Season Opens at Louisiana for Baseball

Friday, February 18

Lafayette, LA

4:00 PM

UC Irvine

Louisiana

Photo by: Robert Huskey

Season Opens at Louisiana for Baseball

February 17, 2022 | Baseball

Game Notes

By: Alex Croteau

#20 UC Irvine Anteaters (43-18, Big West 32-8) at Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns (32-23, Sun Belt 13-11)
Dates	February 18-20, 2022
Location	M.L. "Tigue" Moore Field at Russo Park - Lafayette, La.
Times	Friday - 4:00 PM PT ESPN + Live Stats	Saturday - 12:00 PM PT ESPN + Live Stats	Sunday - 10:00 AM PT ESPN + Live Stats
Live Stream
Live Stats
Radio	KUCI 88.9 FM on kuci.org
Game Notes	UC Irvine Baseball
Social Media	@UCIbsb @UCIbsb UC Irvine Baseball #RipEm #TogetherWeZot

Probable Rotation
UC Irvine				vs.	Louisiana
Pitcher	Year		2022 Stats	Day	Pitcher	Year		2022 Stats
Michael Frias	RS-Sr.	RHP	(9-2, 3.36)	Friday	Drew Shifflet	Jr.	RHP	(1-0, 4.02)
Nick Pinto	RS-So.	LHP	(7-4, 3.43)	Saturday	Peyton Havard	So.	RHP	(0-0, 2.25)
Danny Suarez	Fr.	RHP	NCAA Debut	Sunday	Jeff Wilson	Sr.	RHP	(0-0, 1.84)

Around The Horn

34 - Head Coach Ben Orloff is 34; the 10th-youngest coach in Division I, 3rd-youngest in the 2021 postseason, and youngest in the West
.300 - The offense hit .300 for the first time since 2010. Multiple program records also fell with HR (15 - Tatum), hits (100 - Church), team runs scored (443), and team strikeouts (524)
40 - UCI Baseball produced its eighth 40-win season and third season with 40 victories in the regular season (1974, 2009)
17 - UCI has 17 wins against the Pac-12 since coach Orloff took over, more than two Pac-12 schools and would
be the fifth-best winning percentage in the Pac-12 at .567 (17-13)

LEADING OFF
+ The Anteaters enter the 2022 season ranked nationally in every major poll. After finishing 2021 anywhere from 13th to 21st in all the polls, the 'Eaters are up to 14th in 2022 from Collegiate Baseball Newspaper with Baseball America slotting them 18th, the NCBWA at 19th, and 20th from D1Baseball.com and Perfect Game USA.

+ Multiple Anteaters have been recognized as preseason All-Americans. Michael Frias has picked up a pair of second team honors from the NCBWA and Collegiate Baseball Newspaper. Nathan Church also showed up on CBN's Third Team and Third Team for D1Baseball.com. Jacob King had a pair of Third Team accolades from NCBWA and Perfect Game USA. The team was selected by the Big West coaches to finish second in the preseason poll.

+ The 2021 Anteaters were among the nation's best in some team stats including 2nd in hit by pitch and sacrifice bunts and 3rd in triples. They were also top 50 in hits (7th), doubles (11th), walks allowed per nine innings (11th), runs (15th), shutouts (15th), on-base percentage (16th), strikeout-to-walk ratio (16th), sacrifice flies (17th), winning percentage (18th), batting (21st), WHIP (22nd), ERA (24th), runs per game (27th), double plays (32nd), fielding percentage (40th), and walks (48th). The 'Eaters led the conference in many of those categories, most notably hitting .300 with 125 doubles, scoring 443 runs and 7.3 runs a game, a .400 on-base percentage, and on the mound with a 3.05 K-to-BB ratio and 1.28 WHIP.

+ UCI produced some impressive numbers in 2021 including the nation's leader in triples from Church with eight. He represented the 'Eaters in many national rankings including hits (3rd), doubles (5th), total bases (7th), hits per game (11th), runs (24th), RBIs (29th), batting average (67th), and toughest to strikeout (142nd). His postseason performance was memorable recording the third-most RBIs of anyone in the tournament at 14 averaging a tournament-best 2.80 RBIs per game and setting a single-season postseason mark for UC Irvine while also not striking out once. Connor McGuire had 10 sac bunts to lead the conference and finish 14th nationally. Luke Spillane's six sacrifice flies rank him 25th in the NCAA. Pitching leaders include Michael Frias at wins (22nd), WHIP (56th), complete games (65th), and strikeouts (95th). Jacob King and Gordon Ingebritson sat first and second in the Big West in games pitched, and 21st and 33rd, nationally. King also moved into 41st nationally in saves with eight.

