Broadcast Information
Â
Video
ESPN3 will broadcast Friday and Saturday live on the ESPN app. Tim Becwar is on the call Friday with Sam Farber in the booth Saturday, and each are joined both nights by Adam Kennedy
Â
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
Â
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
Â
Around The Horn
Â
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.
59% - UC Irvine has taken on the Pac-12 8 times this year winning 6 of those including a 5-1 mark in Anteater Ballpark. Since returning to the diamond in 2002, UCI is 87-71 overall against the conference, a winning percentage of .550, and in Anteater Ballpark the 'Eaters win
59% of the time against the conference going 46-32 since 2002
6 -Â The Anteaters are going up against the nation's No. 1 team for the 15th time in their history and 2nd time this year. UCI has
6 wins in those games. Also, Anteater
Trenton Denholm scored his third Big West Pitcher of the Week award Monday, the
6th by a UCI pitcher this year setting program record as well as a record 9th weekly award as a team for a single season
Â
UC Irvine got back on track winning the weekend series over Cal Poly for the 11th series win in 13 weekends. The 'Eaters have swept six of the 11 series they've won including two conference sweeps.
The 'Eaters remain third in the Big West standings after Sunday's loss dropped them from a share of second place with Cal Poly. UCI is three games back of UCSB for first place with all three teams still with six games left to play. UCI stands four games clear of Cal State Fullerton and Hawai'i each with 8-10 records in fourth place. The 'Eaters' remaining opponents are UC Davis, in sixth place, and UC Riverside, in eighth place, each with 12 conference losses.
UCI maintained an RPI of 49 as it heads into the final two weeks of the season. RPI is used to determine the best teams that should earn an at-large berth for the NCAA Tournament with teams rating in the 40s and 50s usually among the last to earn a spot. UCI will play the No. 1 RPI team Tuesday in UCLA which will positively influence the team's RPI no matter the results, however, six of the team's final seven matchups will be against teams with an RPI of 200 or worse
UCI continues its homestand sitting at 2-1 with five left to go, and holding a 17-4 record in Anteater Ballpark to this point of 2019. UCI finished with 25 wins at home in its 2013 campaign while going 23-4 in 2011 and 21-4 in the regular season in 2009. Since opening Anteater Ballpark in 2002, the 'Eaters now have 16 winning season in 18 years posting 339 wins in 519 games
UC Irvine takes on another Pac-12 foe, regarded as the fourth-best conference in the nation, and UCI is 6-2 against the Pac-12 in 2019 including 5-1 in Anteater Ballpark
UC Irvine pitching still stands among the conference's and nation's best with a 3.53 ERA, 18th in the nation, and a 1.14 WHIP, third the NCAA. UCI pitchers walk just 2.73 per game, second-least in the country with the seventh-best strikeout-to-walk ratio at 3.10. The 'Eaters also recorded their eighth shutout which stands behind only UCLA and Tennessee with nine each for the nation's most.
The defense came to play last week committing just one error vs. Cal Poly, turning three double plays, and registering two OF assists from
Mike Peabody and one from
Ryan Johnston nailing the tying runner at the plate in the eighth inning of Friday night's win
Anteater starters were dialed in Friday and Saturday not allowing a run over 14 innings.
Andre Pallante three-hit Cal Poly with eight strikeouts tossing a staff-high 114 pitches to win his eighth.
Trenton Denholm matched him with eight four-hit innings striking out 10 to bring home his third Big West Player of the Week honor.
Tanner Brubaker was unable to finish the first inning making it the first weekend starter to not make it through four innings in their 31 starts. UCI's rotation remains 22-9 overall with a 2.31 ERA
The trio of Pallante, Denholm, and Brubaker each still stand among the tops in the conference in major categories. Denholm leads the conference in WHIP and opponent's batting average, and added ERA to the list at 1.74 while tossing the second-most innings and strikeouts. Pallante continues to pace the Big West in strikeouts looking with 26 as the 'Eaters lead all conference staffs with 116. He's gaining in innings (3rd), strikeouts (4th), and opposing average (5th) while sitting sixth in ERA and WHIP. Brubaker adds to the rotation depth with the seventh-best ERA and innings with top 10s in opposing average, WHIP, wins, and strikeouts looking
The Anteater pitchers have collected six Big West Pitcher of the Week awards to set a program single-season record.
