IRVINE, Calif. --- UC Irvine baseball is back home after a big series win on the road looking to exact revenge on a program in UC Riverside that took the 'Eaters down in two of three games in Riverside back in March. UCI is trying to keep their slim lead in the Big West standings while the Highlanders look to bounce back after being swept by Long Beach State. All games over the weekend will be available on ESPN3 and KUCI 88.9 FM. Limited spectators will be in attendance in the form of UC Irvine player-guests and season ticket holders. No tickets will be available for purchase by the general public.
Face coverings still required at UCI
Although the CDC's latest mask guidelines allow vaccinated people to go maskless in most indoor and outdoor settings, UCI is governed by Cal/OSHA and University of California rules, which still require masks on all UCI-controlled property. Please continue to follow UCI's executive directive on face coverings until further notice.
| Probable Rotation |
| UC Irvine |
vs. |
UC Riverside |
| Pitcher |
Year |
|
Stats |
Day |
Pitcher |
Year |
|
Stats |
| Trenton Denholm |
Jr. |
RHP |
(4-2, 4.15) |
Friday |
Zach Jacobs |
RS-Fr. |
RHP |
(1-5, 4.90) |
| Nick Pinto |
Fr. |
LHP |
(4-3, 4.33) |
Sat. Game 1 |
Tyler Frazier |
RS-So. |
RHP |
(2-2, 7.71) |
| Michael Frias |
RS-So. |
RHP |
(7-0, 2.45) |
Sat. Game 2 |
Tucker Juline |
Fr. |
RHP |
(3-3, 5.24) |
| Peter Van Loon |
Jr. |
RHP |
(2-3, 5.44) |
Sunday |
Eric Marrujo |
Fr. |
RHP |
(2-4, 5.40) |
Around The Horn
34 - Head Coach
Ben Orloff turned
34 in April; he's the 10th-youngest head coach in Division I baseball
21 - The
21 Big West wins are second-most in a season for UCI trailing just the 2009 Big West champs that were 22-2
14 - There are
14 Anteaters on track to graduate this season with six having done so over the Winter Quarter
3.58 - The UCI bullpen has a
3.58 ERA this season, and at UC Santa Barbara allowed 0 R, 2 BB, and 7 K over 10 IP
LEADING OFF
+ UC Irvine baseball traveled to UC Santa Barbara in a highly-anticipated Big West series between two programs tied for first, and the 'Eaters scored a series victory winning three of four games. A heartbreaking opener saw UCI lose a lead, and unable to score with bases loaded nobody out in the ninth to lose, 6-5. Saturday's doubleheader saw the pitching staff shut down UCSB first by
Nick Pinto allowing one run over 6.1 innings and a five-run eighth inning spell a 5-1 comeback victory, and the nightcap was all
Michael Frias striking out 10 in a complete game, two-hit shutout for the 6-0 win on ESPNU. The finale saw the 'Eaters score three early and use four pitchers to stifle the Gauchos and win 7-2 for a road series win taking command of first in the Big West.
+ The 'Eaters secured their sixth Big West weekly award as
Michael Frias' performance was recognized as Big West Pitcher of the Week. Frias claims his second away after winning April 19 following his performance at Cal Poly. He had a career night shutting out UC Santa Barbara with a two-hit, complete game and struck out 10 hitters for the first time in his career.
+ Anteater pitching rose to the occasion posting a 2.06 ERA on the weekend allowing nine total runs to the high-powered UCSB offense. Starters accounted for all of the runs over 25 innings posting a pair of quality starts and striking out 29 hitters. Overall, the staff walked just seven hitters, and the bullpen did not allow a run in 10 innings on the mound.
Gordon Ingebritson won his third game on Sunday going three scoreless and extending his string of batters without issuing a walk to 94 hitters. He,
Jacob King,
Tanner Brooks, and
Josh Ibarra were the only relief arms used shutting down the Gauchos.
+ Anteater hitting stayed consistent with at least five runs in each game posting a .281 average and 13 of 39 hits for extra bases.
Mike Peabody led the charge driving in nine runs and scoring six times. His timely hits untied Saturday's opener with a three-run double and put the evening game out of reach with a late, three-run home run. He also stole two bases and had a hit in each of the four games.
Nathan Church had seven hits including his NCAA-best eighth triple.
Jake Palmer reached nine times including three doubles,
Justin Torres broke out with five hits three walks, and four RBIs, and
Thomas McCaffrey appeared in all four games starting three, collecting four hits, and his first career home run Saturday tied the game and jump-started the UCI comeback.
NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT
+ The 'Eaters are nationally ranked high sitting third in hit by pitch, sacrifice bunts, and triples. They stand in the top 50 in others like walks allowed per game (23rd), shutouts (38th), runs scored (38th), fielding (38th), batting (39th), ERA (42nd), on-base percentage (42nd), runs per game (43rd), hits (43rd), sacrifice flies (45th), strikeout-to-walk ratio (45th), WHIP (49th). Within the Big West Conference, UCI commands many of those categories as well leading all schools in fielding (.976), hit by pitch (90), runs scored and runs per game (7.0), sacrifice bunts (43), shutouts (4), and triples (21). They also stand second in walks (173), doubles (80), hits (429), and on-base percentage (.390).
