MIDWEEK
UC Irvine Anteaters (32-9, 19-2 Big West) vs. Cal State Fullerton Titans (23-20, 14-7 Big West)
Angel Stadium (45,045) - Anaheim, Calif.
Tuesday - 6:00 PM |
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PITCHING PROBABLES
Tuesday: UCI RHP
Finnegan Wall vs. CSF LHP Payton Hawkinson
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THE SERIES
UC Irvine Anteaters (32-9, 19-2 Big West) vs. UC San Diego Tritons (22-20, 11-10 Big West)
Cicerone Field at Anteater Ballpark (3.408) - Irvine, Calif.
Friday - 6:00Â PM |
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Saturday - 1:00 PM |Â
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Sunday - 1:00 PM |
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PITCHING PROBABLES
Friday: UCI RHP
Riley Kelly vs. UCSD RHP Matthew Dalquist
Saturday: UCI RHP
Trevor Hansen vs. UCSD TBD
Sunday: UCI LHP
Ryder Brooks vs. UCSD RHP Steele Murdock
Game Notes
AROUND THE HORN
#8 -Â The 'Eaters are ranked in all major national polls anywhere from 7th to 13th with D1Baseball slotting them #8. UCI was #24 in preseason polls
6-3 -Â UCI is
6-3 this season against ranked opponents with wins over No. 11 Oregon State, No. 15 UCLA, No. 21 UC Santa Barbara, and No. 24 Nebraska
11 -Â
Ricky Ojeda has
11 wins which leads the NCAA. He's the only pitcher in the nation with double-digit wins, and is 6th nationwide with a 1.99 ERAÂ
4 -Â UCI is represented on
4 national watch lists with
Riley Kelly and
Ricky Ojeda as 2 of 54 up for National Pitcher of the Year,
Colin Yeaman for the Brooks Wallace Award, and
Max Martin as Stopper of the Year
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LEADING OFF
+ UC Irvine is among the nationally ranked after 11 weeks in 2025 with Baseball America moving them up from 24th in their preseason poll to now ninth. UCI's highest ranking is No. 7 from Perfect Game USA while D1Baseball.com ranks UCI eighth, Baseball America and USA Today have the 'Eaters ninth, and the NCBWA at No. 13. UCI was last in the top 10 exactly one year ago, and last time they were as high as No. 8 was the final poll of the 2014 season. UC Irvine remained nationally ranked the entire 2024 season finishing in the top 25 in all five major polls.
+ UC Irvine is 6-3 this season against ranked opponents adding a win over No. 15 UCLA Tuesday - 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 continued its stellar run with a 3.25 ERA against top opponents last week to lower its ERA to 3.27 over the month of April
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Ricky Ojeda pitched in three of the games and got the win in all three pushing his season total to 11, the only pitcher in the NCAA with double digits. He opened Tuesday to beat UCLA, went the final four Friday at Cal Poly, and entered in a tie game Sunday going the final two. He punched out seven in eight total innings, and his ERA sits at 1.99, sixth-lowest in the nation
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Trevor Hansen continued his marvelous run with 7.2 shutout innings in Saturday's win. He's run his scoreless inning streak to 21.1 IP, and he struck out six to up his team high to 69 with an overall record of 7-0 in 66.2 innings pitched
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David Butler was another big-time arm last week. He allowed one run in 5.1 innings of work over three outings. He allowed no runs to score vs. UCLA when entering with two on and nobody out to earn his fifth hold of 2025 to lead UCI's relievers, and he kept the game tight Sunday with his longest career outing of three innings
+ The Anteater offense came up big when needed winning four games last week with 25 runs reaching base 25 times on free passes:
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Chase Call led the bats hitting .462 with six hits, five RBIs, and five walks. He hammered a two-run home run Tuesday against his brother and UCLA. On Sunday, he reached base all six times with four walks including the game-tying walk with two outs in the ninth, and for his efforts was named Big West Field Player of the Week for the first time in his career
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James Castagnola sparked the offense to open the series homering twice Friday doubling his career total. Three of his four hits went for extra bases and scoring four runs
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Landon Gaz and
Rowan Felsch were unsung heroes in the final wins of the weekend. Gaz got the Saturday start and his two-out, two-run double helped to the 4-0 win. He came up and started the ninth-inning rally off the bench Sunday, and Felsch delivered later in the inning off the bench singling home the go-ahead runs to win
+ With 11 regular season games remaining, the Anteaters are among the nation's best in multiple statistics, and have won 10 of the 1 weekends they've played with six sweeps:
ÞÂ As a team, UC Irvine is top 30 in HBP (5th), shutouts (9th), triples (17th), on-base percentage (21st), runs per game (24th), batting (26th), and ERA (26th)
ÞÂ Pitching and defense are notably 33rd in least hits allowed per nine innings, 35th in strikeouts per nine innings, 40th in WHIP, 46th in fielding percentage, and 49th in strikeout-to-walk ratio
ÞÂ Anteaters in the Big West and national rankings include:
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Colin Yeaman - 16th in total bases, 22nd in hits, 33rd in batting, 35th in triples, 36th in slugging, 66th in RBIs, 1st in the Big West in home runs, total bases, hits, batting, slugging, and runs scored
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Ricky Ojeda - 1st in wins, 6th in ERA, 22nd in least hits allowed per nine innings, 29th in strikeouts per nine innings, 51st in WHIP
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Jacob McCombs - 11th in triples, 37th in hits per game, 38th in batting, 42nd in HBP, 2nd in the Big West in batting and slugging
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Trevor Hansen - 19th in wins, 52nd in strikeouts, 61st in ERA
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Max Martin - 9th in saves, tied for 1st in the Big West in saves
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Chase Call - 13th in hit by pitch, 2nd in the Big West in runs scored
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Riley Kelly - 46th in ERA, 4th in the Big West in ERA
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Anthony Martinez - 62nd in RBIs per game, 2nd in Big West
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David Butler - 29th in pitching appearances, 5th in Big West
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SCOUTING THE TITANS
Cal State Fullerton is returning to form now at 23-20 following a road sweep at UC Davis, and kept pace with UCI at 14-7 in Big West play, third place and five games back. The Titans had a rough go at the beginning of 2025 starting 1-8 against the likes of Stanford, Fresno State, USC, and Wichita State. They put up some wins, but then lost their first five Big West games to Cal Poly and UC San Diego before hitting the gas winning eight in a row and taking 13 of the last 15 Big West matchups. Sprinkled in was a sweep at the hands of Oregon State in three competitive matchups, but the Titans are a threat to make the postseason tournament and more.
