February 14, 1970 - UC Irvine baseball was open for business with a squad of 18 players and a head coach, Gary Adams.
 
Adams succeeded as a player at UCLA which led right into a coaching role of the Bruin freshmen. He landed a gig as an assistant coach at Riverside City College, and shortly thereafter was on his way to UC Irvine where he started as the Director of Recreation. His presence on the UCI staff helped him shift into the role of head baseball coach as it was announced the team would be formed and begin play in the Spring of 1970.
 
At that time in the Summer of 1969, Adams was the entirety of the baseball program - there was no stadium yet, no equipment, no players. Soon the ballpark took shape with concrete stands to hold 1,000 fans, fences that measured 330 feet down the foul lines, 380 in the alleys, and 400 to center field. The grounds were surrounded by an 8-foot-high fence helped by a 3-foot-rise of a terrace acting as a warning track to mirror Crosley Field in Cincinnati and Riverside where Adams came from previously. There was a 25-foot-tall mound of dirt where the pitcher's mound lay soon to be reduced to actual height, but for the cameras, coach Adams hopped up to the top and pantomimed a pitching motion.
 
 
Coach Adams joked that "our players came here knowing they would be part of a building program. What they didn't realize is that they would have to help build the park." And that's just what they did. Joe Anderson and Chuck Spanski were out raking the crushed brick infield as Adams spoke, feet in the mud, getting it ready for a scrimmage. A notice on the bulletin board read "anybody who's free, please grab a rake." Players installed benches themselves to make sure they would be strong enough to hold  them. The hitters built their own batting cage down the right field line. Pitcher Dennis Nicholson was out there sculpting the contours of the mound. Catcher Mike Sheline volunteered his talents to paint an Anteater on the scoreboard that loomed over the right center field wall. The players joked that it was probably still drying when they took the field for the first game. Coach Adams was building "Anteater Baseball", something Rocky Craig bought into and still sees with the program today.
 
"Coach Adams recruited people that wanted to play as a team. Being an underdog is what I love about being an Anteater. We played hard, found a way to win, and we played Anteater baseball. When I'm around these guys now, they play Anteater baseball. When you do that, you're going to play hard, you're going to play fair, find a way to win a ballgame. You don't care who wins it, that's part of being an underdog."
 

The season opened on the road at UC Riverside with the Anteaters winning both sides of a doubleheader on February 14. The dug-up-and-sculpted baseball field would get its first action on February 17 to the tune of a 7-0 victory over UCLA. The season seemed to whiz by with a considerable amount of success for Adams' bunch never brandishing a losing record. After a 3-2-1 start to the season, they won 8 of their next 9 including handing USC its first loss of the year thanks to a ninth-inning Tom Spence HR. Two days later, Dave Wollos was serving up the first no-hitter blanking Cal Tech in a domination of a performance where he did not allow a ball to leave the infield. His perfect game was disrupted by an error, but Wollos still faced the minimum in the game after that runner was erased on a double play.
 
UCI staggered through the tough Anaheim Tournament going 2-4 against big opponents like BYU, LBSU, Fullerton, and Oregon. The 'Eaters would put it together with a 19-2-1 stretch as it rolled towards a berth in the NCAA Division II Regional playoffs with a record of 33-10-3. UCI's run was halted abruptly with losses to top-ranked Chapman and Sacramento State ending its fledgling campaign, but the tone was set—Anteater baseball had arrived.
To celebrate 50 years of Anteater baseball, UC Irvine Athletics and the team will be honoring the squad and the entire "Golden Era" as the season progresses with a special observance of the 1970 team and all Anteater baseball alums with an Alumni Reunion Weekend set for Saturday, May 9 vs. Cal State Fullerton. All questions and inquiries should be sent to Executive Director of Development Chris Walker via phone at (949) 824 - 0901 or email, or by reaching out to Director of Baseball Operations, Bryce Stowell, with a phone call to (949) 824-9521 or email.