No. 13 UC Irvine On The Road to California Baptist, Cal State Bakersfield

Tuesday, May 6

Riverside, Calif.

6:00 PM

UC Irvine

California Baptist

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Photo by: Matt Brown

No. 13 UC Irvine On The Road to California Baptist, Cal State Bakersfield

May 05, 2025 | Baseball

Game Notes

By: Alex Roberts-Croteau

MIDWEEK

UC Irvine Anteaters (34-11, 20-4 Big West) at California Baptist Lancers (26-22, 9-9 WAC)
James W. Totman Stadium (800) - Riverside, Calif.
Tuesday - 6:00 PM | ESPN+ | Live Stats

PITCHING PROBABLES
Tuesday: UCI RHP Finnegan Wall vs. CBU LHP Niko Urquidi

THE SERIES

UC Irvine Anteaters (34-11, 20-4 Big West) at Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners (17-32, 8-16 Big West)
Hardt Field (900) - Bakersfield, Calif.
Friday - 6:30 PM | ESPN+ | Live Stats
Saturday - 6:30 PM | ESPN+ | Live Stats
Sunday - 1:00 PM | ESPN+ | Live Stats

PITCHING PROBABLES
Friday: UCI TBD vs. CSUB TBD
Saturday: UCI TBD vs. CSUB TBD
Sunday: UCI TBD vs. CSUB TBD

Game Notes

AROUND THE HORN
#13 - The 'Eaters are #13 this week ranked in all major national polls anywhere from 11th to 17th having been as high as 7th. UCI was preseason No. 24
6-3 - 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
12 - Ricky Ojeda has 12 wins which leads the NCAA. He's the only pitcher in the nation with double-digit wins, and is 5th nationwide with a 1.97 ERA
4 - 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

LEADING OFF
+ UC Irvine is among the nationally ranked after 12 weeks in 2025 with Baseball America moving them up from 24th in their preseason poll to now 17th. UCI's highest ranking is No. 11 from the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) as well as No. 13 from D1Baseball.com and Perfect Game USA and USA Today Coaches Poll ranking them No. 15. The 'Eaters have been ranked all season and as high as Nos. 7 and 8 on April 28.
+ UC Irvine is 6-3 this season against ranked opponents. UCI took 1 of 3 at No. 11 Oregon State, defeated No. 15 UCLA, 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.
+ UC Irvine has qualified for the inaugural Big West Championship in Fullerton. The 'Eaters are 20-4 and can also finish no lower than third place. With a two-game lead on second place Cal Poly and six Big West games remaining, UC Irvine's magic number to clinch first place is four.
+ The Anteater offense enters the final two weeks of the season with 8.2 runs scored per game scoring 17 times in a 2-2 week:
Þ Anthony Martinez was scorching hot at the plate with nine of the team's 28 hits hitting .600 with a three-hit game in Angel Stadium and a 4-for-4 Sunday reaching five times. He homered Friday night as part of five RBIs on the week, scored three times, and did not strike out
Þ Will Bermudez broke out with key hits in UCI's wins. He doubled to the wall in Angel Stadium driving in a run to start the scoring. His other hit was a timely two-run home run Sunday in a day he reached three times and sacrificed himself the other two. He finished with four RBIs on the week, scored three runs, and reached six other times via walk or hit by pitch
+ Anteater pitching posted three solid performances out of four games last week as it stays within the top 50 in many categories including a 4.48 team ERA:
Þ Ricky Ojeda continued to shine making three appearances and collecting his 12th win Sunday, still the only player in college baseball with double digit victories. He allowed a single run and struck out six over five innings of work
Þ Jack Ross earned the win Tuesday in Angel Stadium from four shutout innings of relief and four strikeouts. He followed up Finnegan Wall's solid start allowing a run in three innings and four of his first five outs via strikeout
Þ Anteater relief had more bright spots like David Butler giving up just one unearned run over three outings and 3.1 innings. Max Martin returned to the mound Sunday closing out the win with a pair of strikeouts in a shutout ninth. David Utagawa sizzled in mop-up work Friday night retiring the final nine hitters he faced in three hitless innings picking up four strikeouts
+ With seven regular season games remaining, the Anteaters are among the nation's best in multiple statistics, and have won 10 of the 12 weekends they've played with six sweeps:
Þ As a team, UC Irvine sits seventh in HBP, 12th in shutouts, 17th in triples, 31st in on-base percentage, 32nd in strikeouts per nine innings, 35th in ERA, 42nd in batting, 43rd in runs per game, 48th in hits allowed per nine innings, 50th in strikeout-to-walk ratio, and 51st in WHIP, sacrifice flies, and fielding percentage
Þ In the Big West, UCI sits on top in runs scored and runs per game, on-base percentage, hit by pitch, and shutouts
Þ Anteaters in the Big West and national rankings include:
+ Colin Yeaman - 31st in hits, 33rd in batting, 34th in total bases, 44th in triples, 57th in slugging, and 1st in the Big West in total bases, hits, batting, slugging, and runs scored
+ Ricky Ojeda - 1st in wins, 5th in ERA, 10th in least hits allowed per nine innings, 29th in strikeouts per nine innings, 35th in WHIP
+ Jacob McCombs - 13th in triples, 62nd in HBP, 2nd in the Big West in slugging and third in batting and total bases
+ Trevor Hansen - 31st in wins, 58th in ERA, and 65th in strikeouts
+ Max Martin - 10th in saves, tied for 1st in the Big West in saves
+ Chase Call - 27th in hit by pitch, 2nd in the Big West in runs scored
+ Anthony Martinez - 52nd in RBIs per game, 1st in Big West, and strikes out once every 9.0 at-bats, 124th in NCAA and fifth in the conference
+ David Butler - 13th in pitching appearances, 2nd in Big West, with a team-leading five holds out of the setup role

