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Robert Huskey

Anteaters Draw National Audience in Home Series vs. UC Santa Barbara

| By: Alex Roberts-Croteau

THE SERIES

UC Irvine Anteaters (16-19, 7-8 Big West) vs. UC Santa Barbara Gauchos (23-11, 10-5 Big West)
Cicerone Field at Anteater Ballpark (3,408) - Irvine, Calif.
Friday - 6:00 PM | ESPN+ | kuci.org | Live Stats
Saturday - 1:00 PM | ESPN+ | kuci.org | Live Stats
Sunday - 1:00 PM | ESPN2 | KUCI 88.9 FM | Live Stats

Game Notes

PITCHING PROBABLES
Friday: UCI RHP Trevor Hansen vs. UCSB TBA
Saturday: UCI RHP Finnegan Wall vs. UCSB TBA
Sunday: UCI TBD vs. UCSB TBA

Coming Up This Week
  • Weekend series puts UCI and UCSB together. The sides will meet for the 132nd time Friday in their all-time series
  • ESPN2 makes an appearance at Anteater Ballpark Sunday afternoon. This is the sixth time ESPN has come to televise UCI baseball in Anteater Ballpark in the regular season with UCI 1-4 in previous games, 0-1 on ESPN2, and 3-6 all-time on ESPN2 or ESPNU in regular season matchups
Storylines
  • UCI is 5-2 in the month of April and unbeaten at home. The offense has scored over six runs a game so far and as a 3.25 ERA
  • Daniel Polasek was the team's hitting leader in batting (.455), slugging (.636), and with six RBIs
  • Landon Gaz completed a run of 10 consecutive plate appearance reaching base including three hits, his third HR of the season, and five RBIs
  • Auggie Gutierrez hit .364, added six walks for a team-best .558 OBP, and stole two bases
  • Frankie Carney had four hits, four RBIs, 3-for-3 in stolen bases, and added an outfield assists
  • Noah Alvarez had a .500 on-base adding a pair of hits and scored three runs
  • Connor Dietsch came up in the ninth inning Friday and recorded his first collegiate hit
  • Pitching saw 14 pitchers toe the rubber between the four games last week
  • Ricky Ojeda collected the Sunday win of the year in four hitless innings with five strikeouts
  • Danny Suarez added his second career save with three scoreless innings Sunday
  • Tyler Foster went two scoreless innings Tuesday with three strikeouts for his first career win
  • Hunter Manning made two appearances striking out six without allowing a run in three innings
  • Brandon Luu returned from Tommy John surgery last Tuesday retiring all three hitters he faced on 10 pitches

SCOUTING THE GAUCHOS
  • UC Santa Barbara is flying high right now with a 23-11 record on the season, and are 7-1 in April with a sweep at Cal Poly, win vs. No. 12 USC, series win against first-place UC San Diego, and ending No. 1 UCLA's 27-game winning streak Tuesday by a score of 4-0. Earlier in the season, UCSB won 1 of 3 at No. 20 Southern Miss before rattling off 13 straight wins, but Big West play has also featured series losses at UC Davis and home to Hawai'i.
  • The Gauchos and Anteaters have played 131 times in their histories, and UC Irvine has a 68-63 edge all-time. Both sides have winning records at home in the series with UCI putting up a 37-24 mark. The road team has won the series in four of the last five years with the exception of 2024 in Anteater Ballpark. Last year was a sweep at UC Santa Barbara for the 'Eaters outscoring the Gauchos, 28-7.
  • The offense is hitting .270, third-best in the conference, averaging 5.5 runs a game. Rowan Kelly drives the offense with team highs 42 hits, 12 for extra bases, 33 runs, and eight steals along with 22 RBIs. The lineup is fairly deep with other big hitters like grad transfer Nick Husovsky (5 HR, 22 RBI), Noah Karliner (5 HR, 14 RBI), Jonathan Mendez (.290, 7 2B, 14 RBI), and the pair of William Vasseur and Colin Beazizo each hitting over .333 in conference.
  • Pitching really steers the ship for the Gauchos with a microscopic 2.86 ERA allowing 3.2 runs a game. The weekend rotation has been consistent with potential No. 1 overall pick Jackson Flora headlining throwing up to 100 mph to go with his 6-0 record, 0.63 ERA, and 71 strikeouts. Nathan Aceves has been solid on Saturdays allowing no more than three runs in any start toward his 2-1 record and 3.27 ERA. Kellan Montgomery is back home after three years at Long Beach State going 6-2 to this point with a 3.00 ERA. There isn't a ton of dropoff with the rest of their staff like Raymond Olivas (18 G, 1-1, 2.70), Cole Tryba (8 G, 19.2 IP, 29 K, 2.75), and AJ Krodel (13 G, 3-2, 4.91). Five different relievers have picked up multiple saves, and Calvin Proskey, their Sunday starter last year, returned from injury Tuesday to start and throw three scoreless in the shutout win at UCLA
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