MIDWEEK
UC Irvine Anteaters (17-5, 8-1 Big West) at USC Trojans (14-9, 4-5 Big Ten)
Page Stadium (1,000) - Los Angeles, Calif.
Tuesday - 6:00 PM |
B1G+Â |
Live Stats
PITCHING PROBABLES
Tuesday: UCI RHP
Danny Suarez vs. USC RHP Andrew Johnson
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THE SERIES
UC Irvine Anteaters (18-5, 8-1 Big West) vs. UC Riverside Highlanders (11-14, 2-7 Big West)
Cicerone Field at Anteater Ballpark (3.408) - Irvine, Calif.
Friday - 6:00Â PM |
ESPN+Â |
KUCI 88.9 FM |Â
Live Stats
Saturday - 1:00 PM |Â
ESPN+Â |
KUCI 88.9 FMÂ |Â
Live Stats
Sunday - 1:00 PM |
ESPN+Â |
KUCI 88.9 FMÂ |
Live Stats
PITCHING PROBABLES
Friday: UCI RHP
Riley Kelly vs. UCR RHP Nolan Milliman
Saturday: UCI RHP
Trevor Hansen vs. UCR TBD
Sunday: UCI TBD vs. UCR TBD
Game Notes
AROUND THE HORN
19 -Â UC Irvine ends its
19-day trip away from home this week. With one road game remaining, UCI has a 6-1 record during the road trip
25 -Â UC Irvine's career home run record stands at
25 with two 'Eaters within reach:
Chase Call - 24,
Anthony Martinez - 22
53 -Â
Will Bermudez set a UCI career record for HBP record on February 26, currently with
53. The team was hit 175 times in 2024 setting an NCAA record
#17 -Â The 'Eaters are ranked in all major national polls as low as 21st and as high as #17 by Baseball America where they've been ranked all season
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LEADING OFF
+ UC Irvine is among the nationally ranked after six weeks in 2025 with Baseball America moving them up from 24th in their preseason poll to now 17th. Other polls have followed suit with D1Baseball ranking UCI 19th, Perfect Game USA 20th, and 21st in both NCBWA and USA Today Coaches Poll. UCI remained nationally ranked the entire 2024 season finishing in the top 25 in all five major polls.
+ UC Irvine improves to 4-1 this season against ranked teams beating No. 24 Nebraska in the season opener, a one-run loss to No. 16 Vanderbilt on a neutral site, and now three wins over the weekend on the road against No. 21 UC Santa Barbara. UCI has four more games scheduled against ranked teams as of today with No. 9 Oregon State and No. 24 UCLA ahead.
+ The Anteater pitching continued its recent success with identical numbers to the CSUN series allowing seven runs on 23 hits and added 30 strikeouts to four walks:
ÞÂ UCI's new rotation continued to produce results as
Riley Kelly made his longest outing of 5.1 innings and shutout UCSB with six strikeouts to earn his first career win as a starter
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Trevor Hansen put up his third straight quality start allowing three early runs, but recovering to pitch into the seventh. He is now 4-0 and picked up his 10th career victory
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Ricky Ojeda was the star of the bullpen and earned Big West Pitcher of the Week honors from it. He allowed two hits and one walk over 5.2 shutout innings and struck out 11 to pick up his fourth win of the year and record a hold in Friday's win
ÞÂ Only
Max Martin and
David Butler saw innings aside from Ojeda, but each dominated. Martin picked up two saves over five innings of work and is now 5-for-5 in March save opportunities. Butler went an inning on Friday and Saturday allowing no runs and three baserunners all by singles
ÞÂ The staff locked in its first shutout of 2025 and first in just over a calendar year, and the first road shutout for the Anteaters since getting those Gauchos 6-0 back in May of 2021
+ The Anteater offense stayed the course with 28 runs against one of the nation's premier pitching attacks as they continue to average 9.3 runs per game this season. UCI has scored at least eight runs in 18 of 22 games, and at least six runs in every weekend matchup this season:
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Colin Yeaman held the torch for the offense with a .462 average, two homers, six RBIs, and even a stolen base as he picked up his first Big West Field Player of the Week honor
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Anthony Martinez and
Chase Call did their parts as they continue to work their way up UCI record books. Martinez drove in five as he climbed past Jeff Cusick and Rod Spence to sit second all-time in RBIs and UCI. He's still three off the all-time home run mark while Call hit one and drove in four leaving him one behind Francis Larson's program record of 25 career home runs
ÞÂ The lineup up-and-down made contributions on the weekend. All 14 'Eaters that played scored a run, UCI came from behind Saturday and Sunday including a seven-run sixth inning capped by
Blake Penso's two-out go-ahead two-run single, and
Frankie Carney returned to form reaching base five times in his two starts going 3-for-6 with two RBIs
+ The Anteaters have put up some nationally recognized stats through the season's first 22 games:
ÞÂ Some 'Eaters stand top 30 nationally in a few stats with
Max Martin fourth in saves, a trio of hitters 15th in triples,
Jacob McCombs at 20th in total bases and 27th in hits per game,
Colin Yeaman is tied with him in hits per game and 24th in total bases,
David Butler is 24th in appearances,
Trevor Hansen and
Ricky Ojeda are 20th in wins, and Ojeda adds 24th in Ks per nine innings
ÞÂ As a team, UCI's offense is near the top of the NCAA in hit by pitch (6th), triples (7th), runs per game (12th), slugging (33rd), total runs (33rd), on-base (39th), and home runs (48th)
ÞÂ The pitching staff's numbers are impressive ranking 47th nationally in hits allowed per nine innings, 48th in WHIP and strikeouts per nine innings, and 49th in strikeout-to-walk ratio
ÞÂ UCI has the Big West leader in hits per game (McCombs, Yeaman), runs and runs per game (Yeaman), total bases (McCombs), slugging (McCombs), triples, walks per game (Felsch), saves (Martin), and victories (Hansen, Ojeda),
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SCOUTING THE TROJANS
USC and UC Irvine meet again as they did to open Anteater Ballpark this season. USC improved to 4-0 in that meeting and were as high as 9-1 before hitting a skid. They're now 14-9 with a 4-5 record in the Big Ten that includes a series win over Nebraska, single wins over Vanderbilt, Fullerton, and CSUB while dropping contests to UC Santa Barbara and UCLA. USC continues their life on the road for home games splitting between the Great Park and LMU. UCI will meet them at Page Stadium where they're 1-1 so far this season and the sides played at last year, and on their new broadcast home, Big Ten Network+.
