Matt Brown

'Eaters Play Grand Canyon, Compete in Las Vegas College Baseball Classic

February 23, 2026 | By: Alex Roberts-Croteau

MIDWEEK

ON THE ROAD

UC Irvine Anteaters (5-2, 0-0 Big West) at the Live Like Lou Las Vegas College Baseball Classic
Las Vegas Ballpark (8,196) - Summerlin South, Nev.
Friday vs. Vanderbilt - 2:00 PM | D1Baseball.com | KUCI | Live Stats
Saturday vs. Oregon - 12:00 PM | D1Baseball.com | kuci.org | Live Stats
Sunday vs. Arizona - 3:00 PM | D1Baseball.com | KUCI | Live Stats

Game Notes

PITCHING PROBABLES
Tuesday: UCI RHP Finnegan Wall vs. GCU RHP Elijah Higginbottom
Wednesday: UCI RHP Jack Ross vs. GCU LHP Cody Kiemele
Friday: TBD
Saturday: TBD
Sunday: TBD

Coming Up This Week

The Anteaters finish up their homestand with a two-game midweek series vs. Grand Canyon. The sides have met previously for two weekend series, each at Anteater Ballpark, with UCI winning 4 of 6
GCU head coach Gregg Wallis returns to his alma mater. He was the first recruit by UC Irvine as the program returned in 2002. He played 149 games and is UCI's all-time leader in pinch hits with 19 and pinch-hit RBIs with 11
UC Irvine plays in the Live Like Lou Las Vegas College Baseball Classic over the weekend, a prestigious Peak Events tournament hosted and broadcasted by D1Baseball.com
UCI's opponents in Las Vegas include heralded programs Vanderbilt from the SEC, Oregon from the Big Ten, and Arizona from the Big XII. The 'Eaters will have played a team from every Power 4 conference within the first 12 games of the 2026

Storylines

In UCI's first home games the Anteaters went 2-2. Starting pitching carried the way on the two wins with Jack Ross Wednesday allowing one run over 4.1 innings and Trevor Hansen pitching into the ninth Friday striking out nine
Alonso Reyes took home his first career Big West Field Player of the Week honor. He hit .643 (9-for-14) with multiple hits in all four games, driving in six RBIs, and adding his first career stolen base Friday and first career triple Sunday
Notable performances were Zach Fjelstad with four hits and an RBI, Auggie Gutierrez reaching base four times Sunday, and multiple scoreless innings from Ryder Brooks and Tyler Foster
Three more Anteater debuts happened in Kai Smith, Julian Custer, and Dylan Hillman. UCI is up to 13 newcomers to play this season and eight making collegiate debuts
The 2026 Anteater non-conference schedule was rated the No. 1-toughest in the nation according to PEARatings. UCI's non-conference schedule features three the 2025 College World Series programs

SCOUTING THE LOPES

Grand Canyon returns to Anteater Ballpark for the third time. All six meetings in program history have come in Irvine and so will these two. The previous with three-game weekend series where UCI won the first two and dropped the finale. Most recently, they played in 2022, and the other was 2014 which featured back-to-back shutout victories from Andrew Morales and Elliot Surrey

The Lopes are 2-5 so far going 1-2 during the MLB Desert Invitational followed by a series with Oklahoma State losing three of four. They've played a lot of lopsided games with five of them decided by six or more runs. The rest of their 2026 schedule includes common opponents with the 'Eaters in Arizona, Oregon, and San Diego State

The Lope bats are hitting .221 scoring over six runs per game. The trio of Tanner Johns (6-for-12, 5 RBI), Billy Scaldeferri (7-for-15, 2 HR, 7 RBI), and Mito Perez (7-for-19, HR, 7 R) have done a majority of the hitting. Cannon Peery has contributed three of the team's eight home runs and a team-high eight RBIs.

