Baseball Back Home vs. SDSU, Grand Canyon

Tuesday, February 22

Irvine, Calif.

6:00 PM

UC Irvine

San Diego State

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Baseball Back Home vs. SDSU, Grand Canyon

February 21, 2022 | Baseball

By: Alex Croteau

This Week in Anteater Baseball
Dates	February 22, 2022	February 25-27, 2022
*Opponents*	vs. San Diego State Aztecs (1-2)	vs. Grand Canyon Lopes (2-2)
Location	Cicerone Field at Anteater Ballpark (3.408) - Irvine, Calif.
Times	Tuesday - 6:00 PM ESPN+ Live Stats KUCI 88.9 FM Buy Tickets	Friday - 6:00 PM ESPN + Live Stats KUCI 88.9 FM Buy Tickets	Saturday - 6:00 PM ESPN + Live Stats kuci.org Buy Tickets	Sunday - 1:00 PM ESPN + Live Stats KUCI 88.9 FM Buy Tickets
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Game Notes	Gameday Rosters		UC Irvine Baseball
Social Media	@UCIbsb @UCIbsb UC Irvine Baseball #EatersGottaEat #RipEm #TogetherWeZot

Probable Tuesday Starters
UC Irvine				vs.	San Diego State
Pitcher	Year		Stats	Day	Pitcher	Year		Stats
Michael Stanford	RS-Jr.	RHP	(0-0, 0.00)	Tuesday	Jonny Guzman	So.	RHP	First appearance

Probable Weekend Rotation
UC Irvine				vs.	Grand Canyon
Pitcher	Year		Stats	Day	Pitcher	Year		Stats
Michael Frias	RS-Sr.	RHP	(1-0, 6.00)	Friday	Nick Hull	Grad.	RHP	(0-0, 1.80)
Nick Pinto	RS-So.	LHP	(0-1, 5.40)	Saturday	Carter Young	So.	RHP	(0-1, 6.75)
Danny Suarez	Fr.	RHP	(0-0, 4.50)	Sunday	Hunter Omlid	Jr.	RHP	(0-0, 5.79)

Fan Attendance Guidelines

Fans attending baseball games at Anteater Ballpark are expected to adhere to the following guidelines.

Facial Coverings – Facial coverings are strongly recommended for all fans but not required outdoors. All individuals, regardless of vaccination status, will be required to wear a mask while indoors at UCI facilities. UCI Campus Face Covering Guidance
Ticketing – This season mobile-only ticketing has been implemented, enhancing the fan ticketing experience, allowing for contact-less entry. Tickets will be delivered to current emails on file.
Clear Bag Policy – UCI has implemented a Clear bag policy in 2021. Only clear bags will be permitted with a maximum size of 12"x12"x6" — the size of a one-gallon freezer bag.
Hand Sanitization Stations – Hand sanitizing stations are available throughout the ballpark.
Stay Home if Sick – Please do not come to campus if you or others in your party are not feeling well. Symptoms include: Fever (99F+), Chills, Muscle aches, Cough, Shortness of breath, Unexpected fatigue, Sore throat, Loss of taste or smell, Headache, Diarrhea, vomiting, or nausea, Other cold symptoms.

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)

7 - The series at Louisiana featured 7 lead changes with each team leading at some point in every game. Friday and Sunday featured the first team to score losing the lead and regaining it to win

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
+ UC Irvine's opening weekend in Louisiana saw them win the opener, 7-4, for the 26th opening-day win in 44 seasons. The Ragin' Cajuns took the series with Saturday and Sunday wins with UCI now one series wins in three trips to the state. The Louisiana fans showed up with an average of 4,265 fans per game with over 4,000 fans in attendance at each game.

+ The Anteater offense hit .240 for the weekend with Thomas McCaffrey pacing the hitters with a team-high five hits. UCI had seven extra-base hits from seven different 'Eaters including its only home run by Taishi Nakawake, the first of his career after not leaving the yard in his first 76 games as an Anteater. Other offensive leaders were Nakawake scoring three times and posting a .556 on-base percentage, Justin Torres walking four times, and Woody Hadeen with the only SB.

+ UCI pitching finished the weekend with a 4.68 ERA. Starters allowed 12 runs, nine earned, in 15 innings striking out 18 hitters to seven walks. The bullpen allowed four runs in their 10 innings led by Gordon Ingebritson with two scoreless outings allowing one baserunner on a walk in three innings. He picked up a hold as did Jake Spillane collecting two on the weekend while Jacob King earned one save in two opportunities now with nine in his UCI career.

