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Matt Brown

'Eaters Take On UCLA, Hawai'i in Anteater Ballpark

May 01, 2023

By: Alex Roberts-Croteau

MIDWEEK

UC Irvine Anteaters (27-13, 10-8) vs. UCLA Bruins (24-15-1, 10-9-1)
Cicerone Field at Anteater Ballpark - Irvine, Calif.
Tuesday - 6:00 PM | ESPN+ | KUCI | Live Stats

THE SERIES

PITCHING PROBABLES

Tuesday: UCI RHP Andre Antone vs. UCLA LHP Josh Hahn
Friday: UCI RHP Finnegan Wall vs. UH TBD
Saturday: UCI RHP Michael Stanford vs. UH TBD
Sunday: UCI TBD vs. UH TBD

LEADING OFF

+ UC Irvine jumped to fifth in the Big West with a 10-8 mark and 12 games remaining. The Anteaters sit 5.5 games behind first place Cal State Fullerton.
+ UCI's at-large hopes hinge on their resume with an RPI at 45, nine wins against Power 5 opponents, a 7-3 record against top 50 RPI, and a strength of schedule rated 61st. UCI is receiving two votes in the College Baseball HOF poll.
+ The 'Eaters finish April going 13-5 as a club. The offense hit .315 as a team with 8.2 runs a game and 26 steals. Two players hit over .400 for the month in Luke Spillane and Anthony Martinez. The pitching had a 4.75 ERA with Jacob King striking out 20 and a 1.35 ERA, Nick Rincover and his 0.84 ERA in 13 games, and Finnegan Wall (1-1, 2.29, 19.2 IP) and Cameron Wheeler (2-1, 2.08, 13 IP) all excelling

BATTING AROUND

+ The 'Eaters are fourth in the nation in sacrifice flies at 32 including multiple sac flies in nine games this year.
+ UCI is also top 25 nationally sitting 13th in HBP, 16th in walks allowed per 9 innings, and 24th in strikeout-to-walk ratio. UCI hitters have the best on-base, most BB, and HBP, and pitchers have issued the least walks in the Big West
+ Big West leaders include Anthony Martinez in hits, Will Bermudez in HBP, Chase Call in BB, Jo Oyama in SB, and the top three in runs in Martinez, Oyama, and Caden Kendle
+ Chase Call's 38 walks lead the Big West. His 35-game on-base streak ended Saturday; Caden Kendle's the new high at 28 games currently along with six straight with an RBI for Abraham Garcia-Pacheco and six with a run for Martinez

SEEING IT WELL

+ Luke Spillane played his 150th career game over the weekend and became the 19th 'Eater with 30 career steals
+ UCI's bullpen has thrown 61% of the innings this season registering a 17-6 record and 3.77 ERA as a unit. Nick Rincover has appeared in 10 straight games throwing shutout ball in 12 of his last 13 outings.
+ Finnegan Wall threw 19.2 innings in April with opponents hitting .208 and a 2.29 ERA
+ Caden Kendle has reached in 39 of 40 games this season. In Big West games, he's hitting .400 with 22 runs scored. Sunday he left the yard for his 10th career home run
+ Will Bermudez committed his first error Sunday in his 148th chance. His .993 fielding percentage is tied atop the Big West while ranking ninth with 86 assists.
+ Away from home, UCI is 15-5 hitting .307 as a team with Anthony Martinez at .477.
+ In Big West games, 'Eaters leading all players are Myles Smith with six steals and Luke Spillane with a .531 OBP
+ The offense has 27 innings of 4+ runs, nine of 6 or more

FOUL TIPS

+ 14 Anteaters are playing pro ball with three in Triple-A and three in Double-A joining the two MLBers. Calvin Faucher with the Tampa Bay Rays and Andre Pallante with the St. Louis Cardinals were each on Opening Day rosters
+ Andre Pallante represented Team Italy in the World Baseball Classic this year in their run to the Quarterfinals

