MIDWEEK

UC Irvine Anteaters (32-8, 14-4 Big West) at San Diego Toreros (30-12, 14-4 WCC)
Fowler Park and Cunningham Field (1,700) - San Diego, Calif.

Tuesday - 6:05 PM | ESPN+ | KUCI | Live Stats

PITCHING PROBABLES
Tuesday: UCI RHP Tim Grack vs. USD RHP Ryan Kysar
 

THE SERIES

UC Irvine Anteaters (33-8, 14-4 Big West) vs. Cal Poly Mustangs (26-16, 15-6 Big West)
Cicerone Field at Anteater Ballpark (3,408) - Irvine, Calif.

Friday - 6:00 PM | ESPN+ | KUCI | Live Stats | City of Irvine Day
Saturday - 1:00 PM | ESPN+ | KUCI | Live Stats | 1973 & 1974 UCI Baseball Reunion | May the 4th Star Wars Day
Sunday - 1:00 PM | ESPN+ | KUCI | Live Stats | 2014 UCI Baseball CWS Reunion

PITCHING PROBABLES
Friday: UCI LHP Nick Pinto vs. CP LHP Jakob Wright
Saturday: UCI RHP Trevor Hansen vs. CP RHP Steven Brooks
Sunday: UCI LHP Brandon Luu vs. CP RHP Griffin Naess

Gameday Page
Game Notes
Scout Pack

AROUND THE HORN
#9 - UC Irvine enters the top 10 in national polls for the first time since 2014 according to D1Baseball.com at #9
3rd - Head Coach Ben Orloff surpassed the legend Gary Adams for 3rd in wins all-time at UC Irvine
6th - UCI claimed its 6th player of the week honor as Myles Smith picked up his first Big West weekly accolade
117 - UCI's 117 HBP leads the NCAA; that follows 133 in 2023 when it was 2nd in the nation and set a UCI record
 
LEADING OFF
+ UC Irvine continues to be ranked nationally highest at No. 9 by D1Baseball.com. They're also 10th via Perfect Game USA and USA Today, 11th in the NCBWA poll, and 12th by Baseball America.
+ UC Irvine stands among the national leaders leading the nation with 117 hit by pitch and top 50 in on-base percentage (3rd), fielding percentage (8th), runs per game (12th), sac flies (13th), doubles per game (23rd), batting average (24th), walks (24th), sac bunts (27th), walks allowed per 9 innings (44th), and ERA (45th).
+ Anteaters among the nation's best including Nick Pinto fifth in wins, 49th in ERA, and 83rd in strikeouts, Ricky Tibbett seventh in saves, Woody Hadeen sixth in on-base, 24th in walks and runs, 55th in batting, and 82nd in hits per game, Caden Kendle fourth in sac flies, 20th in hits per game, 21st in batting, and 40th in on-base, Anthony Martinez 47th in RBIs and 62nd toughest to strikeout, and Jo Oyama 11th in HBP and 70th with Will Bermudez in triples.
+ With four conference weekends remaining, the 'Eaters are tied atop the standings at 14-4 with UCSB and CSUN while 0.5 games ahead of Cal Poly. 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.
+ Big West leaders include three 'Eaters top 7 in batting, slugging, and on-base with Myles Smith topping for average and on-base, Woody Hadeen in runs and walks, and Anthony Martinez in RBIs among four Anteaters in the top five.
+ Head Coach Ben Orloff recently passed Gary Adams for third all-time in UCI coaching wins. In addition, he picked up his 50th series win, 100th win against a Big West opponent, and 100th victory at Anteater Ballpark
+ Fifth-year Anteater starter Nick Pinto won his eighth game of the year Friday, a new single-season high, and scored his 25th career win. He continues to lead active NCAA pitchers with 57 career starts which is third all-time at UCI. Pinto became the fourth Anteater pitcher all-time to reach 300 career strikeouts last Friday at UC Riverside joining Glenn Swanson, Scott Gorgen, and all-time leader Daniel Bibona whom he trails by 30 strikeouts.
+ The 'Eaters went 4-0 last week starting with a ninth-inning comeback at UCLA and finished with a weekend road sweep outscoring the Highlanders 42-11.
Þ Myles Smith had a monster week at the plate earning his first Big West Field Player of the Week. He hit .600 with two 4-hit games, a 2-HR game of three on the weekend, and led UCI with nine RBIs and eight runs
Þ Dub Gleed returned after his second injury absence to collect five hits including a home run and five driven in and avoided any strikeouts in 17 plate appearances
Þ Pitching saw good outings from David Utagawa who struck out five in three games and earned his first save, Ricky Ojeda who threw 2.2 shutdown innings Sunday, and good freshman starts from Brandon Luu (W, 5 IP, 3 ER), Trevor Hansen (W, 5 IP, 2 ER), and Tim Grack on Tuesday (4 IP, 3 ER, 3 K) holding back UCLA
 
