MIDWEEK
UC Irvine Anteaters (28-9, 16-2 Big West) vs. UCLA Bruins (29-10, 13-5 Big Ten)
Cicerone Field at Anteater Ballpark (3.408) - Irvine, Calif.
Tuesday - 6:00 PM |
ESPN+Â |
KUCI 88.9 FM |Â
Live Stats
PITCHING PROBABLES
Tuesday: UCI LHP
Ricky Ojeda vs. UCLA RHP James Hepp
Â
THE SERIES
UC Irvine Anteaters (28-9, 16-2 Big West) at Cal Poly Mustangs (27-11, 15-3 Big West)
Baggett Stadium (3,138) - San Luis Obispo, Calif.
Friday - 6:00Â PM |
ESPN+Â |
Live Stats
Saturday - 3:00 PM |Â
ESPN+Â |
Live Stats
Sunday - 1:00 PM |
ESPN+Â |
Live Stats
PITCHING PROBABLES
Friday: UCI RHP
Riley Kelly vs. CP RHP Griffin Naess
Saturday: UCI RHP
Trevor Hansen vs. CP LHP Josh Volmerding
Sunday: UCI LHP
Ryder Brooks vs. CP RHP Ethan Marmie
Game Notes
AROUND THE HORN
#12 -Â The 'Eaters are ranked in all major national polls anywhere from 11th to 13th with D1Baseball slotting them #12. UCI was #24 in preseason polls
3 -Â UCI was represented on
3 national watch lists last week starting with
Riley Kelly and
Ricky Ojeda as 2 of 54 National Pitcher of the Year candidates, and
Colin Yeaman on the Brooks Wallace Award Watch List
22.2 -Â Anteater pitching allowed 1 run to Hawai'i including shutout ball the final
22.2 IP from the third time in UCI history with back-to-back CG shutouts
4th -Â UCI and UCLA meet for the
4th time when both are ranked. The clubs were both top-10 in one of those, and UCI is 2-1 in those ranked meetings
Â
LEADING OFF
+ UC Irvine is among the nationally ranked after 10 weeks in 2025 with Baseball America moving them up from 24th in their preseason poll to now 13th. UCI's highest ranking is No. 11 from Perfect Game USA while D1Baseball.com and the USA Today Coaches Poll rank UCI 12th, and the NCBWA and Baseball America have the 'Eaters 13th. UCI remained nationally ranked the entire 2024 season finishing in the top 25 in all five major polls.
+ UC Irvine is 5-3 this season against ranked teams with a ninth matchup Tuesday coming against No. 15 UCLA - the fourth meeting all-time with both programs nationally ranked. UCI took 1 of 3 at No. 11 Oregon State, has a win over No. 24 Nebraska in the season opener, a one-run loss to No. 16 Vanderbilt on a neutral site, and three wins on the road against No. 21 UC Santa Barbara.
+ Anteater pitching had a weekend to remember after matching their worst outing of the season Tuesday allowing 15 runs to LMU:
ÞÂ
Ricky Ojeda started the weekend off with a win in relief improving to 8-0 after 3.1 scoreless innings that began a stretch of 22.2 scoreless innings through the rest of the weekend
ÞÂ
Trevor Hansen took the reins and put up a complete game shutout three-hitter Friday night. He matched his highest strikeout total with 10, was the first 'Eater pitcher to throw 120 pitches since 2017, and did not allow a Rainbow Warrior baserunner past first base all night
ÞÂ
Ryder Brooks tried to one-up Hansen with his own complete game shutout, a two-hitter. Like Hansen, he allowed just six baserunners, walked one with two outs in the ninth, struck out 10 setting a new career high, and did it on 107 pitches
ÞÂ Consecutive complete game shutouts have happened twice before for UC Irvine, most recently 2014 when Andrew Morales and Elliot Surrey each blanked Grand Canyon. Also Bob Frishette and Bob Dobey did it in 1977. UCI had gone since 2021 without a complete game shutout when Michael Frias did it twice including to open the 2021 Stanford Regional beating Nevada, 7-0, with a two-hitter
ÞÂ
Tyler Foster made a mark amongst all the shutout performances with his collegiate debut vs. LMU and held his own allowing one run and striking out two in two innings
+ The Anteater offense did enough to win three games last weekend, but far from its nearly 10 runs a game average entering the week scoring a total of 17 runs:
ÞÂ
Frankie Carney again ruled the roost leading the bats with a .467 average, seven hits, four walks, three runs, and he drove in two. In the process, he extended his hitting streak to 18 games and enters the week hitting .436 and is a .500-hitter in Big West games
ÞÂ
Blake Penso continued his surge contributing in all three wins with four hits, three for extra bases including a home run Saturday, four RBIs to lead the team, and on the defensive side threw out three basestealers in Thursday's win. He's hitting .391 in Big West play with 13 of his 23 RBIs
ÞÂ A few streaks fell last week starting with
Colin Yeaman's hit streak at 21 games. He still added three hits and an RBI and played flawless defense.
