IRVINE, Calif. --- UC Irvine baseball plays its first home series of Big West Conference play with the Hawai'i Rainbow Warriors, March 26-28. Both teams came away with series wins in the opening conference weekend and reached double-digit wins on their seasons. Due to COVID-19 protocols in place by the California Department of Public Health and UC Irvine, fans and media will not be permitted at any athletic events at this time.Â
 Â
Â
| Â Probable Rotation |
| UC Irvine |
vs. |
Hawai'i |
| Pitcher |
Year |
|
Stats |
Day |
Pitcher |
Year |
|
Stats |
| Trenton Denholm |
Jr. |
RHP |
(1-1, 3.48) |
Friday |
Aaron Davenport |
So. |
RHP |
(1-0, 1.67) |
| Nick Pinto |
Fr. |
LHP |
(1-1, 3.08) |
Sat. G1 |
Cade Halemanu |
So. |
RHP |
(2-0, 2.14) |
| Michael Frias |
RS-So. |
RHP |
(3-0, 1.69) |
Sat. G2 |
Austin Teixeira |
Fr. |
LHP |
(2-0, 1.45) |
| Peter Van Loon |
Jr. |
RHP |
(1-1, 5.71) |
Sunday |
Logan Pouelsen |
Sr. |
RHP |
(1-0, 5.40) |
Around The Horn
34 -Â Head Coach
Ben Orloff is the youngest coach on the West Coast, 1 of 10 coaches in the nation under the age of
34
6-6 -Â UCI finished a 12-game road trip with a
6-6 record ending on the program's first-ever sweep of a 4-game series
11.2 -Â Michael Frias went
11.2 consecutive no-hit innings over four outings, he also had 15.1 straight scoreless IP
8 -Â UCI has hit
8 triples ranking them 6th nationally.
Nathan Church leads NCAA hitters with 4 triples this season
Â
LEADING OFF
+ UC Irvine baseball won its opening Big West series sweeping all four at UC Davis. The sweep is the first of a four-game series out of the 10 they've had in program history. The series included the first shutout of 2021 winning 8-0 in Game 1 of Saturday's doubleheader and the first extra-inning contest Sunday winning 5-4 in 11 innings, its fifth straight win in extra-inning games
+
Nick Pinto was named Big West Pitcher of the Week from a career-best eight scoreless innings and seven strikeouts in the Saturday shutout win. He combined with
Michael Stanford on a two-hitter. Pinto is the first freshman to win an award since Keston Hiura in 2015 and first pitcher to do so since 2010 and Evan Brock.
+ The four-game sweep featured high-level efforts from both sides of the ball. Pitching put up a 1.66 ERA allowing seven runs overall and a opponent's batting average of .176. The bullpen allowed one run between seven pitchers and 13.1 innings, and
Gordon Ingebritson stepped up for three innings and three strikeouts, both career highs, Sunday to help get the win in extra innings. Starters earned quality starts in three of four outings posting 29 of the team's 45 weekend strikeouts.
Jacob King threw a pair of scoreless innings as he now leads the Big West appearing nine times, 41st nationally, and just two walks to 15 strikeouts.
+ The offense was consistent averaging just over seven runs a game and hitting .305 which included 18 hits in their 10-1 Friday win.
Luke Spillane continued to shine hitting .500 with a team-high six RBIs and six runs against UC Davis to boost his team-best average to .370. He also led the squad with three steals giving him a team-high six on the year, third-best in the Big West.
+
Nathan Church paces the team's national rankings leading the NCAA with four triples after his three against UC Davis. The team as a whole has eight which ranks sixth in the nation. Elsewhere, the team is highly-ranked laying down sacrifice bunts with 20 for the second-most nationally, at turning double plays with 16, 12th-best in the NCAA, and being hit by 34 pitches, 14th-most in the country. The Anteaters also lead the conference with sac bunts, triples, and double plays, and rank second in the Big West in stolen bases with 24, WHIP with 1.30, and the team's 2.61 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
+
Michael Frias earned his first career quality start allowing one run in six innings to win his third game, tops on the team and tied for the best in the conference. His impressive shutout streak ended at 15.1 innings, and just as impressive he allowed his first hit since the season opener marking 11.2 consecutive no-hit innings. Nationally, Frias is among the best with the 14th-best WHIP of 0.61, 16th-best rate allowing 3.38 hits per nine innings, and a top-100 ERA at 1.69.
