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
 
Video - All three matchups at UCCU Ballpark will be streamed online via the WAC Digital Network with a possibility of Saturday's game being shown on local television
 
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.

6.5 - The Anteaters have yet to collect 10 hits in a game this season averaging 6.5 per contest. The team is hitting .207 on the season, but is averaging nearly 5 runs a game. Despite two 11-run performances at Rice, the 'Eaters managed eight hits in either game. In 13 games, UCI hitters have 12 total multi-hit games including 2 in Sunday's win

2 - The Anteaters have now been saddled with 2 cancellations due to weather after dropping a contest at Missouri State last weekend and now a midweek meeting with Michigan. The 'Eaters had a pair of games rained out in 2017 as well, but were still able to play 56 games. The last time UCI could not play all 56 came in 2013 when they were 33-22
 
UC Irvine won its weekend series for the fourth time in four weekends in 2019. The last squad to score outright wins in its first four weekend series came in 2009 when UCI won its first five series en route to 45 wins and a postseason appearance

UC Irvine lost its second matchup this season due to weather after rain cut out Wednesday's home game against No. 16 Michigan. The 'Eaters also lost a matchup over the weekend at Missouri State. UCI has played all 56 games in each season since 2013

The Anteater pitching paved the way allowing four runs in three games which included a pair of shutouts giving the team three on the year. UCI's three shutouts lead the Big West and are among the top 10 nationally. UCI's pitching ranks among the top nationally in WHIP (9th), least hits allowed (14th), strikeout-to-walk ratio (14th), least walks allowed (17th), and ERA (22nd)

Holding the torch on the mound was Trenton Denholm whose eight-inning, one-hit performance secured his second Big West Pitcher of the Week honor of his career. Denholm has shutout opponents now in his last 19 innings pitch approaching the best streaks in Anteater history held by Scott Gorgen (20 IP in 2007) and Andrew Morales (23 IP in 2014). On top of that, Denholm has allowed just one hit in his last 16.2 IP. His ERA of 0.93 is the 46th-lowest in the nation and he has the fifth-lowest WHIP at 0.52.

Denholm paired up with Taylor Rashi to pitch UC Irvine's first one-hitter since 2012 when Andrew Thurman took down Bakersfield. Rashi continued his dominance striking out the side Friday after allowing a leadoff triple for his first baserunner of 2019. He walked a man on Sunday in the midst of a perfect frame as he collected save Nos. 4 and 5 on the season which leads the conference and is sixth-most nationally.

Not to be outdone, but Andre Pallante found his rhythm tossing seven shutout innings for his second win of the season. He struck out nine hitters for the second time this year giving him 30 on the year, 52nd-most in the NCAA, and bumped him over 200 career strikeouts to become the 13th Anteater to attain 200 Ks.

Anteater pitching is full of impressive streaks led by Denholm. Pallante now has a scoreless streak of 11 innings after his slow start. Jordan Bocko and Taylor Rashi have each had stellar starts to 2019 running shutout streaks to 13.1 and 14.2 innings, respectively, dating back to last season. The duo have recorded 54 outs together with 30 of them coming on strikeouts. Opponents are hitting a combined .120 against them.

Jake Palmer has reached in all 13 games walking twice in each contest against St. John's. His 15 walks lead the conference and are 29th in the nation. Brandon Lewis lost his eight-game hit streak, but has reached base in 10 straight now. Mikey Filia recorded an RBI in each game over the weekend for four total, twice on sac flies. Brendan Brooks has struggled to hit, but he made the most of his opportunities scoring on all three times he reached vs. SJU. Mike Peabody has a hit in three straight including multiple hits on Sunday. He and Adrian Damla were UCI's top hitters as he had three hits on the weekend as part of UCI's 18 total hits.

The Anteaters remain ranked jumping up to 22nd in Baseball America's poll, up from 24th. UCI has been ranked in all four polls this season after not receiving national recognition since 2015

The Anteaters stand on top of the Big West in ERA (2.90) and WHIP (1.03) allowing the least amount of hits (6.5) and walks (2.82) per nine innings.

The offense has made the most of its opportunities scoring 64 runs on 85 hits. It has seven sacrifice flies and sac bunts each, both near the top of the conference. UCI has been hit by 20 pitches, third-most in the Big West, and its nine home runs still rate as the third-most in the Big West as well

The Anteater fielding has improved now third in the conference committing just one error in the five games thus far in March. Anteater pitchers added a pair of pickoffs to their resumes with Jordan Bocko catching Missouri State off second and Pallante picking the Red Storm off first.

UCI makes its first trip to the State of Utah since 2013 when the 'Eaters dropped two of three games to BYU. All-time, UC Irvine is 13-5 within the state and 31-14 against schools from Utah. The 'Eaters have won nine games each against Utah and BYU. The 'Eaters are 1-2 against the Wolverines, and have a 12-0 mark against Southern Utah, but have not played them since 1975 when both programs were Division II schools

The ninth head coach in program history took home his third series win as he's 7-3 through his first ten games joining Mike Gerakos (7-3) and Mike Gillespie (9-1) as UCI coaches to start with at least seven wins in their first 10 games as head coach. 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.
 
UTAH VALLEY WOLVERINES
Utah Valley University has been around since 1941 playing college baseball for a while now, but didn't become Division I until 2004 making it just a couple years younger than the Anteaters since their program's rebirth in 2002. UVU has been manned by Eric Madsen for the past 11 seasons now reaching the NCAA Tournament one time in 2016.

The 2018 Wolverines struggled to a 15-37 mark in last place in the Western Athletic Conference, but managed to get two of its wins on the road against UC Irvine last season. UVU ranked in the bottom third in nearly every category last year, but benefitted from the power pitching of Jake Mayer and his four CGs.

Things have started slowly in 2019 for Utah Valley at just 2-12 with single wins against UC Davis and Fresno State. The Wolverines travelled to South Carolina as well where they were swept, and lost a midweek at BYU before coming home for the first time last weekend an dropping three to Saint Mary's. UVU welcomed Niagara, winning Monday, and playing Tuesday for the final of five straight games before UCI arrives.

UVU as a team is hitting .248 scoring 3.2 runs a game. Michael Beltran is the catalyst hitting .380 with team highs in runs, hits, walks, HBP, and the squad's only three triples. Alexander Marco is also up at .314 with a HR and team-high six RBIs.

The Wolverine pitching staff enters with a staggering 7.48 ERA while striking out just 6.4 hitters per game and walking 5.25. Paxton Schultz has been the most effect with 26.2 IP and six walks to 28 Ks in his four starts which include a complete game. Jake Carr and Walker Ramsey have ERAs approaching 10  and averaging 4 1/2 IP per start, and Ramsey helped UVU win Sunday's finale last year striking out six and allowing four earned over 4.1 IP.

This weekend's series marks the final non-conference weekend of the year for the Wolverines. UVU was projected to finish ninth in the 10-team WAC which is dominated by Grand Canyon and New Mexico State.