SCOUTING THE TOREROS
San Diego and the Anteaters meet for a second time this season after UCI gutted out a 3-1 Friday night win back in March. The pair were scheduled to play a midweek after the first weekend of 2024 but it was washed out by rain. The sides have met 115 times in their history with UC Irvine holding the edge 64-50-1 with 33 wins coming at San Diego.

The Toreros are on the same trajectory as UCI with a 30-12 record this year and a 14-4 mark in WCC play to lead the conference. They also come in with an eight-game winning streak in a season where they've impressed in conference with series wins vs. Arizona and Michigan, two wins over USC, and single wins on the road at ranked Texas and Dallas Baptist squads. They've also torched the Big West going 5-1 against CSUN, UCSD, and Cal State Fullerton.

The offense posted just one run against Nick Pinto and the crew in the earlier matchup, but is explosive leading their conference with a .306 average and 7.8 runs per game. Jakob Christian has taken off with 19 HR and 49 RBI with a lineup full of fireworks around him like Jack Gurevitch (.366, 7 HR, 30 RBI), Jack Costello (12 2B, 7 HR, 49 RBI), and two-way player Austin Smith (.329, 7 HR). The team also excels at sacrifices ranking ninth in the NCAA

Pitching holds a lot of the accolades with a 4.33 ERA and even better numbers for WHIP (14th in NCAA) and strikeouts (10.7 per 9 innings). Lately, Ryan Kysar has drawn midweek assignments averaging four innings and five strikeouts in the last three outings. The bullpen has depth with big backend arms like Connor Thurman (3-0, 3 Sv, 1.33), Drake Frize (3-1, 2 Sv, 2.11), and Ivran Romero (6-1, 2 Sv, 3.34) all equipped with gaudy strikeout numbers in addition to well-used Calvin Schapira, Vaughn Mauterer, and Alex Schrier as the whole staff plays in from of a defense ranked 11th in the nation in fielding percentage
 
SCOUTING THE MUSTANGS
Cal Poly and UC Irvine kick May off with an important series. The Anteaters hold a 36-31 lead in the all-time series, but Cal Poly has won the last two. This series hasn't seen a sweep for either side since 2012 with the 'Eaters just a small 17-16 advantage in home matchups.

The Mustangs are 25-16 and right in the hunt for a Big West title at 15-6 in conference play with losses to Fullerton, Bakersfield, and two at Hawai'i amongst them, but big series wins over CSUN and UC Santa Barbara. The Mustangs have had the luxury of playing at home with a 19-10 mark at Baggett Stadium including a win over Missouri and three to Ohio State. CP is 6-6 in their brief road stints including being swept at Texas and Big West trips to Fullerton, Riverside, and Hawai'i.

The offense is above average in most respects hitting .290 with nearly six runs scored a game. They also have 33 sac bunts and 11 triples with low totals in walks, home runs, and steals. Jake Steels is a menace hitting at a .409 clip flanked by draft prospect Ryan Stafford (.367, 4 HR, 36 RBI) and a host of other contributors. Alejandro Garza is one ranking as the second-toughest player to strikeout in the nation for a team that is very difficult to strikeout including Joe Yorke who recently took over the all-time RBI mark in Cal Poly history.

Pitching has led the way for head coach Larry Lee's bunch with a 4.01 ERA and 2.75 strikeouts to every walk with low numbers allowing 8.8 hits per game and 3.1 walks. The weekend rotation of Jakob Wright (6-2, 2.71, 74 K), Steven Brooks (5-5, 4.50, 56 K), and freshman Griffin Naess (6-0, 3.31, 45 K) have held down the fort while the bullpen answers the call led by closer Tanner Sagouspe (4-2, 6 Sv, 2.56) with 26 strikeouts in 38.2 innings and arms like Jake Torres (23 G, 42 IP, 3.86), Ryan Baum (18 G, 41 IP, 4.83), and Caden Pearlman (12 G) getting most of the weekend chances.