+ Church leads the national charge for 'Eaters in the rankings continuing to sit atop the nation in triples while also excelling in doubles (7th), hits (10th), hits per game (29th), runs (39th), total bases (40th), and runs per game (77th).
Mike Peabody continues to excel at getting hit by pitch 12th in the nation, and is 80th in RBIs per game.
Jacob Castro continues to led the team in hitting and 51st in the nation as well as 60th in on-base percentage.
Dillon Tatum is 56th nationally in HRs and leading the Big West. Pitching leaders include
Michael Frias 25th nationally in wins, 36th in WHIP, 64th in hits allowed per game, and 71st in ERA.
Jacob King and
Gordon Ingebritson sit first and second in the Big West in games pitched and 31st and 46th, nationally.
+ Anteater career records are nearing for some student-athletes.
Trenton Denholm will make his 46th start to tie Dave Bladow for 10th all-time. His next win would make him the 17th Anteater all-time to win 20 games in a career. His next start could boost him into the top 20 in all-time innings pitched. He's up to 224 strikeouts which is 11th all-time tied with Andrew Thurman. He can also tie Andrew Morales for 10th all-time with two more strikeouts.
Adrian Damla played hid 192nd career game surpassing Paul Hammond and Grant Palmer and tying Rod Spence. He is the active leader in games along with hits (147) and RBIs (87).
Mike Peabody was plunked for the 40th time in his career joining Adam Alcantara, Taylor Holiday, and
Ben Orloff, the all-time leader with 43, as the only 'Eaters with 40 in a career. He is tied with Damla for the active double lead at 26.
Jake Palmer has scored 109 runs still six away from the program's all-time top 20.
Dillon Tatum became the sixth Anteater with a 10-HR season against Oregon State. He's approaching rarified air sitting three behind
Brandon Lewis and Cody Cipriano each with 14 in a season for the most in a UCI season.
Nathan Church's eight triples leave him two away from becoming the second player with 10 in a season that would match Jeff Malinoff in 1972.
Dylan Riddle pitched a scoreless frame vs. LBSU for his 70th career appearance, making him the 15th Anteater with 70 games pitched.
+ UCI finished non-conference against Oregon State finishing with an 8-8 record, 7-6 against Pac-12 programs. Under coach Orloff, UCI is 16-11 against the Pac-12, and have a 97-80 record against the conference since the program returned in 2002. UCI's non-conference strength of schedule is ranked seventh in the nation, and holds a non-conference RPI of 23 with four Quadrant 1 wins in 10 games against Quadrant 1 programs to this point. Overall, UCI's strength of schedule ranks 71st.
THIS WEEKEND
UC Irvine has three more weekend series with two coming at home including a revenge weekend this week against UC Riverside. The Highlanders opened their season in early March and won two of three at home against the Anteaters.
UC Irvine's first-ever games were against UC Riverside winning a road doubleheader in 1970. Since then, the series has now been played 83 times with UCI ahead 53-30 including a 30-11 record at home. The sides played four times in the 1977 season and again in 2008, but this will mark the first-ever four-game series between them. They will also play seven times this season which matches the most for UC Irvine against any one opponent with Hawai'i back in 1974 when they split four games at UH before sweeping three games later that year at home.
The 'Eaters also reenter the national rankings, somewhere they've hovered the past few weeks. D1Baseball has the 'Eaters back at No. 24 with others ranking UCI higher including Collegiate Baseball Newspaper (18th) and Perfect Game USA (19th). USA Today's Coaches Poll slotted UCI at No. 25 for the first time this year, and the polls finish up with Baseball American at No. 22 and NCBWA at No. 26.
PROGRAMMING NOTES
Spectators returned to Anteater Ballpark for the first time in 13 months starting during the UCSD series. Full details on who can attend and protocols they must follow can be found on ucirvinesports.com. Limited tickets will be available to season ticket holders and UC Irvine player-guests only. No tickets will be available for purchase by the general public.
Live streams of all home games are available this season with and now on ESPN3 for the remainder of the home schedule 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.
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 365-188. The team won its first 11 games at home this year before Sunday's loss marking the fourth time in Anteater Ballpark the squad has begun the year 11-1 or better, and the second best start at home behind the 2011 squad's 16-0 start.
Thoughts from Head Coach Ben Orloff
Postgame Friday, May 7 - "Disappointing loss. Offensively, I think we did a good job against McGreevy. Had a good plan, executed. Our guys took good at-bats against a guy that's having an All-American type year. Story of the game for me is how poorly we played on defense. Those first three innings, you can't play defense like that and expect to beat anybody, especially a team as good as Santa Barbara."
"The running game didn't affect how we played defense, except maybe the errors on stolen bases. We knew they like to run, they're good at it, it's easier when you don't let them get on base or allow them on base for free, that's the easiest way to prevent the stolen base. We didn't do that, and you look at their stats, they've got to be, on the West Coast, the top in every running category."
