This Week in Anteater Baseball
Dates														May 26-28, 2022
Opponents														at Cal State Fullerton Titans (20-32, 12-15)
Location														Goodwin Field (3,500) - Fullerton, Calif.
Times														Thursday - 7:00 PM ESPN+ Live Stats KUCI 88.9 FM		Friday - 6:00 PM ESPN+ Live Stats KUCI 88.9 FM	Saturday - 1:00 PM ESPN+ Live Stats kuci.org
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Around the Horn

8 - UCI honored 8 seniors last week - Justin Torres, Jake Spillane, Troy Wentworth, Ben Fitzgerald, Gordon Ingebritson, Nathan Church, Taishi Nakawake, and Andre Antone

6th - UC Irvine's non-conference schedule is the 6th-toughest in the nation with a team RPI of 81 and a 6-5 record vs. Quadrant 1 teams coming at Oregon State, vs. UCSB, and twice vs. GCU and UCLA

19 - UCI secured its 19th winning record in the 21 seasons since baseball returned in 2002. In 44 years of Anteater Baseball, UCI has 31 winning seasons and a .569 winning percentage all-time

119 - Coach Orloff 119-64 passing Dave Serrano for third in all-time UCI wins at Riverside. He's also won 60% of NC games, 66% of games in CA, 70% of Big West games, and 78% of games at home

LEADING OFF                    
+ UCI celebrated seniors Sunday - Jake Spillane, Troy Wentworth, Justin Torres, Nathan Church, Gordon Ingebritson, Taishi Nakawake, Ben Fitzgerald, and Andre Antone, and included team managers Sammy Martinez and Luis Islas.

+ UCI's bats led the way hitting .313 in the four games last week. Caden Kendle continues to mash going .462 and reaching 12 times as did Justin Torres. Torres led with five RBIs while reach homered. Dub Gleed had seven hits to lead the 'Eaters, Nathan Church led with five runs scored, and the team added 13 hit by pitch, nine sacrifice hits, and stole eight of 10 stolen bases.

+ Pitching came in with a 3.23 ERA allowing opponents to hit .228. Andre Antone finished out his home career winning twice including Tuesday's start vs. UCLA with no walks and five strikeouts in 5.2 innings on the week. Gordon Ingebritson continues to shine going 6.2 shutout, hitless innings reaching 100 career strikeouts. Tanner Brooks picked up a win in relief in a 1.69 ERA, and Jacob King picked up a save Sunday to close out the series for his fourth and first since March 1.

+ The 'Eaters are among the national leaders in sacrifice bunts (5th), hit by pitch (13th), walks allowed per game (15th), triples (24th), K-to-BB ratio (26th), and WHIP (33rd) leading the Big West in sacs and HBP. National leaders start with Gordon Ingebritson who is second in BB per game, third in K-to-BB ratio, sixth in WHIP, and 13th in ERA at 1.88 that leads the Big West. Taishi Nakawake has 15 sac bunts to rank third nationally with Woody Hadeen right behind and 24th in HBP.

LAST WEEK
+ UC Irvine wins a second straight series, and finished the week 3-1 with a win over No. 23 UCLA on Tuesday.

+ The Anteaters finish non-conference at 16-10. Entering the final weekend, UCI is tied for fourth in the Big West

+ The 'Eaters played their 2,400th game in program history Saturday with a .569 all-time win percentage

THIS WEEKEND AT CAL STATE FULLERTON
+ The final series of 2022 puts UCI at Cal State Fullerton. UCI won its first-ever home series vs. the Titans in 2021 and have won the last two series dating back to 2019.

+ The sides met at Anteater Ballpark April 5th with the Anteaters taking the 6-1 win

OPENING DAY
+ Keston Hiura of the Milwaukee Brewers returns for his fourth season as utility infielder and designated hitter

+ Andre Pallante made his MLB debut April 10 in St. Louis for the Cardinals as the ninth Anteater to reach the Major Leagues. Pallante is 1 of 8 players from the 2019 MLB Draft class to make a 2022 Opening Day roster. Hiura was the first player from the 2017 MLB Draft class to reach the majors.

+ Two more Anteaters got the call in May with 2017 No. 1 overall pick and UCI NLI signee Royce Lewis joining the Twins and another 2017 draft pick, Calvin Faucher, making his MLB debut with the Tampa Bay Rays.

CAL STATE FULLERTON TITANS
Cal State Fullerton is finishing up another rare season where they will finish with a losing record. After 44 straight winning seasons, CSF won just 20 games in 2021 punctuated by a four-game sweep at the hands of UC Irvine in the final weekend of the year where UCI locked up a Big West title. CSF stands at 20-32 entering the weekend and stand tied for seventh in the Big West at 12-15, one year after a ninth-place finish.

The Titans and Anteaters met once this year already with UCI winning the home midweek game, 6-1, in early April. All-time, CSF holds an 89-47 record leading 43-25 at Goodwin Field, but UCI has the last two series wins including their first ever at Irvine in 2021.

The offense comes in as one of the better ones in the conference with a .278 batting average. The rest of the offense falls near the middle of the pack aside from the 14 triples near the top of the Big West. Austin Schell has come on strong to enter the final weekend as the top Big West hitter at .390 with the second-best on-base percentage. Four other hitters sit above .300 with notable bats Caden Connor (69 H, 4 HR, 35 RBI), Zach Lew (.323, 29 RBI), Jackson Lyon (.339, 7 HR, 29 RBI), and Jason Brandow (.314, 7 HR, 23 RBI).

Pitching has begun to find its form despite a 5.33 team ERA, and a 4.82 ERA at home where it has a winning mark. Tyler Stultz has manned the Friday night spot with 75 strikeouts and 80 innings on the year complimented by Evan Yates, 2-1, 3.79 at home, and Fynn Chester coming off a 76-pitch CG performance to win Big West Pitcher of the Week created a challenged weekend matchup. The bullpen has big arms Cameron Repetti and Michael Weisberg with three saves each.