+ Home runs played a big factor over the weekend, notably the go-ahead solo home run by
Mike Peabody Sunday.
Dillon Tatum has three home runs this season from HRs in each of his last two games as the team doubled its total for the season at UC Davis.
+ The Anteaters' 12-game road trip comes to an end on a four-game win streak and overall mark of 6-6. The team also matched its opponents both hitting .252 over the stretch. The 'Eaters had 34 extra-base hits led by
Nathan Church four doubles and triples. He also tops the RBI list with 10 on the trip.
Luke Spillane tied him scoring 10 runs while pacing the team with a .373 average, 19 hits, and six of the team's 18 stolen bases in 12 games. Pitching saw
Michael Frias post a 0.66 ERA (1 ER in 13.2 IP) and a single walk.
Nick Pinto led with 18 strikeouts in four starts. Five Anteaters also made their collegiate debuts.
+ Some notable streaks continue this weekend starting with
Nathan Church's team-high six-game hitting streak. He,
Dillon Tatum, and
Luke Spillane have each scored in five straight.Â
Thomas McCaffrey has reached base in all six games he's played, and his three-game RBI streak leads all Anteaters. With Frias' streaks ending over the weekend,
Nick Pinto's shutout streak of 8.1 innings leads the way at the moment with
Jacob King's 5.1 innings spanning the last three outings.
Â
THIS WEEKEND
Big West play continues between two programs coming off wins of their four-game sets to open conference play. Prior to last weekend, Hawai'i was the last conference school the 'Eaters had played a four-game series against. It came to open the 2009 season when Hawai'i was a WAC member, but UCI took three of four. UCI leads the all-time series, 30-12, and is 15-6 since 2013 when Hawai'i joined the conference, but the teams are an even 6-6 in their last 12 meetings.
UCI is coming of 12 straight games away from home where they went 6-6. The Rainbow Warriors will be traveling for the first time since February having played the last 11 on the island. UH started with seven wins against Division II schools Hawai'i Pacific and Hawai'i-Hilo before taking three of four from Long Beach State.
For every Big West series this season, UCI's opponent will play UC Santa Barbara the following week. UC Irvine's opponent the next week will always be fresh off a series against Long Beach State.
PROGRAMMING NOTES
Fans and 'Eater Nation will also have an adjustment with the season starting with no fans in the stands at Anteater Ballpark and the Athletics Complex, which includes the Mesa Parking Structure. They are closed to the public. The issue of spectators in attendance will be revisited as the season progresses.
The program is upping their coverage of games with a live stream of all home games, and beginning April 23, will be upgraded to an ESPN3 production. Mark Roberts is on the play-by-play simulcast all year on the live stream and KUCI 88.9 FM radio broadcasts. Live tweet updates and live stats will also continue to keep fans tuned in to all Anteater games to give the experience of being at the game all season.
Big West announced Wednesday that ESPNU will broadcast UC Irvine's Saturday matchup at UC Santa Barbara on May 8. It will be only for Game 2 of the doubleheader moving that start time to 7:00 p.m. Game One will be at 1:00 p.m. with Friday at 5:00 p.m. and Sunday at 1:00 p.m.
The 2021 schedule is something coach Orloff takes a lot of pride in keeping it together to have the 'Eaters still able to schedule 56 games while making all precautions. The team will not leave California nor will they get onto a plane while taking on elite programs like UCLA, Oregon State, Washington, and Stanford who matches up with the 'Eaters for the first time in 40 years.
The 2021 season represents one significant anniversary as it marks the 20th season of Anteater Ballpark. January 25, 2001 was the date of the groundbreaking of the new ballpark and the return of the program. While the 20th anniversary of that date passed last month, the 2021 season marks the 20th season UCI baseball. Since its erection in 2002, the 'Eaters hold a record of 352-183.
Thoughts from Head Coach Ben Orloff
Ben Postgame Friday, March 19 - "It's a really complete win in all three phases on the game. I thought Trenton threw the ball really good. I thought that zero in the first inning after Jalen leads off the game was big. We pitched it good - one run on four hits. Offensively, I thought we were really good. We used the big part of the field, had a bunch of two-out hits in a row to drive in runs, so that was a really complete performance and good to see."
