THE SERIES

UC Irvine Anteaters (41-11, 20-7 Big West) vs. CSUN Matadors (29-22, 15-12 Big West)
Cicerone Field at Anteater Ballpark (3,408) - Irvine, Calif.

Thursday - 6:00 PM | ESPN+ | KUCI | Live Stats
Friday - 6:00 PM | ESPN+ | KUCI | Live Stats
Saturday - 1:00 PM | ESPN+ | KUCI | Live Stats

PITCHING PROBABLES
Thursday: UCI LHP Nick Pinto vs. CSUN RHP Kenji Pallares
Friday: UCI RHP Trevor Hansen vs. CSUN RHP Ryan Halamicek
Saturday: UCI RHP Tim Grack vs. CSUN TBD

Game Notes
Gameday Page
Scout Pack

AROUND THE HORN
#13 - UC Irvine has remained ranked nationally all season with all five polls ranking UCI this week and notably at #13
43 - The Anteaters are 43-12 in games away from Anteater Ballpark in the last two seasons (23-5 in 2024)
8th - Myles Smith was named Big West Field Player of the Week for the 3rd time and the 8th award for the team
156 - UC Irvine hitters have been hit by pitch 156 times which is the new single-season NCAA record
 
LEADING OFF
+ UC Irvine continues to be ranked nationally staying strong at No. 13 according to USA Today, NCBWA, and Perfect Game USA, No. 14 via D1Baseball.com, and No. 17 from Baseball America.
+ UC Irvine stands among the national leaders leading the nation with 156 hit by pitch and top 50 in on-base percentage (3rd), hits (10th), runs per game (13th), batting average (13th), walks (15th), runs (16th), doubles per game (18th), sac flies (20th), strikeout-to-walk ratio (24th), sac bunts (27th), walks allowed per 9 innings (32nd), ERA (34th), triples (40th), and WHIP (49th).
+ Anteaters among the nation's best start with Myles Smith who is 4th in on-base percentage, 5th in batting, and 7th in BB per game, Woody Hadeen 7th in on-base, 10th in walks and runs scored, Caden Kendle at 13th in sac flies, 18th in hits per game, and 26th in batting, Nick Pinto 12th in wins, 45th in strikeout-to-walk ratio, and 59th in strikeouts, Jo Oyama 10th in HBP, 19th in sac bunts, and 39th in triples, Anthony Martinez 27th in RBIs and 69th-toughest to strikeout, and Ricky Tibbett 25th in saves.
+ Anteater records fell in a big way last week with Woody Hadeen setting the program's season record in walks with 54 breaking Brady Anderson's 52 and runs scored with 72 surpassing the 69 of Caden Kendle and Taylor Holiday. Anthony Martinez set the RBI record for a season with 68 that had stood since 1972 when Jeff Malinoff had 65. The Anteater offense as a whole has new single-season highs of home runs (58), runs scored (469), walks (309), and now he NCAA single-season record of 156 hit by pitch.
+ Fifth-year Anteater starter Nick Pinto is 1 of 4 Anteaters to reach 300 career strikeouts and stands alone in third place with 323 just 10 away from breaking his coach Daniel Bibona's program record of 332. He's now sixth in wins and innings pitched. His Thursday start will be his 61st and tie Craig Brink for the most in an Anteater career, and he continues to lead all active Division I pitchers in career starts.
+ The 'Eaters went 3-1 against LMU and Cal State Fullerton and have fallen three games back of UC Santa Barbara in the Big West. With three games left, UCI needs three wins vs. CSUN and three losses by UCSB against UC Riverside to take the Big West title and automatic NCAA berth in which they hold the tiebreaker over the Gauchos on head-to-head
Þ Myles Smith earned his third Big West Field Player of the Week honor, all in the last four weeks as he had 11 hits including five in Sunday's win to hit .550 on the week, and he added a HR, four RBIs, and four runs
Þ Ricky Ojeda continues to sling it building a scoreless streak of 14.2 innings now. The last eight outs he made on the weekend were via strikeout
Þ All nine Anteater starters recorded a hit, run, and RBI in Sunday's win, only the fifth time in UCI history with 25 or more hits in a game and third-ever 5-HR game
Þ Riley Kelly picked up his first two career wins after two shutout Tuesday in the best performance vs. LMU, and entering in the fifth Sunday and retiring the final six hitters he faced in two innings
Þ Woody Hadeen had an historic weekend breaking all kinds of records, and it started with a 5-hit game including the game-tying single with two outs and two strikes in the ninth to send the game to extras
  
SCOUTING THE MATADORS
CSUN and the 'Eaters have met exactly 90 times with UCI holding a 52-38 advantage and even more so in Anteater Ballpark where they're 29-11. The Matadors have won or split the last three series, and in those went to extra innings four times and won all four against the 'Eaters. CSUN is now under control by Eddie Cornejo who took over for former UCI head coach Dave Serrano, but an Anteater connection remains on the staff in Elliot Surrey in his fifth season with the program and second as the pitching coach.

The Matadors were in a great spot as May began with a 28-14 record and being talked about on the bubble for an at-large NCAA Tournament berth. The Matadors were also right alongside the 'Eaters at 14-4 in Big West play. Since then, they've gone 1-8 losing all three at Hawai'i and dropping five of the last six vs. UC San Diego and UC Santa Barbara all at their homefield as they've slipped to sixth place in the conference standings and their hopes of an at-large berth dwindling.

The offense is stands middle of the pack within the Big West hitting .274 while among the conference leaders in triples, steals, home runs, and fourth nationally in sacrifice hits. Last year's co-Big West Field Player of the Year Jakob Simons is back and has 16 HR and 56 RBIs to pace the team. Big contributors around him include Kevin Fitzer (.333, 13 2B, 10 HR), Shunsuke Sakaino (.304, 2 HR, 25 RBI), and one of the toughest hitters to strikeout nationally, Kamau Neighbors (.312, 11 2B, 28 RBI).

Pitching is also a strong suit with a 5.42 ERA. The Matadors don't walk a lot of hitters, but they don't get a ton of strikeouts either with 7.1 per game. The defense really backs the staff up with the 14th-best fielding percentage in the nation and in the top 25 at turning double plays. The weekend rotation has fluctuated but leans on Thomas Bainton (3-2, 4.54, 71.1 IP) and freshman Ryan Halamicek (5-3, 4.98, 65 IP). Six other arms have posted 25 or more innings with close Joshua Romero posting a 3.31 ERA and picking up eight wins along with his seven saves. Names that will definitely see the mound this weekend are Justin Vose (3-2, 4.50, 42 IP), Kenji Pallares (0-2, 5.82, 34 IP), and Diego Gutierrez (0-2, 6.32, 37 IP) all under the watchful eye of coach Surrey .