Taylor Rashi was also selected to the NCBWA's Stopper of the Year Midseason Watch List as 1 of 45 pitchers to watch. He became the sixth Anteater to grace the list, and in the 15-year history of the award, an Anteater has been represented nine times with threeyears (2008, 2009, 2014) placing an 'Eater among the finalists. Rashi allowed his second run of the season while picking up his 12th save, 10th-most in the NCAA and second in conference. His ERA ballooned to 0.56, and will get called on for a pivotal Tuesday start against No. 1 UCLA making his 12th career start and second of 2019.
The Anteater offense hit .238 let by
Christian Koss and his seven hits to bat .467. He doubled twice, tripled, scored three times, and drove in two to build streaks of seven games with a hit and 12 on base.
Adrian Damla busted out for four doubles of his six hits, doubling his season output thanks to a three-double game Friday, the 10th in program history, in the win to drive home a career high four RBIs. He had six RBIs for the week, scored twice, and reached base eight times.
Other key contributors included
Mike Peabody who doubled twice of his four hits, stole a base, and drove in a run.
Griffin Mazur holds the team high with a 15-game on-base streak now which included a three-run double to put Friday's game away.
Konnor Zickefoose had doubles for each of his hits to extend an on-base streak to 12 games as UCI mashed 14 of their 31 hits for extra bases
Brandon Lewis approached some program marks clubbing his 13th home run of the season. His next HR will tie him for the single season record at 14 with Cody Cipriano who did it in 2007. Lewis continues to lead the conference in doubles with 17 along with his 49 RBIs as his next will be the 17th 50-RBI season in Anteater history
The Anteaters remain ranked according to Perfect Game at No. 22 UCI is out of most of the major polls for the second straight week after filling up the ranking for the first 12. UCI has been as high as 15th this season, and were 19th two weeks ago according to Baseball America. ESPN/USA Today have UCI 35th currently in the coaches poll.
The Anteaters eclipsed the 20-win mark against Long Beach State to register the second-quickest occurrence in program history accomplishing it in just 25 games. The 2008 squad started the season 20-4. UCI had a pair of games canceled by weather (vs. #16 Michigan, at Missouri State) leaving them in a 54-game schedule. Two more wins will guarantee the 'Eaters a non-losing season and one more conference win will guarantee a non-losing record in Big West play
The Anteaters finished March with a record of 13-2 improving to 18-5 overall. It was the third such March in program history with 13+ wins joining the 14-3 March of 2008 and 13-5 mark in 2009. UC Irvine's spectacular March saw the team hit .278, walks twice as many times, and average 7.5 runs a game while allowing opponents to hit just .199. The staff has a 2.80 ERA in the month striking out 130 hitters over 135 innings while opponents have a 6.85 ERA when facing Anteater hitting
UC Irvine scored a program record 13 runs in the 10th inning of Saturday's 17-4 victory at Utah Valley. It's the 13th such inning with 10 or more runs scored with the previous high for an inning being 11 runs achieved four times. UCI sent 18 hitters to the plate hitting two home runs, walking six times, and collecting six hits.
The ninth head coach in program history,
Ben Orloff returns to the Anteater dugout for a sixth year, first at the helm. Even though he is the NCAA career (86), and season (34) record holder in sacrifice bunts, don't expect to see his the 'Eaters 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 withÂ
Konnor Zickefoose,Â
Brandon Lewis, andÂ
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."
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
Louis Raymond. A pair of Anteaters finished their undergraduate schooling following the Winter Quarter in pitcher
Alonzo Garcia and outfielder
Konnor Zickefoose. Overall, 14 Anteaters have put in at least three years with the program including seven into now their fourth year.
"
John 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 Anteaters will play 10 games against the Pac-12 in 2019, eight of which will be in Anteater Ballpark. UCI is currently 6-2 against the conference winning each weekend series against Washington and Washington State while splitting a midweek road matchups at No. 1 UCLA and USC making UCI 87-71 against the Pac-12 since 2002.