The Titans and Anteaters have a little non-conference preview Tuesday before their Big West series in a few weeks, but it comes in Angel Stadium to close out April. The sides have played non-conference midweeks lately, but not to this magnitude. This is the 149th meeting all-time with Fullerton on top in the series, 97-51. The teams are even in neutral site meetings, 4-4, while the 'Eaters venture to their third MLB ballpark for a game having played at Dodger Stadium (1-1) and Daikin Park (5-1), home of the Houston Astros
The offense hits .293, third in the Big West, scoring 7.1 runs a game, second behind UCI. They hit for extra bases well 151 this year including 18 triples, 10th nationally. Carter Johnstone (.364, 6 HR, 25 RBI) and Andrew Kirchner (.314, 10 HR, 55 RBI) pace the offense that top-to-bottom have the ability to go deep and drive the ball
Pitching led by former Anteater coach Jason Dietrich has an ERA of 5.40 with a slew of pitchers getting starts. Payton Hawkinson will get the call Tuesday, his fourth start of the year, and lots of bullpen arms ready with the likes of Jason Blood (3-2, 4.62, 39 IP, 45 K), Ryan Faulks (2-1, 3.00, 27 IP, 35 K), and the reigning pitcher of the week Andrew Wright (0.82, 9 Sv) ready for Tuesday.
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SCOUTING THE TRITONS
UC San Diego is ready for action in this their first year eligibility for postseason at the Division I level. Two years removed from a Big West title, the Tritons are fighting for a spot in the Big West Championship at 22-20 overall and 11-10 in Big West play coming off a series win vs. UC Santa Barbara. They fought through non-conference taking wins over Utah, CBU, at Texas Tech, and a series win over a ranked Cincinnati. In conference play, they've won five of six series including road wins at Cal State Fullerton and UC Riverside taking 2 of 3 every time with the one outliers a three-game sweep at the hands of Cal Poly.
The Tritons and 'Eaters face each other for the fifth time as Big West foes. In the four previous series, none have been sweeps with UCI winning the first three series before UCSD claimed the 2024 series at Triton Park. All-time, UCI has a 19-5 edge in the series and are 8-5 in the Division I era including 5-2 when playing in Anteater Ballpark
The offense comes into the week hitting .269 with 7.0 runs per game. The Tritons have used their power and patience well hitting more home runs and doubles than any other Big West squad, and they've walked over 200 times while approaching 100 HBP helping them score at will. Michael Crossland is the only regular over .300 at .320 bringing 11 HR with him. He also with J.C. Allen (7 HR, 33 RBI), and Alex Leopard (9 HR, 33 RBI) all are dangerous with runners on, and others like Gabe Camacho (3 3B, 7 HR, 32 RBI, 18 HBP) and Colton Lomanto (7 HR, 29 RBI) are here to cause havoc against opposing pitchers
Pitching has been a work in progress for UCSD with a 5.64 ERA giving up over 10 hits a game, but they've done well enough to get their 22 wins as a unit and don't issue many free passes with just 35 hit batsmen and four walks per nine innings. Matthew Dalquist is healthy and headlining their rotation (5-4, 3.96) with Spencer Seid a jack-of-all-trades with 12 games, five starts, three wins, two saves, and the team high of 55 strikeouts in 45.1 innings. The closer by committee has been successful with 11 saves between five pitchers, and plenty of arms ready to be called upon like Jake Villar (1-4, 3.62, 3 Sv, 32.1 IP), Sam Hasegawa (18 G, 3-3, 4.05, 3 Sv, 33.1 IP), and Steele Murdock (34.1 IP, 35 K)