Anthony Martinez added three hits and drove in three, but his on-base streak ended at 52 games matching the second-longest in UC Irvine history
+ With 15 regular season games remaining, the Anteaters are among the nation's best in multiple statistics, and have won nine of the 10 weekends they've played with five sweeps:
ÞÂ As a team, UC Irvine is top 30 in HBP (5th), triples (11th), runs per game (20th), on-base (22nd), and batting (23rd)
ÞÂ Pitching and defense are notably 31st in least hits allowed per nine innings, 32nd in strikeouts per nine innings, 34th in ERA, 42nd in WHIP, and 50th in strikeout-to-walk ratio
ÞÂ Anteaters making noise nationally start with
Colin Yeaman, 17th in total bases, 20th in hits, 26th in batting, 29th in slugging, and leading the Big West in each category as well as tied atop the Big West home run leaderboard with 11
ÞÂ Joining Yeaman are others like
Ricky Ojeda, T1st in wins, 12th in ERA, 17th in least hits allowed per nine, 19th in strikeouts per nine, and 75th in WHIP,
Max Martin, T5th in saves,
Jacob McCombs,
11th in triples, 46th in hitting, and 47th in slugging,
Chase Call,
8th in hit by pitch and Big West runs leader,
Anthony Martinez,
21st in RBI per game,
Riley Kelly,
17th in ERA, and
Trevor Hansen, 50th in strikeouts
Â
Â
SCOUTING THE BRUINS
UCLA has gone 16-6 since the last time these two met sitting at 29-10 sitting at second in the Big Ten. They had won each series against the likes of Nebraska, Indiana, USD, Washington, and at Purdue before dropping tw oof three at No. 16 Oregon this past weekend. Midweeks have featured wins over LMU, Pepperdine, and Long Beach State along with a loss to familiar foe to UCI, Oregon State.
The Bruins and Anteaters are meeting for the 100th time Tuesday, a series that began in 1970 where the 'Eaters won their first-ever home game. UCLA has the advantage in the series at 58-40-1 and 24 wins in the 47 matchups at Anteater Ballpark. This meeting will be the fourth time where both sides are ranked with UC Irvine winning two of the three previous matchups.
The offense averages 8.6 runs a game and dropped 11 on UCI back in March which got off to a rough start with two home runs and five runs in the first inning. Mulivai Levu had one of those homers and sits with 10 this season and a team-high 51 RBIs. Shortstop Roch Cholowsky also demands attention with 13 home runs and hitting .363.
Pitching shut down the 'Eaters last matchup for its lowest run total of the season to that point. Wylan Moss got things started, and has now advanced to the weekend rotation. Coach Savage gives everyone a chance with nine different pitchers making double-digit relief appearances this season, and the big arms like Jack O'Connor (16 G, 2-0, 1 Sv, 1.56), Luke Rodriguez (11 G, 2-0, 2.11), and Justin Lee (20 G, 2-0, 5 Sv, 21 K) will undoubtedly make an appearance Tuesday. 6-foot-7 James Hepp makes the start after missing 2024 and making his 2025 debut last Tuesday vs. Oregon State. They're also backed by the 23rd-best fielding team in the nation that leads the NCAA in turning double plays with 45 of them.
Â
SCOUTING THE MUSTANGS
Cal Poly is the main threat to the Big West crown sitting at 15-3 in Big West play, one game behind UC Irvine at the top. They set themselves up with 12 straight Big West wins to start conference season before one loss at home to Hawai'i, and last weekend dropped two at UC Santa Barbara. Non-conference play was an adventure that included getting swept handily at UCLA, a series win vs. Seton Hall, and then three-game series at No. 1 Texas A&M and vs. No. 6 Oregon State avoiding a sweep in each with ninth-inning comeback wins in each setting them at a 27-11 overall record and an outstanding RPI putting them in an at-large position on top of their Big West chances
The Mustangs and 'Eaters have faced off 70 times before with UCI taking 37 of those games. Homefield has been flipped a little with the teams dead even in games at UCI while in San Luis Obispo have gone 19-15 to UCI. Cal Poly has the edge lately winning each of the last three series while the series is 8-8 since coach Orloff took the helm
The offense runs on a slew of hitters all dangerous and contributing to their 7.0 runs a game. Cal Poly actually leads the Big West in hits and are second behind UCI hitting .302 with a lineup that swings the bat but refuses to strikeout or walk. Zach Daudet comes in hitting .402 with five other .300-hitters like Alejandro Garza (55 H, 30 RBI) one of the toughest to strikeout in the nation, LBSU transfer Jack Collins (13 2B, 10 HR, 44 RBI), and Ryan Fenn (31 R, 20 RBI) in a lineup that provides the timely hits and is one to lay down a sacrifice bunt when called upon
Pitching has been pretty consistent with a sophomore weekend rotation of Griffin Naess (3-2, 3.60, 55 IP, 42 K), Ethan Marmie (4-3, 4.87, 57.1 IP, 43 K), and Josh Volmerding (4-2, 5.23, 51.2 IP, 46 K) holding it down for each weekend this season. The bullpen has gotten big innings from another trio of Jake Torres (15 G, 1.88, 28.2 IP, 23 K), Chris Downs (17 G, 4-0, 2.36, 34.1 IP, 4 BB, 26 K), and Tanner Sagouspe (19 G, 3-2, 6 Sv, 2.40, 30 IP, 38 K) putting the Mustangs in a great spot in any game. To make matters tougher, their defense ranks sixth nationally committing 26 errors.