AROUND THE HORN

9th - The Big West is the 9th-best conference in the nation to this point in the 2023 season with a non-conference winning percentage of .547
7 - UCI enters the week with 7 wins in 8 midweek matchups in 2023 and head coach Orloff 21-10 all-time in midweeks. He's also 7-0 vs. the Pac-12 this year putting him 29-15 vs. the Pac-12 all-time
30 - Luke Spillane stole career base No. 30 over the weekend, the 19th Anteater in program history. He leads all active 'Eaters with 151 games played, 134 H, 91 R, 90 RBI, 50 BB, and 27 HBP
56 - UCI has collected 56 infield hits this year. Jo Oyama leads all with 12 followed by 7 each from Myles Smith and Caden Kendle

SCOUTING THE BRUINS

The last matchup on April 18 went UCI's way, 12-4, at Jackie Robinson Stadium with the Bruins ranked No. 22. UCI scored first and never looked back especially with an 8-run fifth inning to go up 10-0 capped by a three-run Jo Oyama double. David Vizcaino's 3.2 shutout innings gave him his second win over UCLA.

The 2023 squad is 24-15-1 with a 10-9-1 conference mark. The Bruins are finishing up eight straight road games on Tuesday in which they are 3-4 losing 2 of 3 at ranked USC and Stanford programs with a midweek win at LMU slid in the middle.

The offense hits .263 collectively averaging 6.4 runs a game. It prides itself at getting on base ranking second in the Pac-12 in walks and laying down their share of sac hits. Duce Gourson (.312, 8 HR, 38 RBI) drives the offense that's hit 43 home runs with JonJon Vaughns and Jack Holman adding eight of their own

Pitching always paces UCLA with the 10th-best ERA, fifth-best WHIP and strikeout-to-walk ratio. Senior Josh Hahn starts on the mound for just his second appearance this year and 12th in his UCLA career. A stable of arms are ready in the pen behind Cody Delvecchio (30 G, 38.2 IP, 40 K) and Charles Harrison (1.19, 34 K)

ALL-TIME SERIES

UCLA and UC Irvine renew their home-and-home midweek matchup with former coach John Savage. The Bruins hold the edge all-time, 57-36-1 with UCI at 20-24-1 at home, but the 'Eaters have won the last three meetings including 12-4 on April 18

SCOUTING THE RAINBOW WARRIORS

The 'Bows are in their second year under head coach Rich Hill after 20 at USD. He delivered them their best finish in the Big West last season at third place and 19-11

The 2023 squad is 21-15 making most of their hay at home with 13 wins that's included a three-game sweep of Tulane. They're 8-8 away from the island with losses to USD and SDSU while going 2-1 against Big Ten squads in Minneapolis in March.

The offense averages just over six runs a game with a .268 average. UH is lower in the Big West in hits, scoring, and steals, but find themselves with a lot of doubles and sacrifice bunts, and are powered by veterans Matt Wong and Kyson Donahue who each have six home runs, hit over .300, and have driven in at least 30 runs

Pitching is one of the better staffs in the Big West with a top-4 ERA, holding teams with under 10 hits and five walks a game, and roll up a lot of double plays. The rotation has been consistent with Harry Gustin (2-3, 53 K), Randy Abshier (4-1, 49 K), and Alex Giroux (3-1, 3:1 K:BB) all posting sub-3.50 ERAs. Harrison Bodendorf (5-1, 42 K) and Connor Harrison (2.17, 7 Sv) also put up big numbers out of the bullpen

ALL-TIME SERIES

Hawai'i and the Anteaters match up for the 10th Big West series since UH joined in 2013. UCI has a 36-13 edge all-time including 21-7 since 2013 and seven wins in nine previous series. At Anteater Ballpark, UCI is 18-2 against the Rainbow Warriors losing the only two games in 2018

DOWN THE LINE

UCI takes to the road for another week traveling to San Diego Tuesday to take on the Toreros before a huge three-game series at CSUN with three day games

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