+ Multiple Anteaters made their collegiate debuts led by Danny Suarez making the Sunday start. He struck out six batters and allowed two runs on two hits in his first four innings. One other freshman debut was Blake Penso pinch-hitting Saturday. 'Eaters making their UCI debuts included Spillane on the mound and Ben Fitzgerald starting twice against his previous school finishing the weekend with the team's only triple and a run scored.

+ The opening series featured a lot of early-game scoring with 19 of the 30 total runs coming in the first three innings and just four runs after the fifth inning. UCI scored eight of their 14 runs in the fifth inning. The sides went back-and-forth changing leads seven times with both teams holding the team at one point in all three games.

SAN DIEGO STATE AZTECS
San Diego State is back on the Anteater schedule after missing out in 2021. The Aztecs and Anteaters have met 97 times, the fifth-most of any UCI opponent and second-most non-conference rival. SDSU holds the all-time series lead at 57-38-1 including playing in one of the early matchups back in 1970. At UCI, the Aztecs are 29-20-1 including their last meeting in late February 2020.

The 2021 season saw SDSU go 30-16 with a 22-14 record in the Mountain West just getting overtaken for a postseason spot by Nevada. The 'Eaters will be at Tony Gwynn Stadium next week where the Aztecs went 19-6 a year ago.

The Aztecs played in the MLB 4 Tournament in Surprise, Arizona to open the year against some stout competition with three close games much like UCI. A 5-3 loss to ranked TCU out of the gate followed by a one-run win vs. Houston and 6-3 loss to Cal.

The offense was prolific in 2021 9.1 runs a game. The hitters put up a .335 average with four batters hitting over .350 in Matt Rudick (.410, 41 RBI), Jaden Fein (.389, 53 RBI), Wyatt Hendrie (.379, 9 HR, 57 RBI), and Mike Jarvis (.367, 25 XBH). All four have moved on leaving a few returners like Brian Leonhardt who hurt has hurt the Anteaters as a doubles machine. Opening weekend saw SDSU hit .200 with RS-Freshman Alex Rodriguez hitting .500 complimented by Caden Miller's four hits, Tyler Glowacki's two doubles, and home runs by Poncho Ruiz and Leonhardt.

Pitching took a hit in 2021 with a 6.28 ERA. Few remain from that staff with senior lefty Jacob Flores and sophomore Kelena Sauer and TJ Fondtain earning opening weekend starts. Three Aztecs were called upon multiple times out of the pen in Ricky Tibbett, Jadon Bercovich, and Joseph Ingrassia helping the staff put up a 4.50 ERA .

GRAND CANYON LOPES
Grand Canyon comes in as UCI's first home series this week, the second-ever meeting between the schools. UCI won two of three against GCU in 2014 including back-to-back shutouts. GCU has been Division I since 1991, but left for a time returning in 2014 to the WAC under head coach Andy Stankiewicz.

The 2021 season was GCU's first to make the NCAA Tournament finishing tied for first and winning the WAC Tournament. They also won the regular season in 2015, 2017, and 2018.

The Lopes opened the season at home against one of UCI's 2021 Regional opponents, Nevada. GCU went 1-2 with a pedestrian opening day losing 4-3 before falling 20-2 on Saturday and roaring back for a 15-4 win to close out the series.

The offense last season hit .290 blasting 48 home runs and scoring nearly six runs a game. A lot of the top Lope hitters return including junior Tayler Aguilar who was 4-for-9 with the team's only home run over the weekend. Elijah Buries had a hit in each game vs. Nevada with a three-RBI day Sunday, Juan Colato had an RBI in each game, and a roster littered with sons of former Major Leaguers.

Pitching lost a lot from last year including Pierson Ohl, a 14th-round draft pick, after going 10-2 with a 2.60 ERA. Two GCU weekend starters are gone, and it was felt over the weekend with an ERA of 7.00, nearly double their 2021 ERA. The one returning starter, Carter Young, was roughed up Saturday as with the rest of the staff surrendering 20 runs to Nevada. Nick Hull held his own Friday night allowing one run with eight strikeouts over five innings. Notable bullpen arms include lefty junior Eli Ankeney (2.2 IP, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K) and freshman Daniel Avitia (4 IP, ER, 0 BB, 5 K).