SCOUTING THE LANCERS

California Baptist is coming off a series sweep to push their 2025 mark to 26-22 and now an even 9-9 in WAC play, fifth in the conference. Common opponent Utah Tech is part of that conference, a team CBU took 2 of 3 from. They also have played their share of Big West squads going 2-7 with single wins over UCSD and UC Santa Barbara. They started strong with non-conference series wins over Portland, Air Force, and Rutgers as well as a program that's won a pair of regular season titles and reached the conference tournament each of the last two years since joining Division I in 2019

The Lancers and Anteaters have a brief history which was rekindled in a competitive midweek matchup at Anteater Ballpark in 2024 with UCI edging out a victory, 5-4. The sides met one other time in 1988 in a decisive 12-3 UC Irvine victory at home

The offense has a lot of favorable numbers like their .302 batting average while also drawing a lot of walks and leading the WAC in doubles en route to their seven runs scored a game. Nicholas Dumesnil had lived up to the preseason hype he had been getting with a .343 average, WAC-leading 117 total bases from 19 doubles and nine home runs, and have driven in 47 to go with 23 steals. He's complimented with star freshman Chris Ramirez (.383) and contributing transfers like Bubba Rocha from UC Riverside (.333, 39 R, 30 BB, 26 RBI) and Andrew Walters from UCLA (.324, 7 HR, 34 RBI)

Pitching has been serviceable for the Lancers with a 5.21 ERA with a 1.50 WHIP and 8.8 strikeouts a game. Niko Urquidi takes the ball to start making his second start of his sophomore season; his other was two scoreless innings vs. UC San Diego in a win. A lot of different arms have been in the mix and will likely show up on a Tuesday like Cameron Teper (24 G, 4-4, 5.25, 36 IP, 32 K) and Julian Orozco (22 G, 2-2, 4.98, 34.1 IP, 39 K). Nine different pitchers have collected their 11 saves including Teper and Orozco, and one familiar face sits in the other bullpen in two-year Anteater and now grad student David Vizcaino who is a perfect 3-0 in 14 games striking out 26 over 22.1 innings and fully rested

SCOUTING THE ROADRUNNERS

Cal State Bakersfield sits at 17-32 this year under new head coach Jordon Banfield. CSUB has been competitive all year taking a game off of nearly every series they've played like vs. Lamar, Nevada, and USD in non-conference, falling to Cal in extra innings, with just a sweep at the hands of Utah Tech. Even in Big West play at 8-16, they have series wins over UC Riverside and at UC San Diego while taking wins from CSUN, Fullerton, LBSU, and at Hawai'i. UC Davis and last week's opponent Cal Poly were the only ones to sweep the Roadrunners as they travel to Fresno State Tuesday and return for their final home weekend culminating in Senior Day Sunday vs. UC Irvine

The Roadrunners and 'Eaters have faced off 33 times since CSUB came into existence in 2009. They even had a former UCI assistant Bob Macaluso as head coach for a season. UCI has the edge, 27-6, with an 11-3 mark at Hardt Field. Coach Orloff-coached teams are 11-2 since the programs became Big West mates as the 'Eaters have taken seven straight. The Roadrunners stretched their most recent matchup to the 12th inning in Anteater Ballpark last year tying things up in the ninth before Thomas McCaffrey singled home the winning run to complete the sweep.

The offense is hitting .252 on the year averaging 5.2 runs a game. They are the conference stolen base leaders at 73, and they are one hit by pitch behind the Anteaters with the national leader in HBP, Evan Cloyd, plunked 31 times. Nick Mascaro (.302, 7 HR, 25 RBI) and Brock Perreira (.301, 27 RBI) are the two 'Runner regulars over .300 with veterans like Cloyd (7 HR, 31 RBI) and Elijah Pelayo (30 R, 26 RBI, 16 SB) primed to attack, and a lot of faces from outside California following Banfield to CSUB from schools like Southern Illinois, Bryant, and Bradley.

Pitching has fared much better in 2025 with a 5.22 staff ERA. They do not give up a lot of walks with under four per game, and they don't do it via the strikeout recording 6.4 a game. A couple Midwest followers have made for a stout rotation like Grand Valley State transfer Ryan King (0-4, 3.82, 61.1 IP, 58 K) and Shane McAlinden (1-6, 5.30, 52.2 IP) a disciple from coach Banfield's Oakland University taking most of the weekend starts. Jacob Gutierrez (3-5, 7.53, 55 IP) in his fourth year will be heard from, and Jack Leary (2-3, 5.16, Sv, 61 IP, 42 K) has performed well as a starter and out of the bullpen.