THE SERIES

UC Irvine Anteaters (35-17, Big West 16-11) vs. UC Riverside Highlanders (11-38, Big West 5-22)
Cicerone Field at Anteater Ballpark - Irvine, Calif.
** Mesa Parking Structure will be closed Saturday due to a graduation ceremony and not available for parking to any fans attending the game**

Thursday - 6:00 PM | ESPN+ | KUCI | Live Stats | Salute to Heroes Night
Friday - 6:00 PM | ESPN+ | KUCI | Live Stats
**Saturday - 1:00 PM | ESPN+ | KUCI  | Live Stats | Senior Day Celebration Pregame Ceremony

Gameday Page
Game Notes
Scout Pack

 

PITCHING PROBABLES

Thursday: UCI RHP Michael Stanford vs. UCR TBA
Friday: UCI LHP Nick Pinto vs. UCR TBA
Saturday: UCI TBD vs. UCR TBA

LEADING OFF

+ UCI's at-large hopes hinge on their resume with an RPI at 43, 10 wins against Power 5 opponents, 13 wins in their last 17 games, a strength of schedule rated 77th, and one of the last four in the tournament according to D1Baseball.com. UCI is receiving two votes in the College Baseball HOF poll.
+ UCI is fifth in the Big West standings two back of UCSB and Cal State Fullerton for the automatic NCAA berth
+ Away from Anteater Ballpark, UCI finishes the regular season 20-7 and 12-3 in April and May. The team is hitting .309 led by a .492-mark from freshman Anthony Martinez (52 H, 33 R, 8 HR, 29 RBI)
+ The 'Eaters finish 9-2 in midweek matchups with a 2.70 staff ERA. UCI also went 8-1 against the Pac-12 outscoring them 81-42 and 10-3 overall against Power 5 teams.
 

BATTING AROUND

+ The 'Eaters have 47 sacrifice flies now leading the nation
+ UCI is also top 25 nationally sitting second in HBP, seventh in least BB per 9 innings, 13th in sac bunts, 16th in K-to-BB ratio, 18th in on-base percentage, and 39th in winning percentage and ERA.
+ Anthony Martinez ranks seventh nationally in hits per game, 10th in hits, and 14th in batting average
+ Big West leaders include Anthony Martinez in hits, hitting, OBP, and RBI, Will Bermudez in HBP, Chase Call in walks, and Caden Kendle in runs scored. The team tops the Big West in runs, hits, BB, HBP, OBP, sac flies and hits while sitting 2nd in batting average, and 3rd in steals and SB %
 

SEEING IT WELL

+ Anthony Martinez is hitting .408, tops in the Big West, and has won Big West Field Player of the Week twice. He now has 11 HR, two streaks of three or more games with a homer. His splits have him hitting .492 away from home, .393 in Big West, .434 with 2 outs, and .387 with RISP
+ Jacob King secured his 20th career save on Friday making him the 4th Anteater with 20 in a career. He's thrown 11.2 consecutive shutout innings and stranded 12 of the last 13 runners he's inherited in relief
+ Luke Spillane leads active Anteaters with 163 career games played and became the 19th Anteater with 30 career steals. He is one run from 100 and two RBIs from 100 career
+ Caden Kendle has reached in 51 of 52 games this season. He's reached in 40 straight games topping his 38-game streak between 2022 and 2023. He has scored a run in 12 straight games and had a 14-game hit streak snapped
+ Will Bermudez committed his second error of the season Sunday. His .990 fielding percentage leads the Big West while ranking fifth with 117 assists.
+ The offense has 31 innings of 4+ runs, 10 with 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

2nd - The 'Eaters finish with a 19-6 record on the road ranking as the 2nd-best mark in all of college baseball
47 - UCI has the national lead in sacrifice flies with 47 with four Anteaters collecting five or more
.408 - Anthony Martinez is hitting .408. Only 3 'Eaters have ever hit over .400(Hiura, T. Spence, Nagle)
43 - 34 teams will earn at-large berths to the NCAA Tournament. Entering the week, UC Irvine's RPI stands at 43
 

SCOUTING THE HIGHLANDERS

The Highlanders enter the final weekend of 2023 with an 11-38 overall record with quality wins over USC, LMU, SDSU, UCSB, and a series win vs. Hawai'i.

The offense is at or near the bottom in most stats amongst Big West squads hitting .256 with the least BB, HBP, runs, and home runs with 16. Anthony McFarland is just outside the top 10 with a .333 average, Jayden Lopez has four triples and homers, and Jacob Shanks is among the Big West leaders in hits, triples, and steals

Pitching also comes in with a high 7.42 ERA allowing the most hits and runs in the conference and recording the least strikeouts. Eight different arms have thrown over 30 innings this year with Cruz Barrios (1-3, 4.74) at the top with 49.1 IP. Eric Marrujo (2-7, 8.58) has  frustrated Anteater hitters before, and names like Tucker Juline (45.1 IP, 5.36), Tyler Frazier (1-1, 5.86), Jake Gebb (2-5, 41.2 IP), and former 'Eater Corbin Baker (44.1 IP, 54 K) all looking to shut down UCI's potent offense
 

ALL-TIME SERIES

UC Riverside and UC Irvine have met 90 times before including the very first UCI baseball game. The Anteaters have the all-time advantage at 59-31 and 34-11 record at home, however UCR has been tough in recent memory taking a game off UCI in six of the last seven series, winning two of them, and walking off Sunday to spoil it in 2023. UCI did take all four games in 2021 including a 9-8 victory in which the 'Eaters trailed, 8-0, halfway through

DOWN THE LINE

UCI completes their regular season this weekend with postseason hopes still alive. The NCAA Tournament field will be announced Monday, May 29, at 9:00 a.m. PT on ESPN2, ESPN+, and the ESPN app