MIDWEEK

UC Irvine Anteaters (13-7, 2-4) vs. USC Trojans (14-8-1, 7-2)
Irvine, Calif. - Cicerone Field at Anteater Ballpark
Tuesday - 6:00 PM | ESPN+ | KUCI | Live Stats

THE SERIES

UC Irvine Anteaters (14-7, 2-4) vs. UC San Diego Tritons (16-6, 6-0)
Irvine, Calif. - Cicerone Field at Anteater Ballpark
*Note the Mesa Parking Structure may be heavily impacted with events on Friday, April 1 and Saturday, April 2. Fans are advised to plan ahead when attending those dates*

Friday - 6:00 PM | ESPN+ | KUCI | Live Stats
Saturday- 1:00 PM | ESPN+ | KUCI | Live Stats
Sunday - 1:00 PM | ESPN+ | KUCI  | Live Stats

Gameday Page
Game Notes
Scout Pack

PITCHING PROBABLES

Tuesday: UCI RHP Michael Stanford vs. USC RHP Jaden Agassi
Friday: UCI LHP Nick Pinto vs. UCSD RHP Michael Mitchell
Saturday: UCI RHP David Vizcaino vs. UCSD RHP Nic Gregson
Sunday: UCI TBD vs. UCSD RHP Anthony Eyanson

LEADING OFF

+ The Anteaters begin a nine-game homestand with Tuesday's meeting against USC. This is the third-longest stretch of home games since 2002 for the 'Eaters. UCI has a 13-game homestand to open the ballpark in 2002 going 8-5, and in 2015 went 10-1 in an 11-game stretch.
+ The 'Eaters are 5-0 in Saturday games this year
+ UCI plays its sixth Pac-12 game thus far going 5-0 to this point and all five coming away from home. Since 2002, UCI is 108-84 against the Pac-12 and 27-15 under head coach Ben Orloff.
+ UCI and Fullerton played in front of 1,102 fans Sunday, the 78th crowd of 1,000+ at Anteater Ballpark. UCI is averaging 830 a game this year in eight home games
 

SEEING IT WELL

+ Anthony Martinez continues to pound the ball in March where he's hitting .422 with just four strikeouts. He's also atop the team at .429 in Big West play with eight RBIs
+ The 'Eaters offense have scored four or more runs in an inning 15 times and seven innings of six or more runs. UCI has outscored its opponent in every inning from the 2nd to the 7th with its best being the 7th (25-11).
+ UCI splits leaders include Caden Kendle as the best with runners in scoring position (15-for-31) and with two outs (15-for-28) driving in 16 runs with two outs
+ Will Bermudez is error-free through the first 20 games, and with 47 assists is 1 of 2 players with over 20 assists without an error in the Big West (Maddox Latta, CSF - 48)
 

TOPPING THE CHARTS

+ The 'Eaters are fifth in the nation in sacrifice flies at 19 including three in each of their last Saturday games. Jacob Stinson has four to lead the Big West and 11th in the NCAA.
+ UCI has 11 triples, ninth in the nation, with two players in the top 20 in NCAA in Oyama (6th) and Kendle (19th)
+ Other categories UCI leads the Big West in are walks (107), HBP (43), and on-base percentage (.401).
+ Caden Kendle leads the 1-2 punch atop the Big West in RBIs with 28 followed by Anthony Martinez with 24
+ Anthony Martinez is hovering near the top of most Big West offensive categories in second in slugging, HR, RBI, and doubles, third in average, hit by pitch, and hits, and fourth in on-base percentage
+ Will Bermudez leads the Big West with 25 runs scored and eight HBP. His 1.32 runs per game is 51th in NCAA
+ Chase Call is the conference walk leader at 20 to add to his fifth-best on-base percentage, and his five home runs and 21 RBIs both landing in the top 10
+ Nick Pinto brings a 0.86 WHIP to the table, 17th in the nation and second in the conference along with a .185 opponent's batting average, fourth-best, and the 11th-best ERA in the Big West at 3.47

WORTH A MENTION

+ World Baseball Classic finished up last week. One Anteater, Andre Pallante, represented with Team Italy pitching in three games registering 4 IP, 3 H, 2 ER, 6 BB, 2 K as Italy reached the quarterfinals for the first time losing to Japan.