+ As a team, UCI impressed hitting an even .300, first UCI team hitting .300 since 2010. The 2021 Anteaters will go down as the highest-scoring team in program history with 443 runs scored just beating out the 1974 squad who scored 433 averaging 7.7 runs a game. The squad finished with 45 home runs tying the all-time season mark with the 1974 club, and added the second-most doubles in a season with 125. The team's .448 slugging percentage ranks fourth in program history. On the pitching side, UCI's staff finished with a 3.80 ERA including a 3.44 bullpen ERA. The 524 strikeouts from the staff is a program record with just the second squad with over 500 in a season joining the 2008 squad.

RECAPPING 2021
+ UC Irvine baseball's 2021 postseason run lasted until the regional final of the Stanford Regional. The program's ninth trip to the NCAA Tournament resulted in three wins, one against each team in the regional, needing to win Saturday night to stay alive, which they did with a come-from-behind effort, 8-4, to force Sunday's regional final - the team's 17th comeback victory of the 2021 and fourth win trailing entering the eighth inning. Host Stanford would claim the regional with an 11-8 Sunday victory knocking out the Anteaters. The 'Eaters hit .354 as a team including a season-high 22 hits in an 18-3 win over North Dakota State with six Anteaters awarded All-Stanford Regional recognition, four of whom return in 2022.

+ The Anteaters finished with 43 wins, fifth-most in a UCI season, including 40 in the regular season, something only the 2007 and 2009 Anteater squads have done. UCI also won 32 Big West games to set a record, and may never be duplicated due to this year's 40-game slate to bring home the program's second-ever Big West title and first for coach Orloff.

+ Head Coach Ben Orloff returns for his fourth season where he's the 10th-youngest head coach in the nation at 34 years of age. He was the third-youngest in the 2021 postseason, and remains the youngest in the West. He brought home the program's second Big West title in just his second full season. He was named Coach of the Year for the first time, and the fourth conference accolade for the program joining Mike Gillespie in 2009, Mike Gerakos in 1987, and Steve Hertz in 1980 for the SCBA.

AWARD SEASON
+ The Anteaters collected on honors from All-American to All-Region to All-Big West. Mike Peabody was the only player to earn one of each scoring Second Team All-American honors from Collegiate Baseball Newspaper, the only 'Eater named All-West Region from the ABCA, and rounded it out as the Big West co-Field Player of the Year and All-Big West First Team. Nathan Church was also noted as a Third Team All-American from CBN. He claimed Freshman All-American honors from CBN along with two others, Nick Pinto and Jacob King, who all had marvelous campaigns. Program marks rise to 31 All-American selections all-time and 12 Freshman All-Americans.

+ All-Big West honors along with coach and field player of the year also included tri-Defensive Player of the Year for Taishi Nakawake who returns at shortstop. Overall, a record 11 Anteaters earned accolades including five first-teamers - Peabody, Church, Frias, King, and Gordon Ingebritson, three second-teamers - Dillon Tatum, Justin Torres, and Pinto, and two as honorable mention - Connor McGuire and Jake Palmer. The 11 All-Big West honors is a program record as is the five first-teamers. It's the second time the 'Eaters have had a hand in three major awards joining the coach, player, and pitcher of the year trio in 2009 of Gillespie, Orloff, and Daniel Bibona.

TEAM OUTLOOK
+ The Anteaters are led onto the field by seven returners led by a full compliment of infielders. Connor McGuire, Woody Hadeen, and Taishi Nakawake defend the infield. Nathan Church and Luke Spillane run the outfield once again. The lone newcomer on the diamond is Ben Fitzgerald who will work in at first base, right field, or designated hitter among the trio filled out by Justin Torres and fifth-year Jacob Castro.

+ Key starters lost include the Big West's co-Field Player of the Year Mike Peabody. Church will patrol center field for Peabody this year. Behind the plate, Dillon Tatum and Thomas McCaffrey shared duties which will be McCaffrey's to lead this year as Tatum's program single-season record 15 home runs was drafted by the Minnesota Twins. Elsewhere, the veteran presences of Jake Palmer and Adrian Damla will be sorely missed from an offensive, defensive, and most notably, a clubhouse perspective.

