Baseball Takes On USD, CSUN, Arizona in Next Six Days

MIDWEEK

UC Irvine Anteaters (30-14, 12-9) at San Diego Toreros (22-22-1, 15-9)
Fowler Park at Cunningham Field - San Diego, Calif.
Tuesday - 6:00 PM | WCC Network | KUCI | Live Stats

THE SERIES

MONDAY

UC Irvine Anteaters (31-14, 12-9) vs. Arizona Wildcats (25-20, 9-15)
Cicerone Field at Anteater Ballpark - Irvine, Calif.
Tuesday - 6:00 PM | ESPN+ | KUCI | Live Stats

Gameday Page
Game Notes

PITCHING PROBABLES

Tuesday: UCI RHP David Vizcaino vs. USD RHP Jack Bunnell
Friday: UCI RHP Finnegan Wall vs. CSUN RHP Lucas Braun
Saturday: UCI RHP Michael Stanford vs. CSUN RHP Thomas Bainton
Sunday: UCI LHP Nick Pinto vs. CSUN LHP Jon Mocherman
Monday: TBD

LEADING OFF

+ UC Irvine sits alone in fifth in the Big West at 12-9 with nine games to go. 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 50, 10 wins against Power 5 opponents, a 6-3 record against top 50 RPI, and a strength of schedule rated 67th. UCI is receiving two votes in the College Baseball HOF poll.
+ The 'Eaters are 8-1 in midweek matchups to this point. In those games, the team is hitting .304 while the staff has a 2.85 ERA with 90 strikeouts in 82 innings
+ Away from Anteater Ballpark, UCI is 15-5 and 7-1 in the month of April. The team is hitting .307 led by a .477-mark from freshman Anthony Martinez (41 H, 28 R, 5 HR, 18 RBI)
+ UCI is 8-0 against the Pac-12 with a matchup left vs. Arizona. Under coach Orloff, UCI is 30-15 against the conference over the past five seasons, they've outscored their Pac-12 opponents 78-38, and have 10 wins over Power 5 schools.

BATTING AROUND

+ The 'Eaters are third in the nation in sacrifice flies at 35, one behind Marist and USC Upstate for the most.
+ UCI is also top 25 nationally sitting 10th in HBP, 16th in least BB per 9 innings, 17th in sac bunts, and 21nd in K-to-BB ratio. UCI has the highest on-base, most HBP, BB, and runs, and pitchers have issued the least BB in the Big West
+ Big West leaders include Anthony Martinez in hits and on-base percentage, Will Bermudez in HBP, Chase Call in walks, and Caden Kendle in runs scored and RBIs

SEEING IT WELL

+ Nick Pinto earned Big West Pitcher of the Week from his 11-strikeout performance Sunday. Pinto scored his 15th career win going 7.2 innings allowing a run, three hits, and no walks while retiring the first 17 batters of the game. It's his third Pitcher of the Week honor and first since 2021.
+ Anteater starters came through last week in four starts picking up three wins on 22.1 IP, 10 H, 3 ER, 5 BB, 24 K
+ Luke Spillane leads active Anteaters with 155 games played and became the 19th Anteater with 30 career steals. He stands four at-bats from 500 and eight RBIs from 100
+ Caden Kendle has reached in 43 of 44 games this season. He's reached in 32 straight games, 1 of 5 'Eaters sporting an on-base streak of 10 games or more, and his hit streak of seven straight games is currently the team's highest
+ Will Bermudez committed his first error vs. CSUB on his 148th chance. His .994 fielding percentage is tied atop the Big West while ranking ninth with 96 assists.
+ In Big West games, 'Eaters leading all players are Luke Spillane with a .488 OBP and Caden Kendle's 26 runs scored
+ The offense has 28 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
17 - Nick Pinto retired the first 17 hitters on Sunday, perfect for 5.2 innings. Pinto added 11 strikeouts, one off his career high, helping him to win his 3rd career Big West Pitcher of the Week honor
150 - Head Coach Ben Orloff recorded win No. 150 of his career Sunday coming on the birthday of legendary head coach, Mike Gillespie. UCI also secured its 20th winning season in the last 22
6 - The Anteaters had their highest win streak of 6 games last week. They enter the week having won their last 6 road games

SCOUTING THE TOREROS

The 2023 matchups have both gone UCI's way coming from behind in each. In February as part of the Tony Gwynn Legacy, UCI had a pair of six-run innings to overtake and run away with a 12-6 victory. The last meeting in April at Anteater Ballpark, Anthony Martinez hit a game-tying home run and later singled home the go-ahead RBI with two outs to give UCI the 3-2 midweek win.

USD enters the week an even 22-22-1 battling atop the West Coast Conference at 15-9. Tuesday will be USD's final home game with a series at Saint Mary's remaining

The offense puts down nearly seven runs a game while excelling at hit by pitch and sac bunts. Kevin Sim runs the show with 13 home runs, 40 RBIs, and a .298 average. Other notables include Justin DeCriscio (.340), Austin Smith (39 RBI), and three of the toughest to strikeout in the nation starting with James Arakawa every 13.3 at-bats.

Pitching is one of the better teams in the conference and earning strikeouts and not issuing walks. The Toreros have used 15 pitchers over the two games with a few in Aidan Gonzalez, Drake Frize, and Tristan LaMaison showing up in both

ALL-TIME SERIES

San Diego and the 'Eaters meet up for a third time this season, the first time since the 2010 season. UCI and USD will meet for the 114th time, the most matchups for UCI baseball against any one non-conference opponent. The 'Eaters have won the last three matchups to go ahead 62-50-1 in the series and a 32-26 mark at USD

SCOUTING THE MATADORS

The 2022 Matadors sent head coach Dave Serrano out with a 32-22 record a year ago and a fourth-place finish in the Big West going 17-13

The 2023 squad is back in the win column at 27-14 so far. The Matadors stand a game ahead of UCI in fourth place at 13-8 and have a 15-5 record at their home park. Just once has CSUN swept or been swept taking down UC Riverside at home, and have added series wins over Creighton and at Long Beach State

The offense top the Big West despite playing less games than most teams topping the Big West with a .304 average and stand second in on-base while scoring 7.7 runs a game. Among the hitting stars are Jakob Simons (1.146 OPS, 12 HR, 41 RBI, 41 R, 10 SB), Ali Camarillo (.350, 37 RBI), and Graysen Tarlow (.316, 38 R, 11 2B, 35 RBI).

Pitching is much-improved under first-year head coach Eddie Cornejo. CSUN's 4.83 ERA is boosted by one of the best defenses with just 35 errors. Frontline duo of Thomas Bainton (6-1, 3.49) and Lucas Braun (4-4, 4.52, 81 K) are a force along with bullpen arms Xavier Martinez (0.92, 40 K) and Joshua Romero (9 saves, 3.86)

ALL-TIME SERIES

CSUN and UC Irvine return to the diamond with the 'Eaters ahead in the all-time series, 51-36. The series goes to a difficult place for opponents in Matador Field and UCI just 20-22 there all-time. The sides split in 2021 at CSUN and the Matadors won the series in 2022 winning twice in extras while UCI came back Sunday to walkoff

DOWN THE LINE

UCI added a makeup game after two were canceled due to weather in March, and that will take place Monday, May 15, directly after the three-game series with CSUN. The 'Eaters match up with their fifth different Pac-12 opponent this year, and look to stay unbeaten entering the game 8-0 against the conference as it battles Arizona in Anteater Ballpark. UCI then has an extra day to prepare for another road weekend heading to UC Davis for three starting May 19.

Schedule