AROUND THE HORN

+ 4th - UCI's 4th participant in the World Baseball Classic starts this week in Andre Pallante on Team Italy. Past players were Israel's Ben Orloff and Dylan Axelrod, and Germany's Dominique Taylor
+ 192 - Nick Pinto is approaching 200 career strikeouts at 192 entering the weekend. He would be the 17th Anteater to reach the mark. His career numbers have him 13-12, 3.45, 211 IP in 41 G (39 GS)
+ 6+ - The 'Eaters have scored multiple runs in 30 innings, 15 times have scored as many as 4 in an inning, and seven innings of 6+ runs
+ 5-15 - The 'Eaters have had two games canceled - snowed out March 10 at Gonzaga and rained out March 14 vs. SDSU. UCI has added a game on Monday, May 15 hosting the University of Arizona
 

SCOUTING THE TROJANS

The first meeting was UCI's first midweek of the year at Dedeaux Field in a game that swung back-and-forth with UCI coming out with the 8-7 victory. Chase Call's game-tying home run with two out in the eighth inning sparked a three-run frame that UCI used to come back and overtake the Trojans

The Trojans are much improved this season and since that matchup. USC has won 9 of 10 including six straight road games and sit at 7-2 in the Pac-12 after a sweep of Washington State at home. They've also won weekend series against a ranked Stanford and at Cal. In addition, they've put up wins over Tulane (13-8) and Cal Poly (16-3) as common opponents with UCI

The offense is clicking with over eight runs a game. Freshman Austin Overn is scalding at .366 with 17 extra-base hits including nine triples in addition to team highs in 26 runs and seven steals. The team is hitting .294 as a team with big bats Cole Gabrielson (.310, 7 HR, 27 RBI) leading the charge, Nick Lopez adding four homers and 20 RBIs, and Johnny Olmstead scoring 20 runs and one of many with more walks than strikeouts.

Pitching has a solid ERA of 4.50 with big arms out of the pen in Garrett Clarke, Josh Blum, Caden Connolly, and Kyle Wisch all having appeared at least 10 times each. Wisch was tagged with the loss in the last meeting and is 1 of four Trojans to record a save. Clarke has four of them while Blum has K'd 23 in 16.2 innings, and six different players posting a start .
 

ALL-TIME SERIES

USC returns to Anteater Ballpark for the first time since 2019 looking to reverse a four-game win streak UCI has in the series. The Anteaters have a 37-34 lead in the series including winning 16 of 31 matchups where they're the home team.

SCOUTING THE TRITONS

The Tritons improved in 2022 going 24-32 with 13 Big West wins. Season highlights included wins against Washington, at Oregon, at USC, and Big West series wins vs. Cal State Fullerton, UC Riverside, at Bakersfield, and at Long Beach State

The 2023 club has been scorching hot coming in atop the Big West at 6-0 following sweeps of LBSU and CSUB. The Tritons are 15-6 overall gathering wins over Michigan, UNLV, and Santa Clara. The Tritons end a string of 18 consecutive home games with the trip to Irvine and will play their first true road game of the season Friday.

The offense drives behind sophomore Matt Halbach (.375, 14 XBH, 21 RBI) who is flanked by Doyle Kane's 31 hits and 17 RBIs, three homers from catcher Emiliano Gonzalez and Michael Fuhrman, and eight different Tritons that hit over .300 for a team that leads the conference hitting .313 with over eight runs scored a game

Pitching has impressed with a 3.83 ERA. The rotation has solidified with Michael Mitchell (1-0, 1.59), Nic Gregson (3-0, 3.16), and Anthony Eyanson (2-0, 3.65) doing the heavy lifting, but a flurry of arms ready for multiple-inning stints including Izaak Martinez (2-0, 2.29), Ryan Forcucci (2-0, 3.79), and closer Ryan Rissas (3 Sv, 2.45)

ALL-TIME SERIES

UC San Diego returns to Anteater Ballpark after dropping three of four in 2021. The Tritons are just 2-16 against the 'Eaters all-time going 2-5 since joining Division I, but have taken the finale in each series the last two years.

DOWN THE LINE

UCI's long homestand rages on with four more games next week with Mountain West foe Fresno State visiting Tuesday night before an Easter weekend meeting with Long Beach State with games on Thursday (6pm), Friday (6pm), and Saturday (1pm) ahead of the holiday