+ On the mound, two weekend starting roles return starting with Michael Frias who grew as the team's ace midway through 2021 into the Friday night role by the postseason. Nick Pinto also returns for his third year with the program to lock into the Saturday role for the lefty. The Anteaters lose veteran leadership of Trenton Denholm and Peter Van Loon from the mound both graduated and on to pro careers. Filling in the remaining starting roles will be a mix of newcomers, Cooper Robinson and Danny Suarez, along with veterans battling for their chance in Cameron Wheeler and Michael Stanford for the two available spots on Sundays and Tuesdays.

+ The bullpen is fortified by the duo of Jacob King and Gordon Ingebritson. The fifth-year sidearm Ingebritson and third-year fireballer King each pitched nearly half of the games in 2021. Closer Josh Ibarra and sixth-year lefty Dylan Riddle depart with loads of experience and talent. The rest of the bullpen will see big contributions from veterans Tanner Brooks, Andre Antone and Troy Wentworth, newcomers Jake Spillane and Troy Taylor, and freshman Finnegan Wall along with the starting contingent of Robinson, Suarez, Wheeler, and Stanford figuring into the mix.

+ UCI's non-conference resume in 2021 included an 8-8 record, 7-6 against Pac-12 programs. Adding postseason contests, UCI was 11-10 in non-conference games and 8-8 against the Pac-12. Under coach Orloff, UCI is 17-13 against the Pac-12, and have a 98-82 record against the conference since the program returned in 2002. UCI's non-conference strength of schedule was ranked sixth in the nation, and held a non-conference RPI of 27 with four Quadrant 1 wins in 10 games against Quadrant 1 programs. Overall, UCI's strength of schedule ranked 109th with an RPI of 32. The Big West Conference rated as the 15th-strongest conference in the nation posting a record of 53-68 in non-conference action.

+ The 2022 'Eaters have an ambitious schedule for 2022 featuring opponents from the Pac-12, WCC, Big 12, Mountain West, and WAC, and trips to Big 12 and Sun Belt foes. Of UCI's 10 non-conference opponents, nine featured winning records in 2021 for a combined .607 winning percentage.

Head Coach Ben Orloff's Preseason Thoughts
Overview of the 2021 season - "2021 was a great season. You just wish that more than one team could be really happy at the end of the season. It was the next, right step we needed to take as a program. Before the season, the guys were talking about putting numbers up on the scoreboard which was never anything we've talked about as coaches. Winning the Big West is a huge deal. Only two Big West titles in the 20 years since baseball has been back, that's really special. Coach Gillespie always thought the difficulty of winning a conference championship and being the best team in the whole season was comparable to going to Omaha."

Recap of the Fall and exhibitions vs. UCLA and USD – "The fall we were without a few starters and had as many new players as returners out there with 16 newcomers. We took it slow in terms of implementing team stuff; lots of individual skill development. A successful fall for us nonetheless; played well against UCLA with different guys. We've used the fall was to not pitch any experienced guys, so playing well with a lot of new guys. Turned around and were not as good against USD, but it was good to see yourself against outside opponents which magnifies your flaws. Rounded the fall out with a intrasquad World Series to close things out well."

Updates from training in January and February - "We battled COVID early in January, but working back with more individual development because of the numbers that put us a little behind in terms of team readiness and situations. Still been really good playing multiple inter-squads and seeing guys step up and roles becoming clearer."

Projecting the starters and lineup - "Behind the plate we have Thomas McCaffrey starting. Bam Garcia-Pacheco is a quality No. 2 and probably our best thrower. McGuire, Nakawake, and Hadeen go around the horn. First base will be some combination of Jacob Castro, Ben Fitzgerald, and Justin Torres. Spillane in left and Church in center with right field open for Fitzgerald, Torres, and Myles Smith. Caden Kendle will work in for his glove and against a left-handers on the mound much like Garcia-Pacheco. Torres, Castro, and Fitzgerald will start everyday between 1B, RF, and DH. Fitzgerald is one of our best hitters and will hit behind Church."

Looking ahead at the rotation - "Fridays will be Frias, Pinto on Saturday, and when it matters the most you'll see King and Ingebritson out of the pen. The rest of the rotation there's competition for the spots with guys like Cooper Robinson, Danny Suarez, Cam Wheeler, and Michael Stanford leading the charge.

