MIDWEEK

UC Irvine Anteaters (25-7, 11-4 Big West) vs. USC Trojans (17-18, 10-6 Pac-12)
Cicerone Field at Anteater Ballpark (3,408) - Irvine, Calif.

Wednesday - 6:00 PM | ESPN+ | KUCI | Live Stats

PITCHING PROBABLES
Wednesday: UCI LHP Ryder Brooks vs. USC RHP Michael Ebner
 

THE SERIES

UC Irvine Anteaters (25-8, 11-4 Big West) vs. San Diego State Aztecs (11-25, 5-13 Mountain West)
Friday & Sunday: Cicerone Field at Anteater Ballpark (3,408) - Irvine, Calif.
Saturday: Tony Gwynn Stadium (3,000) - San Diego, Calif.

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

PITCHING PROBABLES
Friday: UCI LHP Nick Pinto vs. SDSU RHP Jacob Riordan
Saturday: UCI RHP Trevor Hansen vs. SDSU RHP Omar Serrano
Sunday: UCI LHP Brandon Luu vs. SDSU RHP Xavier Cardenas III

Gameday Page
Game Notes
Scout Pack

AROUND THE HORN
#15 - UC Irvine enters the week ranked in five polls with Baseball America coming in the highest at #15
45 - Caden Kendle was named 1 of 45 players to the USA Baseball's Golden Spikes Award Midseason Watch List
4th - The Anteaters have a team on-base percentage of .438 ranking 4th nationally and 5 starters with OBP over .450
.400 - Caden Kendle (.414) and Woody Hadeen (.400) are 1 of 5 sets of teammates in the NCAA both hitting .400
 
LEADING OFF
+ UC Irvine continues to be ranked nationally highest at No. 15 by Baseball America. They're also 16th via USA Today, 17th from D1Baseball.com, and 18th according to Perfect Game USA and NCBWA
+ UC Irvine stands among the national leaders sitting top 50 in the NCAA is on-base percentage (4th), hit by pitch (4th), fielding percentage (12th), runs per game (15th), sac bunts (20th), doubles per game (20th), sac flies (26th), batting average (29th), ERA (33rd), walks allowed per 9 innings (34th), runs (34th), strikeout-to-walk ratio (46th), and base on balls (48th).
+ Anteaters among the nation's best start with Woody Hadeen at fifth in runs per game, 15th in total runs, 19th in on-base, and 45th in batting, Caden Kendle at 13th in hits per game, 18th in batting and sac flies, 23rd in doubles per game, and 48th in RBIs per game, Ricky Tibbett 20th in saves, Anthony Martinez at 33rd in RBIs per game and 82nd-toughest to strikeout, and Jo Oyama at 24th in hit by pitch, 38th in sac bunts, and 41st in triples.
+ Nearing the midpoint of conference play, the 'Eaters hold a slim edge at first place at 11-4. As a team, UCI tops the Big West in batting, hits, doubles, triples, runs and runs per game, slugging, on-base, hit by pitch, and fielding.
+ Conference stat leaders include the Big West leader in batting Caden Kendle, Woody Hadeen topping the Big West in runs and tied in hits, Anthony Martinez leading in RBIs, and Jo Oyama tied for the triples lead.
+ UCI's impressive offense includes two 'Eaters batting over .400 with Caden Kendle (.414) and Woody Hadeen (.400). They join Wofford, Northeastern, Florida State, and Niagara as schools with a pair of teammates hitting .400
+ Fifth-year Anteater starter Nick Pinto is 6-2 over nine starts this season coming off his shortest start last Friday at UCSD. He continues to lead active NCAA pitchers with 55 career starts which is fourth all-time at UCI. After starting the year 10th on the program's career strikeout list, he's moved to fourth surpassing Trenton Denholm, Elliot Surrey, Justin Cassel, Andre Pallante, Brett Smith, and Gary Wheelock now with 284 in his career.
+ A number of 'Eaters had productive weeks on the road:
Þ Myles Smith made a huge impact while still not 100%. He led the team hitting .462 with six RBIs reaching 10 times in all and hitting his second HR of the year
Þ Woody Hadeen continued to sizzle with six hits, walking eight times, scoring eight times, and did not strike out. He now has a hit and run scored in 15 consecutive games and raised his season average to .400
Þ Bullpen arms having good weeks included Nick Rincover who went three scoreless and holds a 0.00 ERA in 10 games this year, Max Martin earning save among his four innings pitched, and David Butler registering his first three collegiate innings allowing one baserunner and recording his first career strikeout
Þ Trevor Hansen got back on the winning side Saturday with 4.2 no-hit innings out of the gate at UC San Diego

