MIDWEEK
UC Irvine Anteaters (11-16, 3-6 Big West) vs. UCLA Bruins (25-2, 12-0 Big Ten)
Cicerone Field at Anteater Ballpark (3,408) - Irvine, Calif.
Tuesday - 6:00Â PM |
ESPN+Â |
KUCI |Â
Live Stats
THE SERIES
UC Irvine Anteaters (11-16, 3-6 Big West) vs. UC Davis Aggies (11-14, 5-7 Big West)
Cicerone Field at Anteater Ballpark (3,408) - Irvine, Calif.
Thursday - 6:00 PM |Â
ESPN+ |Â
KUCIÂ |Â
Live Stats
Friday - 6:00Â PM |
ESPN+Â |Â
KUCIÂ |Â
Live Stats
Saturday - 1:00 PM |
ESPN+ |
KUCIÂ |Â
Live Stats
Game Notes
PITCHING PROBABLES
Tuesday: UCI LHP
Dane Grant vs. UCLA RHP Angel Cervantes
Thursday: UCI TBD vs. UCD TBD
Friday: UCI TBD vs. UCD TBD
Saturday: UCI TBD vs. UCD TBD
Coming Up This Week
- Anteater Ballpark hosts its second-longest homestand of the season with the next five games
- No. 1-ranked UCLA heads to UC Irvine Tuesday night. UCI is 7-11 all-time against No. 1 opponents including the loss at UCLA earlier in the month. It's the fourth time playing UCLA when they're No. 1 looking for its first win.Â
- UC Davis visits Anteater Ballpark for the last time as a Big West opponent heading to the Mountain West starting in 2027. UCI has a record of 24-6 against the Aggies all-time at home
Storylines
- UC Irvine won the Black & Blue Rivalry Series this past weekend coming back after dropping Friday's game and a Saturday win that featuring comebacks from down five and four runs in the team's longest game since 2024.
- Efren Ortega hit .571 with a .727 on-base scoring four times against his former schoolÂ
- Alonso Reyes and Zach Doyle each had four hits and four RBIs
- Kai Smith was 4-for-5 with an RBI off the bench
- Zach Crandall had two three-hit gamesÂ
- Auggie Gutierrez led the team with five runs, reached nine times, and dropped two sac hitsÂ
- Tommy Farmer led off Tuesday's game with his team-leading third home run of the season
- Frankie Carney reached five times on Tuesday and did so six times in Saturday's win
- Finnegan Wall registered his first career quality start Sunday allowing five hits and just one run in a career high seven innings
- Danny Suarez threw two scoreless outings allowing three baserunners over 4.2 innings, team-high six strikeouts, and earned the win Saturday. His career-best shutout streak now reaches 15 IP
- Jack Ross and Dane Grant each also had two scoreless outings with Ross going 3.1 innings allowing two baserunners, and Grant allowed a single baserunners in 2.1 innings
SCOUTING THE BRUINS
- UCLA and UC Irvine are back for the second of two meetings. The first one was all Bruins scoring nine times in the first of an 11-1 victory. UCLA has not lost since that game now at 25-2 overall, and they enter having won 19 straight including 9-0 away from home. The two Bruins losses have been to Big West opponent UC San Diego and a midweek matchup vs. San Diego State.
- The Bruins and 'Eaters meet for the 103rd time in their histories which began with UCI's very first home game, a 7-0 UCI win, back in 1970. UCI has fared well at home all-time just 23-25-1 including a win last season when No. 12 UCI scored five in the first and held on to win, 5-3, against No. 15 UCLA. The Bruins would later eliminate the 'Eaters in their Los Angeles Regional and eventually make it to the College World Series for a sixth time in program history.
- The offense doesn't miss a beat hitting .306 as a team averaging almost 10 runs a game with an on-base percentage of .443 nearly equaling their strikeouts with 157 walks. Roch Cholowsky is the one garnering all the attention as a potential No. 1 overall pick in this year's draft (.350, 10 HR, 32 RBI) with a team-high 39 runs scored and .493 OBP, but that's the only thing he leads this deep lineup in as he's complimented by Mulivai Levu (.378, 42 H), Texas transfer Will Gasparino (.351, 12 HR, 39 RBI), and Roman Martin (.343, 8 2B, 35 RBI, 26 BB)
- Pitching is always the bread and butter of former Anteater head coach John Savage's roster. A 3.27 ERA to this point with almost a 3-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio. Angel Cervantes gets the ball again like he did in the first meeting setting UCI down in two scoreless innings. His 6.06 ERA and .299 opposing batting average are highest on the team as the high-2025 draft pick continues to as the midweek starter with his seventh on Tuesday
SCOUTING THE AGGIES
- UC Davis comes to UCI starting Thursday night for a weekend series ahead of Easter Sunday. UCD is 11-14 so far with a top-100 RPI that began with a season-opening series at No. 2 Texas that they were swept at. They also picked up series wins at Santa Clara and vs. Nevada in non-conference action, and midweeks they've beaten San Francisco while falling to California and at Saint Mary's. Big West play they are 5-7 after series wins at UC Riverside and vs. UC Santa Barbara, taking one win at Cal Poly before being swept at home this past weekend to UC San Diego to drop them into the middle of the standings.
- The Aggies and 'Eaters meet for the final time at Big West foes. All-time, they've met 66 times with UCI holding a resounding 51-15 edge. UCI had a 13-game winning streak recently that included the first couple years of head coach Tommy Nicholson's tenure, but the Aggies took the finale in the last meeting in Anteater Ballpark in 2024, and last year in Davis took the middle matchup
- The offense is hitting .242 as a squad scoring just about five runs a game. Tyler Howard is the cornerstone hitting .337 and leading the team in just about every other offensive category including the slashline, steals, and even strikeouts. Other faces to know include freshman Elijah McNeal (23 H, 2 HR, 11 RBI) and sophomore Zach Story (15 R, 2 HR, 12 RBI). Catcher Evan Gentil also had three HR and 15 driven in, but has not made an appearance in the last three series
- Pitching comes in with a 5.42 team ERA with some of the higher totals in the conference in walks and opponent's batting average. Weekend starters have primarily been fifth-year Noel Valdez (1-3, 4.31, 39.2 IP, 30 K) and sophomore two-way player Keenan Anzai (2-1, 6.59, 28.2 IP, 31 K). Jack Pezzolo scuffled last weekend, but has a 2.70 ERA in 13.1 IP (14 BB, 17 K) in his five starts. Top bullpen options start with closer Rowen Barnes with five saves and 15 strikeouts in 12 outings where he's allowed five hits and no runs. Others include Peter Storjohann (11 G, 3.86, 15 K) and Mason Lerma (12 G, 4.84, 23 K)