The Trojans have a chance to draw even in the all-time series that stands at 38-37 in favor of UCI. They won the last three rather decisively including a go-ahead grand slam to win 5-2 earlier this year that included five no-hit innings out of the bullpen by freshman Grant Govel to seal the win
The offense doesn't wow anyone with their numbers averaging 5.3 runs a game and hitting .274, but they get the job done. Ethan Hedges does it from the plate and on the mound hitting .379 with 13 extra-base hits to go with 24 RBIs and he slugged the grand slam in the win over UCI. Brayden Dowd has been a solid compliment with 26 hits, four HR, and 12 RBIs to go with a .310 average
Pitching has carried the Trojans early on with a top-50 ERA, a 1.27 WHIP, and the Big Ten's top marks allowing just 3.33 walks a game and a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 2.91. Freshman Andrew Johnson gets the start as he did in the last meeting allowing one run over three innings. He's topped out at four innings coming in his last start at Arizona State, and struck out five over two innings vs. UC Santa Barbara. The rest of the arms will be a challenge for the 'Eaters with names like Brodie Purcell (12 G, 14 IP, 4 BB 16 K, 1.29), Mason Edwards (1-0, 3.38, 2 Sv, 13.1 IP, 8 BB, 22 K), and names that popped up last time like Sax Matson (1-0, 3.86, 11 G, 9.1 IP, 9 BB, 14 K) and Grant Govel (2-2, 6.05, 1 Sv, 19.1 IP, 4 BB, 19 K).
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SCOUTING THE HIGHLANDERS
UC Riverside returns to Anteater Ballpark this week as part of seven straight away from home. UCR begins play at San Diego State Tuesday before traveling to Irvine and then off to Cal State Bakersfield next weekend. UCR is 10-14 currently on a seven-game losing streak. They started off hot with a series split vs. Utah Valley, series win at Utah Tech, and wins against California Baptist and Utah. They had a notable start to Big West play winning two of three vs. Hawai'i, but that currently stands as their only two Big West wins at 2-7.
The Highlanders are 'Eaters have met 96 times before with UCI taking 65 wins and 31 to UCR. The 'Eaters took all three games last year at a tough place to play at UC Riverside, and the sides come to Cicerone Field this time, a place where UCI has an all-time edge of 37-11 including a win in the very first game in UC Irvine history back in 1970
The offense comes in hitting .260 as a squad with a few numerical bright spots including 217 hits as a team, 9.0 per game, and 30 steals put them third in the conference averaging 1.25 a game. Newcomer Robert Pitts has infused the lineup with 36 hits and nine doubles, both top five in the Big West, and a conference-leading 13 steals in 15 tries. A slew of Highlanders have driven in 14 this year including Manoah Chapman, Griffin Harrison, and David Whittle while Jayden Lopez (.313, 2 HR) and Tyler Gordon (.307, 10 RBI) add to a well-rounded lineup
Pitching has come back down to Earth due to their recent skid with an ERA over 7.00 while sitting at the bottom of the conference in WHIP, walks allowed per game, and strikeout-to-walk ratio. The trio of Kurt Marton (5 IP+, 1 ER vs. Utah, Hawai'i each), Matthew O'Brien (1-3, 7.13), and Matthew Flores (2-2, 3.21, 30 K) have gone all the way on the weekends with Flores putting up some big Sunday efforts like nine strikeouts at Utah Valley and a quality start and win over his old friends at Hawai'i. The bullpen rides behind the trio of Matt Hudson (2-0, 3 Sv, 2.50), Joshua Martinez (1-0, 22 IP, 25 K), and Nolan Milliman (2-0, 1 Sv, 17 K) who have had a hand in their two shutouts as part of a staff that allows opponents to hit .303 on the year and lead the Big West in hit batsmen.
