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Matt Brown

Road Week for UCI at SDSU, Black & Blue Rivalry Series

| By: Alex Roberts-Croteau

MIDWEEK

UC Irvine Anteaters (9-14, 1-5 Big West) at San Diego State Aztecs (12-13, 2-1 Mountain West)
Charlie Smith Field at Tony Gwynn Stadium (3,000) - San Diego, Calif.
Tuesday - 6:00 PM | Mountain West Network | KUCI | Live Stats

ON THE ROAD

UC Irvine Anteaters (9-14, 1-5 Big West) at Long Beach State Dirtbags (8-15, 3-6 Big West)
Bohl Diamond at Blair Field (3,238) - Long Beach, Calif.
Friday - 6:05 PM | ESPN+ | Live Stats
Saturday - 6:05 PM | Live Stats
Sunday - 1:05 PM | ESPN+ | Live Stats

Game Notes

PITCHING PROBABLES
Tuesday: UCI RHP Tyler Foster vs. SDSU RHP Jake Frohn
Friday: UCI TBD vs. LBSU TBD
Saturday: UCI TBD vs. LBSU TBD
Sunday: UCI TBD vs. LBSU TBD

Coming Up This Week
  • UCI finishes up its midweek home-and-home with SDSU Tuesday. The game will be the 104th all-time meeting between the programs
  • The Black & Blue Rivalry Series takes center stage on the baseball field with UCI traveling to Long Beach State. The 2025-26 series is currently tied with nine sports remaining at 13-13. A series win with worth four points for the Dirtbags while UCI would earn five points for a road series win.
Storylines
  • UC Irvine finds itself last in the Big West standings as the only program with a single win and six games behind first place Cal Poly. The 2023 Anteaters started Big West play 2-5 and rebounded to finish 19-11 in fourth place in the standings.
  • UCI was swept at home the No. 17 Oregon State with all three matchups decided by five runs or fewer. The eight-game losing streak matches the longest in program history set in 1984 and equaled between the 2014-15 seasons. UCI also has a streak of 10 winless during the 1979 season (0-9-1)
  • The offense was held to 11 hits over the weekend. Frankie Carney led the pack with three. He had Tommy Farmer each had a stolen base while Farmer also added a home run, his first at Anteater Ballpark, two RBIs, and five walks. Landon Gaz also blasted his first home run at Cicerone Field with two runs and RBIs as well.
  • Pitching got solid starts from Trevor Hansen striking out seven in 5.2 innings, Ricky Ojeda with six over four, and Finnegan Wall throwing one-hit ball through his first five innings. Some bullpen arms stepped up like Danny Suarez who has upped his career-best scoreless streak to 10.1 innings while stranding two inherited runners, two scoreless innings with three strikeouts by David Butler, and Dane Grant appearing twice with four strikeouts and one earned run in 2.1 innings
  • A few current Anteaters take on their former schools this week. Sophomore Peyton Rodgers pitched 32 games his freshman year at SDSU. Efren Ortega played 16 games at LBSU in 2025 while Alonso Reyes was part of LBSU in 2023.

SCOUTING THE LOPES
  • San Diego State and UC Irvine meet for the second and final time in the regular season in 2026, this time at their place in Tony Gwynn Stadium. This marks the 104th all-time meeting with UCI taking 43 victories including the first one this year. After three innings of shutout ball, the offense got going with triples by Tommy Farmer and Kai Smith to spark a four-run fourth inning. Jack Ross earned the midweek win with one run allowed over 4.1 innings, and former Aztec Peyton Rodgers earned the save to win, 5-2, back on opening night in Anteater Ballpark of the season
  • The Aztecs were 3-1 following that game, and since have posted a record of 12-13 with wins over schools like BYU, Washington State, UConn, and even downing No. 1 UCLA, 4-3, at their place. SDSU has put up an 8-5 mark at home including a 13-10 win over UCI's other opponent this week, Long Beach State.
  • The offense is hitting .275 to this point and does so with a lot of doubles and triples. Tyce Peterson has 12 of his own and is 1 of 4 hitters with an average over .320. Jabin Trosky is the only Aztec without a home run, but does everything else including lead in average, hits, runs, and has stolen four bases
  • Pitching has made its hay on the weekends with a formidable rotation. Alec Belardes has been a midweek marvel including a win over UCLA, but he pitched Sunday in the four-game weekend for SDSU, so Jake Frohn will get the call with an 0-2 record, 2.63 ERA, and 10 strikeouts over 13.1 innings. Expect to see Connor Abadie again (IP, 0 R) and closer Aidan Russell (3-1, 2 Sv, 23.1 IP, 23 K)
SCOUTING THE LAS VEGAS CLASSIC
  • Long Beach State welcomes the 'Eaters in for the Black & Blue Rivalry Series on the diamond starting Friday. LBSU is under new leadership in alum TJ Bruce, and has the team 8-15 through the early going and 6-6 at Blair Field. They've taken non-conference wins from San Jose State and two from BYU, while they stand 3-6 in Big West starting with the gauntlet going to UCSB where they were swept before winning two of three at home over Hawai'i. The past weekend they salvaged a series with a Sunday win at Cal State Bakersfield, and turn around to play Monday night at Fresno State before returning home.
  • The Dirtbags and 'Eaters meet for the 150th time Friday night with UCI on top of the all-time series, 81-67-1, including a 37-31 record at Blair Field. LBSU snagged a Friday night win in 2025 while UCI has won the other five matchups over the past two seasons.
  • The offense is hitting just .251, but they find a way posting the Big West's best on-base percentage and putting down a lot of sacrifice bunts and flies. The duo of Trevor Goldenetz and Jake Evans get the party started with each hitting over .385 and getting on base better than .500. Behind them is a lot of destruction from Trotter Enright (8 2B, 21 RBI) and Dylan Lina (5 HR, 27 RBI).
  • Pitching is a work in progress with a 6.24 ERA and near the bottom of the Big West in walks allowed per game (5.65) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (1.43), but the emerging youth on the mound has powered them to some big wins. Freshmen Luke Howe (3-1, 36.2 IP, 11 BB) and Jason Gerfers (2-1, 3.28, 34 K) have solidified the backend of the rotation. Gerfers is coming off his second complete game and second Big West Pitcher of the Week honor after shutting out CSUB Sunday. And the 'Eaters will likely see a few bullpen arms like Tyler Gebb (11 G, 13 IP, 1-0, 3.46), Caleb Anderson (12 G, 22.1 IP, 23 K), Ka'imi Kahalekai (10 G, 2 saves, 9.1 IP, 9 K), and Alex Ramos (9 G, 1 save, 10.1 IP, 13 K) who have all been put to use
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