Pitching took a lot of lumps with an 8.85 ERA through seven games and all 58 runs allowed earned. Tuesday's starter is yet to be determined while Wednesday UCI will see freshman left-hander Cody Kiemele in his collegiate debut. Thirteen different relievers have seen action from 23 pitching changes with Tuesday and Wednesday being GCU's first midweek matchup of 2026. Billy Gregory has been a big cornerstone with five innings of relief, 12 strikeouts, and a save. Other big players include Jace Smith (3.2 IP, 2.45, 6 K) and Brock Toney (2.0 IP, 0.00, 5 K) along with four others with multiple appearances and double-digit ERAs

SCOUTING THE LAS VEGAS CLASSIC

The Live Like Lou Las Vegas College Baseball Classic is an early season NCAA Division I college baseball tournament that takes place annually each year on the third weekend of the college baseball season at Las Vegas Ballpark. The event hosts four NCAA DI Baseball teams that strives to exemplify the #BestOutsideOfOmaha programs by providing the best tournament experience for both the attending fans and participating teams second only the the College World Series in Omaha.

This is the third season of this tournament which began in 2024 with Oklahoma, Ohio State, California, and Pitt competing that included current Anteater Zach Fjelstad as part of the Buckeyes program (1-for-5, R, RBI, 3 BB), and last year Texas, Texas Tech, Washington, and Illinois competing with another current Anteater, Tommy Farmer (3-for-9, 2B, 4 R, 3 RBI), part of the Longhorns team that won the tournament. Both should be in the Anteater starting lineup as they play three perennial postseason contenders from three power conferences

Vanderbilt is a household name in the college baseball world with multiple College World Series titles. The programs have met twice with the first in Omaha at the 2014 College World Series with Vanderbilt on its way to its first national title. Behind 5.1 no-hit innings of relief from future Major Leaguer Walker Buehler, Vanderbilt staved off the Anteaters in that game, 6-4. The most recent meeting was last season in the MLB Desert Invitational where UCI trailed 5-0 but roared back to take a 7-5 lead before an eighth-inning grand slam saved the Commodores for the 9-8 victory. Some familiar faces remain in the 2026 lineup like Braden Holcomb (.415, 4 HR, 15 RBI) and Colin Barczi (.286, 3 HR, 5 RBI) as part of a lineup that's hit 22 home runs so far. The front line pitching is always formidable posting 79 strikeouts in 62.1 innings to this point and a big reason why they're 6-2 and back in the top 25

Oregon provides a tough test in game two of the weekend out of the Big Ten Conference. UCI and the Ducks last met in the 2017 and 2018 seasons where Oregon went 4-0 in the 2017 season including a sweep up in Eugene, but UCI exacted revenge taking two of three in Anteater Ballpark the next year. The Ducks have had a strong run reaching the regionals in five straight seasons and twice making a Super Regional while averaging 40 wins a season in that stretch. Oregon is flying high to an 8-0 start off a pair of four-game home sweeps over George Mason and Youngstown State. This weekend will be its first away from home. The names to know are the trio hitting over .400 in Drew Smith (.478, 3 HR, 18 RBI), Angel Laya (.444, 2 HR, 8 RBI), and Jax Gimenez (.440, 12 R) and you cannot forget Ryan Cooney topping the team with 13 hits and five steals. The starting staff has given up a grand total of six runs in eight starts, and the staff has cobbled together 85 strikeouts to hold up its 2.25 ERA

Arizona baseball has a storied history with four national titles under its belt and 19 trips to the College World Series. They've reached regionals in five straight seasons using conference tournament wins in the Pac-12 and Big XII to get there the last two years which resulted in the program's most recent College World Series trip in 2025. The 'Eaters and Wildcats have been meeting since the 1970s with UCI taking some wins when they were a fledgling Division II program and Arizona was top of the baseball world. The Wildcats hold the all-time series lead, 16-7-2, but the series has stalled with just one meeting since 2006 which came in 2023 as a makeup, midweek game that Arizona squeaked out with a 4-3 victory. The Wildcats have struggled to a 1-7 start to the season against tough competition. They still have the talent to win any game vs. anybody like Tony Lira (.382, HR, 3 RBI) and they bring back an All-American on the staff, Smith Bailey (3.27, 11 IP, 10 K) who lines up to pitch against UCI on Sunday.

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