SCOUTING THE TROJANS 
USC and UC Irvine played just last week with the Trojans breaking UCI's winning streak with a 12-5 win at LMU's Page Stadium. UCI holds the series lead at 38-35 and 17-15 in home games. USC has already played in Anteater Ballpark hosting Oregon State in late March winning both of their games as one of the sites USC will play in while their home field is being renovated.

The Trojans are an historically good college baseball program, but have made just one postseason berth since 2005 with that coming in 2015. Andy Stankiewicz has taken over and won 34 games last year in his first season. The 2024 season started off terribly with the team 0-5 and 3-11 at points, but they've turned it around now at 17-18 winning series over Stanford, Oregon State, and Washington along with single wins over UCLA, Arizona, and Fresno State, and winning once in their most recent series up at nationally-ranked Oregon.

The offense utilizes its speed with triples, steals, and sacrifices as their strong suits. Austin Overn's five triples stand out along with team highs in home runs, steals, and run. Jacob Galloway is also dangerous hitting .347 with 29 RBIs while Ryan Jackson (HR, 3 RBI) and Ethan Hedges (4-for-5, HR, 3 RBI) terrorized the Anteaters last Tuesday. The offense was held back against a tough Oregon staff scoring eight runs with top contributors being Hedges (3 H, 2 RBI) and Kevin Takeuchi (HR, 4 RBI) while the Trojans managed their one 4-2 win on just three hits.

Pitching has gotten the Trojans back in the right direction with a 4.58 team ERA and above average marks in WHIP, strikeouts, hits allowed, and one of the better fielding Pac-12 teams. Fisher Johnson shut down the 'Eaters over three innings last week and has a 1.35 ERA to this point. The Trojans have a Tuesday matchup in Irvine vs. San Diego before coming to UCI. Garren Rizzo got the call last week vs. the Anteaters and has made the last four Tuesday starts.
 
SCOUTING THE AZTECS
San Diego State and UC Irvine play their first weekend series since 2014 playing twice in Anteater Ballpark and once at Tony Gwynn Stadium. The sides have played 98 times with the Aztecs ahead in the series, 57-40-1, but the 'Eaters have a three-game win streak in the series and have won six of the last eight contests.

The Aztecs are in the first year under head coach Shaun Cole who spent three seasons as the team's pitching coach before being elevated. Cole took over for Mark Martinez who retired following 2023 where the Aztecs were Mountain West regular season champions. Cole was part of Arizona's College World Series staff of 2012. The 2023 Aztecs are just 11-24 to this point of 2024 with a Tuesday date at Long Beach State upcoming. They've won just one series this year vs. New Mexico, and have added single wins over Cal Poly, Fresno State, Missouri, and Portland.

The offense puts up 5.3 runs a game and hitting .268 as a team. Freshman Colby Turner is the big bat leading the offense with a .378 average, 15 extra-base hits, and 29 RBIs leading the team in each. Former Anteater Shaun Montoya continues to steady bat with a .331 average and the team leader in hits (48), runs (30), and steals (7). Other contributors include Irvin Weems (4 HR, 21 RBI) and Brady Lavoie (4 HR, 17 RBI) in addition to a slew of freshmen in Cole's first recruiting class that can be seen across the starting lineup.

Pitching is obviously coach Cole's bread and butter, but the Aztecs have struggled to this point with a 7.05 ERA and high HBP and walk marks. Grad transfer Jacob Riordan threw a no-hitter recently and leads the team with 48 strikeouts and is flanked in the rotation by Xavier Cardenas III (1-5, 8.17) and Omar Serrano (3-4, 4.25). Six arms in the bullpen have over 18 innings with the four saves spread among four pitchers, meanwhile the defense ranks low with 46 errors behind them.