starting with trips to Rice and Missouri State. 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. 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.

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.
 
LOYOLA MARYMOUNT LIONS
LMU is 4-3 through the early going in 2019 splitting with UCSB after shifting the series' location, was shutout at No. 3 UCLA, and won three straight vs. UCR and Saint Louis before dropping the finale with SLU Sunday. The Anteaters swept the 2018 midweeks with LMU, a team that went 25-30, but finished third in a competitive WCC. Brandon Shearer paces the offense hitting .435 while Trevin Esquerra has added a HR and 5 RBI. Lefty Mark Finkelnburg will make his fourth career appearance against UCI starting on the mound
 
MISSOURI STATE BEARS
The Missouri State Bears out of the Missouri Valley Conference are a Midwest behemoth under head coach Keith Guttin in his 37th year leading the bunch. Guttin has accumulated 1,260 career wins over that time including a winning campaign in each of the last 32 seasons including 12 seasons with 40 wins, 19 conference championships, and 11 trips to the NCAA Tournament including the only trip to Omaha for a school from the state of Missouri when the Bears reached the College World Series in 2003.
The 2018 Bears reached the 40-win plateau going 40-17 and winning 18 of 21 conference matchups on its way to a conference tournament title earning a trip to the NCAA Tournament. The Bears were eliminated from the Oxford Regional losing twice to Tennessee Tech in addition to a win against in-state rival Saint Louis.

Early in the 2019 season, the Bears have struggled to a 1-5 mark including double-digit losses to Nevada and Texas State mixed with a win over Utah in the tournament in San Marcos before last week's winless showing at the Tony Gwynn Legacy falling to CSF, San Diego, and Fresno State in the program's first trip to California in 24 years. The Bears square off with the Bears of Central Arkansas twice during the midweek in their first home games of the season before going at it with the Anteaters this weekend at Hammons Field for UC Irvine's first-ever trip to the Show-Me State.

Missouri State has a few big bats returning such as All-American DH Drew Millas, whose three RBIs currently leads the squad, and All-MVC 2B John Privitera, whose hitting .304 with a pair of doubles, but the Bears have been slow to start hitting just .208

Missouri State starters have posted a 9.13 ERA thus far in their six starts with only one able to pitch past the fifth inning this season while striking out 13 hitters in their 22.2 innings. Closer Connor Sechler who was 6-1 with eight saves in 30 appearances in 2018 has yet to try for one this year, but has struck out six and allowed on baserunner in 3.1 innings.

The Bears and Anteaters will meet for the first time in their programs' histories. Missouri State's loss to CSF was just the eighth all-time game against the Big West. Before sweeping CSUN in 2018, the Bears had only played Big West schools in postseason play going 1-1 against CSUN in the 1970 Division II College World Series and matching up with Long Beach State in consecutive NCAA Tournament runs losing to them in 1995 before rebounding with a win in 1996. Missouri State will also travel to UC Santa Barbara later in March.

UCI has a limited history with the Missouri Valley Conference as well, but did travel to Southern Illinois last year dropping two of three. UCI also swept Dallas Baptist at home in the 2005 season.

20 different Bears have gone on to the Major Leagues to take home three World Series titles. Notable players include Ryan Howard, Bill Mueller, and Shaun Marcum along with current players Ross Detwiler, Brad Ziegler, Luke Voit, Matt Hall, Pierce Johnson, and Buddy Baumann