Status of the pitching staff and bullpen - "The strength of this pitching staff is the numbers. In the past, we've counted on our frontline guys and were short on depth, but this staff we will make up for lack of frontline with our numbers in the pen. With King and Ingebritson heading that committee, Jake Spillane we will use out of the bullpen, Troy Wentworth is coming into his own with a developing slider, Andre Antone continues to progress and will look to him to get 3-6 outs in appearances. Troy Taylor is a wild card with a huge arm that, on the right day and right pitch, he can get up to 96mph. Tanner Brooks is coming back from being out most of the offseason as well as our primary contributors out of the bullpen. What comes from having a lot of guys is their innings might not reflect that with Frias, Pinto, Ingebritson, and King who will throw a lot of innings for us. Ingebritson especially who wants to pitch as much as he can. We're back to Tuesday games instead of doubleheaders which allows more guys to pitch more games and sometimes four times a week."

Key Contributors for the 2022 Anteaters - "Bam will mix in once a week and get plenty of play against lefties. Dub Gleed is our top bat off the bench. Finnegan Wall is another freshman that has potential and could be in the mix. Chase Call has big tools and continues to get better, and once his name is called will be significant in the outfield. Another catcher Blake Penso comes in at 6-4 as one of the best swinging the bat once he develops behind the plate."

The 2022 schedule and matchups - "Starting at Louisiana in Lafayette, who like us is one of the really good teams in a non-power-5 league, that have gone to the postseason and had success there. I'm excited to go there because I've been told its one of the best environments in college baseball and best regional atmosphere of anyone that some will say. Another regional team, Grand Canyon, will be our first opponent at home stocked with great players and coaching. We go back to Oregon State and we saw how good they are from last year's series and were very close to going to the Super Regionals with likely the best weekend pitching on the West Coast and big players like Jacob Melton and a premier freshman infielder. Tuesday-Wednesday matchup with Arizona State with six or seven position players from their regional team. Iowa visits us after we traveled there in 2019, and will be one of the favorites to win the Big Ten. We will head to Big 12 Kansas State in the middle of conference play with an assistant coach that I know well from pro ball. I don't think you see a lot of people in our conference that travel like we do and go play anybody, especially off last season where we didn't leave the state, and this year we go to Lafayette, Corvallis, and Manhattan. There are no cupcakes on our schedule; all of our first four weekend opponents could be in a regional."

Outlook of the Big West Conference - "From the looks, the top half of the Big West has a chance to be better than the top half of the Pac-12. It's been a while, but we're getting three schools projected to make a regional from D1Baseball. Cal Poly will be good with arguably one of the best two or three position players in the country Brooks Lee and a lot of veteran players around him. UC Santa Barbara has it rolling, they just win; they lose a lot on the mound, but have plenty of depth, and guys like Jordan Sprinkle and Broc Mortensen return from their offense. Long Beach State is also part of the top four that could separate themselves in the Big West, and playing a full schedule behind Devereaux Harrison, Jonathon Long, and veteran arms."

LOUISIANA RAGIN' CAJUNS
Louisiana kicks things off as the Anteaters head out to Lafayette and one of the best college baseball venues of M.L. "Tigue" Moore Field at Russo Park. The Ragin' Cajuns have averaged nearly 5,000 fans a game and hosted a pair of Regionals and a Super Regional there. The program has one College World Series appearance back in 2000, and since have posted seven 40-win seasons and a 50-win season in the Sun Belt reaching the postseason nine times.

The 2021 season had Louisiana going 32-23 with schools like Tulane, LSU, Mississippi State, and TCU on the schedule. They defended their home going 21-10 and topped the Sun Belt West.

The Ragin' Cajuns and Anteaters will meet for the first time ever. UCI has been to the state of Louisiana just twice, both coming in 2008 starting at Tulane and ending in the Super Regional at LSU. It's just the second Sun Belt opponent for UCI joining the 2011 matchups against Coastal Carolina. ULL plays their fair share of West Coast schools, but this matchup with the Big West will be their first since 2011 against UCSB. All-time, ULL is 2-4 against the conference.

The offense loses some big names including one that shows up on UCI's roster this year in Ben Fitzgerald. He hit 12 home runs ranking top five in the conference in that and slugging. Catcher Drake Osborn and OF Brennan Breaux also leave both hitting over .300 last year. An outfield of Connor Kimple, Carson Roccaforte, and Tyler Roberson each hit five home runs and played 54 games. Big transfers from Mississippi, Texas Tech, and Houston could contribute as well.

Pitching was sixth nationally with a 3.37 ERA last year including top-line starters Connor Cooke (7-3, 2.03) and Spencer Arrighetti (7-6, 3.12) who each are gone. Closer Brandon Talley (8 Sv, 1.59) anchors the bullpen with a crew of guys that had 20+ innings last year on top of a Texas transfer.