"I thought we had really good focus today. We've talked as a group and I don't think our competitiveness offensively to sustain has been very good. We've been early a lot and made ourselves easy to pitch to. Today was not that, it was using the big part of the field, the opposite side of the field, and sustaining good at-bat over and over. We struck out three times today, good performance."
"Trenton threw the ball well. He keeps getting better every time out. Outside of a couple hitters, he threw the ball really well."
"I don't think there was too much about that. It was Luke's birthday today, that may have been the bigger story than him against his brother, but it was good to see him have a good day today on his birthday."
Ben Postgame Saturday, March 20 - "It's hard to sweep the doubleheader. It starts with the pitching. We get the two starts that we got, it's a big reason why we're able to win two."
"They've both thrown the ball really well. Frias' stats show how well he's thrown, but I think Pinto's been really good. He had his good stuff going, he was doing a good job with the breaking ball. Lots of early outs that let him be in the game for eight innings. Frias didn't have his good stuff, struggling to throw the ball down. Changeup is not a great pitch to these guys, but for him to go six and give up one without his good stuff and finish in high-70s in pitches, it's a good job."
"I think it was a lot more of the same. We used a big part of the field, not being early, hitting with runners in scoring position, I think it's been a good weekend for us offensively from a lot of different guys."
"When you win two in a three-game series and lose on a Sunday and feel bitter about it, that's what this is. In our old three-game series format, the team that wins the league needs to sweep people when you have the chance to because it's so hard to do. I think this is more of the same, whoever wins our league this year will have some four-game sweeps so for us to be in a position to do that going into a Sunday, tomorrow's really important."
Ben Postgame Sunday, March 21 - "I told the guys I was really proud of their intent to win. It wasn't going our way for a long time, and then a couple innings we were close, but it's a long weekend with the four games, but I was really proud of our guys continuing to play especially when it got tough.
"We got six-plus out of the bullpen of zeroes and that goes unnoticed at times how good those guys pitched out of the bullpen, and a big reason they were able to do that was because of the starting pitching all weekend. The fact that in game four of a series to have the pitching we had available goes to starters, and the relievers today were awesome."
"I'm really proud of Mike Peabody, it was not a very good weekend for him offensively, he'd be the first to tell you, but his ability to lose himself in the team and keep playing, and then for him to get that big hit was pretty cool."
"If you want to play for the championship in this league, if you had a chance to sweep you needed to, and I think sweeps are going to be harder to come by now with four-game series. These are the types of games you need to win to be in contention to win the league because it's a long weekend. It's hard to win one let alone four, and we did what championship-caliber teams do on a Sunday."
"We're glad to have this 12-game road trip behind us, happy to be home-heavy coming up. I think it's been good for us, it's nice to be out of our normal routine, speaking for myself. I think it's been good to get on the road, I like generally it's good to get out on the road early in the year for the guys to be around each other and not have the other distractions of home around. We're ready to get home and be home for a while and not sitting around on a bus a much. I think we've begun to see roles develop, understand who can do what, it's been good for us."
On the 2020 cancelation - "I can remember the day the announcement came out and having to address the team. We were getting conflicting reports that week, but when it finally came out that the season got canceled and you have to tell the team, you see the hurt in guys' faces who may have played their last game at Irvine or last game ever."
On the UCI 2021 roster - "You just know over the course of the season, somebody is going to be unavailable or a group will need to be shut down, it's just inevitable. We will need lots of players with all the challenges, and we have a smaller roster in the Big West with 38. This year is also unique in the sense that there's so many guys that normally would not be here either from the draft or graduation."
On games without spectators in 2021 -Â "For the fans, I hope they continue to follow us. We're really excited about the schedule that we have. No midweeks, we still have 10 Pac-12 games, all the sacrifice that the kids have made to get to this point, we're looking forward to being one of those teams with players that are going to be a lot better from February to April."
On the 2021 Schedule - "We came out with a 56-game schedule, which, in a pandemic, has taken a lot of work and rework. We're not leaving the state and not getting on an airplane. Our league deciding to do four-game weekends is something I wanted a lot. Throughout this, I've wanted to play the most games and the most innings, and that's what we got. 56 games has a big significance because it could get canceled like we've seen with other sports. I think that's important for me, for our kids, and for the team. The quality of opponents is still really good. Especially during the pandemic, I'm really proud of the schedule that we have. We're looking forward to a lot of baseball. We're excited for the challenge, and we all want and love to play. I don't think we can have enough games or innings. Let's play."
