THE SERIES

UC Irvine Anteaters (23-7, 11-1 Big West) at UC Davis Aggies (15-16, 4-8 Big West)
Phil Swimley Field at Dobbins Stadium (3,500) - Davis, Calif.
Friday - 6:00 PM | Live Stats
Saturday - 6:00 PM | Live Stats
Sunday - 1:00 PM | ESPN+ | Live Stats

PITCHING PROBABLES
Friday: UCI RHP Riley Kelly vs. UCD LHP Bryan Green
Saturday: UCI RHP Trevor Hansen vs. UCD RHP Ned Frutchey
Sunday: UCI TBD vs. UCD RHP Matt Barnes II

Game Notes
 
LEADING OFF
+ UC Irvine is among the nationally ranked after eight weeks in 2025 with Baseball America moving them up from 24th in their preseason poll to now 18th. UCI's highest ranking is No. 13 from NCBWA and D1Baseball.com followed closely by Perfect Game USA at 14th and USA Today Coaches Poll at 15th. 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 after winning 1 of 3 last weekend at No. 11 Oregon State. UCI also 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. UCI still has UCLA on the schedule currently ranked No. 10
+ UCI's impressive streaks ended last week topping out with a 12-game winning streak, eight straight wins on the road, and were 1 of 11 programs to win each weekend series. Streaks still alive entering the week are 11 straight Big West wins and seven straight road Big West wins which dates back to the 2024 season
+ Anteater pitching held the torch last week with a 3.97 ERA and 43 strikeouts over four games
Þ Ricky Ojeda continues to dazzle now up to a 20.1 IP shutout streak. He won both games last week striking out 10 in 6.2 innings, and leads the Big West with 13.2 strikeouts per nine innings
Þ Riley Kelly started things off Friday with 4.1 scoreless innings and his second straight week matching a career high of eight strikeouts. Over his four starts, he's allowed four runs, averaged seven strikeouts, and pitched into or through the fifth in each
Þ Trevor Hansen recovered from a first-inning home run to hold the Beavers in check leaving in a tie ballgame. He's still the Anteater leader with 43 innings and 45 strikeouts on the year
Þ Ryder Brooks muscled up for his longest outing as an 'Eater pitching into the sixth and tossing 110 pitches. His stats were a tad deceiving, but he managed to strikeout five and keep the 'Eaters in the ballgame vs. the No. 11 team in the country
+ The Anteater offense is among the national leaders scoring 9.7 runs a game scoring at least eight runs in 22 of 30 games. In the month of March, UCI hit .330 as a team scoring 10.3 runs a game:
Þ Colin Yeaman continued his consistent match now sporting a 16-game hitting streak, 18 straight in road games, and has reached in all 30 games as an Anteater. He led the club last week in batting, hits, RBIs, and clubbed two home runs to give him 10 on the year
Þ Chase Call became the program's all-time home run leader last week with his 26th as an 'Eater Tuesday night. He's also working his way up the all-time lists now ninth in runs (133) and third in HBP (50). He finished the week with five hits and four RBIs, and had an on-base percentage of .500
Þ Others swinging a hot bat include James Castagnola with a six-hit week driving in four including three key hits in Friday's win as he fully recovers from an ailment that kept him out 11 games. Blake Penso added six hits including a home run as he's hitting .370 since the beginning of March
+ The regular season is over halfway through and the 'Eaters are among the national leaders statistically:
Þ As a team, UC Irvine is top 30 in hit by pitch (5th), scoring (7th), triples (9th), on-base percentage (12th), total runs (12th), doubles (16th), batting average (20th), hits (24th), and slugging percentage (24th)
Þ Pitching and defense are notably 34th in strikeouts per nine innings, 49th in fielding percentage and least hits allowed per nine innings, 52nd in strikeout-to-walk ratio, 54th in WHIP, 57th in ERA, and 76th in walks allowed per nine innings
Þ Anteaters making noise nationally start with Colin Yeaman, 5th in total bases, 7th in hits per game, 11th in hits, 11th in slugging, 18th in average, 28th in RBIs, 30th in runs per game, 32nd in runs, and 59th in home runs, and leading the Big West in them all.
Þ Joining Yeaman are others like Ricky Ojeda, 4th in wins, 9th in ERA, 18th in hits allowed per nine innings, and 20th in strikeouts per nine innings, Max Martin, 10th in saves, Jacob McCombs, 14th in triples, 44th in slugging, and 58th in batting, and Chase Call, 23rd in hit by pitch and 46th in runs scored per game
Þ UCI has the Big West's leader in batting, hits, triples, home runs, RBIs, runs scored, slugging,, total bases, wins, ERA, and saves