THE SERIES

UC Irvine Anteaters (22-3, 8-1 Big West) vs. UC Santa Barbara Gauchos (16-8, 4-2 Big West)
Cicerone Field at Anteater Ballpark - Irvine, Calif.

Friday - 6:00 PM | ESPN+ | KUCI | Live Stats
Saturday - 5:30 PM | ESPN2 | KUCI | Live Stats
Sunday - 1:00 PM | ESPN+ | KUCI | Live Stats

PITCHING PROBABLES
Friday: UCI LHP Nick Pinto vs. UCSB RHP Ryan Gallagher
Saturday: UCI RHP Trevor Hansen vs. UCSB LHP Mike Gutierrez
Sunday: UCI LHP Brandon Luu vs. UCSB RHP Matt Ager

Gameday Page
Game Notes
Scout Pack

AROUND THE HORN
#14 - UC Irvine enters the week ranked in five polls with Baseball America coming in the highest at #14
4 - UCI joins Florida St., Oregon St., and Tennessee as 1 of 4 programs ranked top 20 in runs per game and ERA
18 - UCI's winning streak ended at 18 games, 2nd-longest in UCI history, and the 12-0 start was best in UCI history
3.62 - UCI's freshman pitchers have registered a 3.62 ERA accounting for 14 starts, 97 innings, and an 11-0 record

+ UC Irvine's winning did not take a Spring Break going 4-0 last week with three saves. The 'Eaters have improved to 8-1 in Big West play with a two-game lead on the next team.
+ The offense hit .340 last week with 10 runs a game
Þ Anthony Martinez had his first career 2-HR game Thursday with multiple RBIs in all four games last week. He has 18 RBIs in nine Big West contests
Þ Caden Kendle put up back-to-back 4-hit games hitting .550 over the week and now .452 on the year
Þ Woody Hadeen is hitting .500 in Big West play with 14 runs, four doubles, and three steals in three attempts
+ The Anteaters are beginning to make a national name for themselves statistically. The 'Eaters enter the week ranked 20th with a 3.90 ERA and 15th with an offense scoring 9.4 runs per game. They are 1 of 4 programs within the top 20 in both along with Oregon St., Tennessee, and Florida St.
+ UC Irvine stands among the national leaders in addition to their runs per game and ERA marks. Elsewhere, they are top 50 in hit by pitch (2nd), sacrifice bunts (7th), on-base percentage (8th), fielding percentage (20th), doubles per game (22nd), walks allowed per nine innings (25th), runs (31st), batting average (33rd), strikeout-to-walk ratio (35th), WHIP (42nd), and triples (47th)
+ Anteaters among the nation's best starting with Caden Kendle's 1.9 hits per game to lead the NCAA, eighth in batting, and 21st in on-base, Ricky Tibbett fourth in saves, Nick Pinto ninth in wins and 19th in ERA, Jo Oyama 15th in HBP, Anthony Martinez 27th in RBIs per game, 41st in toughest to strikeouts (1 in 11.8 AB), and 89th in hits, and Woody Hadeen 28th in runs scored per game
+ UCI started 2024 12-0, the 'Eaters' best-ever start to a season. At 22-3, it's the best start through 25 games in program history with the previous best being 20-5 in the 2008 and 2014 seasons.
+ Fifth-year Anteater starter Nick Pinto is 5-1 over seven starts this season delivering the 22nd win of his career Thursday. He continues to lead active NCAA pitchers with 53 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 277 in his career.
+ UC Irvine's pitching held back a potent Hawai'i offense highlighted by the bullpen posting a 1.84 ERA, stranding 7 of 10 runners they inherited, and recording two saves. Those saves came from Ricky Tibbett who allowed no runs in three innings. Ryder Brooks allowed one over 6.2 innings including three shutout frames Saturday on his birthday. Nick Rincover has pitched each of the last five games since getting healthy allowing three baserunners, no runs, and picking up his first career win in Friday's tight contest.
+ UC Irvine rose in the national rankings now at No. 14 by Baseball America, the team's highest ranking since May 2021. They're also 16th on D1Baseball.com, 17th for National Collegiate Baseball Writers of America and USA Today, and 19th according to Perfect Game USA
 
SCOUTING THE GAUCHOS
UC Santa Barbara and UC Irvine have been nearly even after 125 all-time meetings: UC Irvine 63 wins, UC Santa Barbara 62 wins. The programs meet in 2024 as the two teams atop the Big West preseason projections with UCSB picked to win the conference and taking nine of the 11 first-place votes. Last season, the sides split the first two games in Santa Barbara before UCI won the rubber match convincingly. This year, it turns to Anteater Ballpark where UCI is 35-23 all-time

The Gauchos had reached three straight postseasons before falling out of the picture late last season finishing 18-12 in Big West with 35 overall wins. 2024 began with a tough road trip to Campbell losing 2 of 3, but turning it around with series wins at Sac State, Oregon, and vs. UConn all while dealing with home field drama. They swept Long Beach State before dropping a series at Cal Poly with midweek losses to Pepperdine and UCLA mixed in. The Gauchos have been vulnerable away from home where they've picked up all eight of their losses as they sit at 16-8.

The offense is always dangerous hitting .295 this year with eight runs a game and a slugging percentage behind only the Anteaters. Top bats are catcher Brendan Durfee (.350, 4 HR, 20 RBI), Jessada Brown (.346, 4 HR), and Nick Oakley (.310, 26 RBI) in a lineup full of homerun hitters like Zander Darby (4 HR) and Justin Trimble (5 HR) and some like Aaron Parker (14-game hitting streak) and freshman Jonathan Mendez (11-game hit streak) part of the deep hitting attack

Pitching is the cornerstone of coach Checketts' teams entering with a 4.50 ERA. They're one of the best at not allowing hits - just 7.4 per game, with Ryan Gallagher leading the nation at under four per nine innings. He and star reliever Tyler Bremner are also averaging over 10 strikeouts per nine. Mike Gutierrez is back to his form (4-0, 3.32) and Jackson Flora (3 saves, 3.91) effecting as a starter and reliever, all while preseason All-American Matt Ager (2-2, 1 Sv, 4.67) is lurking.