"Torres swung the bat well with a couple big hits. Trenton did a really good job of keeping his poise and making pitches with all the negative things that were going on behind him. For him to keep us in it and go as late as he did, credit to his maturity and his experience and gave us a chance to win when we weren't helping him very much."
"We've been through too many of these that are really hard losses to take. We've gotten used to getting our heart broken. We need to play better. There's not many times where we've played a clean game and lost, not saying we haven't deserved to lose. But we need to play better, we can't worry about winning or losing, so we've got to play better tomorrow."
Postgame Saturday, May 8 - "It starts on the on mound. Pinto was huge. Their guy Boone has video game numbers, and it took a performance from Pinto and then Ibarra and King to win that game. Runs looked hard to come by, but Thomas hit the home run and jump-started us, we got a bunch of good at-bats in a row, but the ability to hang around and then have a big inning. So many games are won by the team that scores more in one inning than the opponent. We stuck around, got one of those big innings, and pitched it really good."
"That was special, a special performance. Frias continues to be magic. Multiple pitches for strikes, competitiveness, he wants the ball, nothing phases him, that's as good as he's been and it was special to see. On the offensive side, in series like this, you need your best players to step up and be really good, and I think that's what we got in this game. Palmer doubles twice, Church gets a couple hits and scores a guy with a triple, Peabody with the three-run home run, that's what UCSB did last night with Cummings and Sprinkle. But Frias was special, and our best guys were really good."
"All year we've talked about it, people that have seen us play have talked about it, just the resiliency of this team to move on to whatever is next. It was hard to lose a game that hurts more than last night especially when everyone knows what's on the line. The conference is not going to be won this weekend, but to lose the way we did is devastating. To come out today and play the way that we played, this group's special, and it's a fun team to be around. To come back from last night and sweep a doubleheader at Santa Barbara, it's just fun to be part of."
Postgame Sunday, May 9 - "I think today was a complete performance, probably as much as any on a weekend. The pitching was good especially the bullpen. Gordon for three innings was really good. King 2 innings are hard to. Defensively, we made a lot of plays - Church, Taishi 3 times, Damla comes into the game and makes a big effort, Torres with the diving play - we got a lot of contributions from a lot of guys throughout the lineup. Torres with two hits, Spillane with two hits, McGuire and Taishi both with a hit and a walk, we stole two bases. It was a really complete win on a huge Sunday."
"The bullpen was great, not giving up a run all weekend, and we've a lot of that from them. That group has pitched really well, and we only used five guys on the weekend because of the starting pitching. It's a really good time of the year for those guys to be pitching really good, and all weekend those guys were critical to how we got out of here with three wins."
"Torres had a huge weekend. He's done a good job all year, we were trying to get a little more offensive with a guy that could double or homer. We knew left-handed hitters were going to give them trouble all weekend. And he did everything - got hits, played big-time defense, he's continuing to get a better feel for the game and how we do things. He was one of the MVPs of the weekend."
"It feels good. Everybody knew the significance of this weekend and with how good Santa Barbara has been going. More than I would like, we've scoreboard watched for the last two months. It's hard to not notice they win all the time. This weekend, it felt good to play well, win, good opponent on the road, and I remember this last two years ago how that went and getting on the bus going home."
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 - "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."
UC RIVERSIDE HIGHLANDERS
UC Riverside returns to the Anteaters' sights after starting their season at home, March 6-8, and winning two of three against UCI. Since then, UCR lost their other four non-conference games at USD, and are now 14-25 overall with a 12-20 Big West record, but do have more road wins with eight than they do with just six at home. They've done something UCI hasn't which was win three of four at CSUN for their only Big West series win. UCR has also split at Cal Poly, at UC Davis, and vs. UCSD while taking single wins at CSUB, vs. CSF, and vs. Hawai'i. Last weekend, they suffered their first sweep at the hands of Long Beach State at home.
The Highlanders frustrated the Anteaters in March winning a tight Saturday game on a walk-off before a Sunday doubleheader that ended in a split and each team scoring 22 runs. UCR hit .358 singling for 32 of their 39 hits. The pitching did enough despite their 8.00 ERA, but arms like Andre Granillo who had a win and a save, and Shamus Lyons and Riley Ohl each appeared twice without allowing runs. UCI was without their outfielder,
Mike Peabody, during that series as well.
The offense rides behind Nathan Webb who tops the squad with a .343 average, five home runs, and 35 RBIs. Others like Ely Stuart (.324, 20 RBI), Travis Bohall (33 R, 14 SB), and Dylan Orick (.322, 27 RBI) can start a rally at a moment's notice as well. The team rates near the middle of the conference in a lot of categories, but are at the bottom of the Big West in things like walks, home runs, and on-base percentage scoring just over five runs a game.
Pitching starts with Friday starter Zach Jacobs who has a 4.90 ERA in 10 starts striking out nearly four hitters to every walk. Tucker Juline has three wins in nine starts working 55 innings with just 21 strikeouts. The pen has been without the services of Ohl for a month or Granillo for all of Big West and have relied on Lyons, Eric Marrujo, and Abbott Haffar as well as four saves from
Jake Lachemann. The team ERA at 7.14 and .323 opponent average both rank last.