On practicing in the fall and prior to the season - "In the fall, we had 18 days with small groups. We played no inter-squad games, just eight 4-to-5 person pods. It was very skill-based, not much team stuff. In January, we were in small groups until we pulled the tarp off the field on January 28. That was the first time the whole team has been on the same field together, before that we had to try and get creative. Since the 30th, we've been as a team having normal-ish practices. We've played eight inter-squads, and they have been telling for the stuff we haven't practiced and game-type stuff that comes up. We still have a lot of ground to cover before opening day, and once we get playing, keep learning and trying to get better."
On leadership roles - "It's been really hard these past months because we've only been a team for two weeks, but you see some of the older players really trying to help some of the new guys get stuff. Position players like Palmer and Peabody are trying to help the new guys get it, and Denholm on the pitching side. It's been much needed because of how little we've been on the field. In a year like this, the smart teams that know what they're supposed to do and can handle the situations even with a lack of practice time, those are the teams that do well. The teams that get better once the season starts, you'll look up in April and they'll have a better record than the other guys."
On the rotation - "The first weekend will be how we planned to finish last year – Denholm-Van Loon-Pinto. They've been the best guys, especially Van Loon has taken the biggest jump forward. He's a lot more physical, his stuff has ticked up a bit. He had an arm injury that ended his sophomore year at junior college so he's just kind of continued to distance himself from that. He's been really good, and probably on the whole team has taken the biggest improvement from last year."
On bullpen depth - "It Takes All Of Us - I joke with our guys about that NFL slogan, but we're going to need that depth once we get to four-game weekends. The guys at the end of the game will be the same in John Vergara and Josh Ibarra. One of the guys that's emerged that will pitch a lot is Jacob King. He's developed a slider that's made him a lot better and will be one of the best guys out of the bullpen and pitch a lot. Gordon Ingebritson is in the mix, Troy Wentworth is improved, Michael Frias has looked good the last few weeks after missing the fall. Andre Antone is now a pitcher-only. He went through Tommy John in high school right when he was starting to get good, but still never got to focus on pitching being a two-way guy. Now, that's all he's focusing on, and he's thrown the ball decent. In terms of pitching, what's different about the schedule is no Tuesday games so I think the lack of opportunity that some guys might get in the first three weeks of the season will be there."
HAWAI'I RAINBOW WARRIORS
Hawai'i had a good start to Big West much like UCI winning three of four at home to Long Beach State. UH returns stateside after 11 straight at home winning 10 against LBSU and Division II schools Hawai'i Pacific and Hawai'i-Hilo. They began the season at Arizona State winning the opener against the ranked Sun Devils before dropping the last two.
In 2020, UH had started well at 11-6 which included home series wins against Washington State and Oregon, and a win and nearly a series win at No. 2 Vanderbilt. Hawai'i was 20-30 the year before with eight conference wins and 14 wins coming at home.
The Rainbow Warriors return to Irvine for the first time since winning two of three in 2018. UCI won the 2019 series in Hawai'i as the squads have split the last 12 meetings between them. All-time, UCI has the advantage at 30-12 and 15-6 since they joined the conference in 2013. UH is the only Big West program UCI has met in a four-game set before as the 'Eaters won three of four on the islands to begin the 2009 season. Preseason coaches poll picked UH to finish seventh.
The offense is led by familiar faces Adam Fogel, Alex Baeza, and Scotty Scott. Fogel returns after an injury in 2019, but has scorched the Anteaters with 13 hits and seven RBI in six career games. Scott, the 2019 Big West Freshman Field Player of the Year, scored five runs in their series against LBSU. The team as a whole hit .232 led by four hits from Aaron Ujimori. The squad walked 21 times in the four games, and scored 15 runs with just nine earned.
Pitching returns ace Aaron Davenport who has gone 7 IP in each start vs. ASU and LBSU with two runs in each and 16 strikeouts. Other bright arms have been Cale Halemanu (2-0, 2.14) coming off 8.1 scoreless vs. LBSU and Austin Teixeira (2-0, 1.45). Three Bows have a save, but no one has been used more than four times with Buddie Pindel (14.1 IP, 2.51, 2 BB, 6 K) leading the way