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 inÂ
Andre Pallante and SJU's Sean Mooney.
UC Irvine's series win against Hawai'i is the first to open conference play since 2015 which was a sweep of the Rainbow Warriors at home. Since 2002, the 'Eaters have own the opening Big West series 12 times now in 18 seasons. This was the eighth season since 2002 UCI started Big West play on the road with the Anteaters winning the series four times. This was the first Big West opening series win on the road since 2010 for the program. In the 11 previous years that UCI won the opening Big West series, they've finished with a winning conference record in nine of those years
UCLA BRUINS
UCI and UCLA return for the second and final matchup of the year, the 89th meeting between the schools. UCI lost at UCLA, 9-3, earlier, and look to avenge a 12-0 loss in Anteater Ballpark in 2018. UCLA remains ranked No. 1 as it did in the last meeting, and it has moved into a tie atop the Pac-12 at 19-5
UCLA prides itself pitching. It has the best ERA (2.70) and WHIP (1.06) in the nation with the most shutouts (9) and top 10s in hits allowed (6.32) per game, strikeouts (10.3) per nine innings, and behind it has the fifth-best defensive squad in the NCAA. RHP Felix Rubi makes his 2nd start after allowing 1 hit in 5 IP last week to LBSU. He pitched the ninth vs. UCI where the 'Eaters scored a run and got two runners on
The Bruins compliment the pitching well with an offense batting .294, 33rd in the NCAA, with nearly 50 home runs, 99 doubles, a top 25 slugging, and the 6th-most triples averaging 6.5 runs a game. Six Bruins are hitting over .300 with freshman Noah Cardenas at .396, Garrett Mitchell has 24 extra-base hits with his .362 average, and Michael Toglia powers up 11 HRs and 49 RBI
UC DAVIS AGGIES
UC Davis enters this pivotal series amongst the middle of the Big West at 9-12 with ESPN3 back in Anteater Ballpark to broadcast Friday and Saturday night's matchups. UCD took 3 of 4 from Utah Valley in non-conference, but were swept on road trips to Arizona State and Pepperdine. They turned it around in Big West with series wins against UC Riverside and CSF despite sweeps at the hands of Cal Poly and UCSB.
The Aggies have just five road wins, but all have come since the end of May with a tough win at Hawai'i, another at San Francisco, two wins to take the series at Fullerton, and a win on the road against ranked Stanford as they travel to UCI. The 2018 Aggies took 2 of 3 from the Anteaters in their place in a series that was Head Coach Mike Gillespie's last. In Anteater Ballpark, UCI has taken all five series since UC Davis joined the Big West in 2008 with two sweeps mixed in in 2009 and 2013.
Offensively, UC Davis is one of the best hitting teams in the conference with a .280 average, but have only turned that into 5.3 runs per game, seventh in the Big West. They've in the middle in terms of HR, on-base, and slugging, but have the least amount of walks in the conference. The Aggies do steal bases better than anyone in the conference with an average of 1.64 a game to top the Big West. Three players have double digits as the squad is successful 72% of the time
Tanner Murray has built on his Big West Freshman of the Year status to hit .386 with 15 doubles and team highs elsewhere like runs, hits, triples, and RBI in addition to being the toughest player in the conference to strikeout with just 1 every 13.2 plate appearances. Garret Kelly has whacked six HRs to lead the squad, and is a perfect 13-for-13 on the basepaths. Another notable Aggie is Logan Denholm, the senior catcher hitting .301 with 13 doubles, is the brother of Anteater
Trenton Denholm
The pitching is near the bottom with a 5.65 ERA. They don't walk many, just 3.59 a game, but have allowed 10.73 hits a game, among the most in the conference, and the staff averages just 5.1 strikeouts a game which is the second-least of any team in the nation. The starters are formidable with Brett Erwin taking the ball Friday at 5-4, 3.44 despite 29 strikeouts in 65.1 IP, and Chris Brown, who shut down UCI last year (2 ER in 6 IP) back for a senior season where he has a CG and 3-4 record with 3.99 ERA. Steve Ouelette has picked up five saves on the backend and tossed scoreless relief in his last eight appearances.
