Baseball Heads Out on Final Road Trip at San Diego, UC Riverside

MIDWEEK

UC Irvine Anteaters (20-25, 10-14 Big West) at San Diego Toreros (17-27, 9-12 WCC)
Fowler Park and Cunningham Field (1,700) - San Diego, Calif.
Tuesday - 6:00 PM | ESPN+ | KUCI 88.9 FM | Live Stats

THE SERIES

UC Irvine Anteaters (20-25, 10-14 Big West) at UC Riverside Highlanders (14-32, 9-15 Big West)
Riverside Sports Complex (2,500) - Riverside, Calif.
Friday - 2:00 PM | ESPN+ | Live Stats
Saturday - 1:00 PM | ESPN+ | Live Stats
Sunday - 1:00 PM | ESPN+ | Live Stats

PITCHING PROBABLES
Tuesday: UCI LHP Brandon Luu vs. USD RHP Caleb Sebek
Friday: UCI RHP Trevor Hansen vs. UCR RHP Josh Torres
Saturday: UCI RHP Finnegan Wall vs. UCR LHP Matthew O'Brien
Sunday: UCI RHP Hunter Manning vs. UCR TBD

Coming Up This Week

The Anteaters' final road week takes the 'Eaters to San Diego Tuesday for its final non-conference matchup
UCI's Big West series is at UC Riverside with three day games scheduled.

Storylines

The stretch run of the regular season begins with UCI sporting a 10-14 Big West record. The Anteaters sit three games behind the teams in the fourth and fifth positions in the standings, Cal State Fullerton and Hawai'i, while also one game behind CSUN and trailing UC Davis by 0.5 games.
UC Irvine's 2-2 week featured a 31 hits and 20 walks with their wins ranging from a 4-1 defeat of No. 21 USC with just three hits and an 11-4 win over Cal Poly with 11 hits of their 18 baserunners
Efren Ortega topped the squad with a .364 average and .462 OBP including one clutch RBI that tied the game against the Big West's top closer and on defense throwing out the only SB attempt
Rowan Felsch homered twice, both three-run shots, that resulted in a lead or tie game
Lucas Schermer reached base eight times including team highs of five hits and five runs
Connor Dietsch added a ninth-inning hit Saturday giving him hits in each of his last two at-bats, and he drove in his first career RBI
Hunter Manning made his first two career starts beginning with two scoreless frames striking out five vs. USC, and finishing the week with a team-best seven punchouts and opposing hitters batting just .176
Ricky Ojeda allowed just one run over two outings for 5.2 innings of work
Peyton Rodgers retired all eight batters he faced striking out three and picking up his team-high third save and first since February
Trevor Hansen picked up his 20th career win Friday with no walks and four strikeouts in six innings pitched
David Butler earned his first win of the season with 2.1 scoreless frames against No. 21 USC

SCOUTING THE TOREROS

San Diego has had a turbulent 2026 season not unlike the Anteaters. Like UCI, the Toreros sputtered in the month of March going 2-14 which has contributed to their 17-27 overall record. Since the teams met on April 7, USD is 5-9 having lost all four weekend series while splitting midweeks with a loss at Cal State Fullerton and home win vs. UC San Diego in extra innings. Their 9-12 mark in the WCC has them on the outside looking in at the postseason two games back of the group of schools that are battling for the final two spots of the six-team field.
The Toreros and 'Eaters will play for the 120th time Tuesday, the most prolific non-conference opponent for the Anteaters behind only Big West series with LBSU, Cal State Fullerton, and UC Santa Barbara. UCI used a nine-run inning to erase an early deficit and score a 13-5 win in the earlier matchup this year. The Anteaters have won nine straight in the series and all-time are 35-26 at the Toreros' home
The offense is hitting .269 this year busting 36 home runs and swiping 58 bags. Bright spots include Andrew Gauna (.369, 6 HR, 42 RBI), CJ Moran (.328, 6 HR, 32 RBI), and Jayden Lobliner (.282, 8 HR, 30 RBI) who each have over 20 extra-base hits. Freshman Diego Gonzalez has been on a tear with 5 HR, 13 RBI, and six multi-hit games over his last eight.
Pitching sports a 7.19 ERA coming into Tuesday with their ERA leader Hayden Cody at 4.55 and 1 of 2 Toreros with an ERA under 5.00. With only one pitcher that has started every weekend series, the 'Eaters could see a host of arms Tuesday like the seven that UCI saw in April that walked nine Anteaters and gave up 13 hits. Cody (18 G, 29.2 IP, 33 K) has been one of the better bullpen arms with other joining him like Porter Rovin (13 G, 25.1 IP, 10 BB, 25 K) and Chaz McRoberts (14 G, 18 IP, 1 BB, 19 K)

SCOUTING THE HIGHLANDERS

UC RIverside has been rejuvenated in the 2026 season playing much better than their 14-32 record might suggest. They've taken two of four non-conference weekend series and in the Big West sit at 9-15 taking a game off of nearly everyone they've played and won series vs. CSUN and at Long Beach State, their first-ever sweep of the Dirtbags. Their home field is always tough for opponents and has made a difference as well where they have nine of their wins playing strictly day games this season
The Highlanders and Anteaters will play for the 100th time on Friday with UCI holding a 68-31 edge in the series. The Anteaters are winners of nine in a row and 16 of the last 17, but the team's sweep at UCR in 2024 was their first there since 2015 and third road series win in the last five series with wins at a premium for both programs, especially the Anteaters who have no room for error in order to reach the postseason.
The offense is hitting .238 on the year and produced 4.7 runs per game, just below UCI's team average. The Highlanders have launched 32 home runs this year with a big contribution from junior Lucas Bonham (42 H, 8 2B, 9 HR, 29 RBI) and support from CSUN transfer Jarren Sanderson (.273, 6 HR, 34 RBI) and Robert Pitts (36 H, 26 R, 6 2B, 6 HR, 21 RBI, 9 SB).
Pitching enters with a 7.36 with opponents hitting .312 against the Highlanders and they've dished out nearly as many walks as strikeouts. The weekend rotation has been a beacon for the staff and gone up against and taken down some of the best. Matthew O'Brien, high school teammate of Trevor Hansen, will go deep into games and has six quality starts this year to the tune of a 3-5 record and 4.70 ERA over 73.1 innings. Joshua Torres has hit his stride with three straight quality starts on Friday nights. Beyond that pair, they have others like two-way star Jaxon Byrd (1-1, 4.07, 1 Sv) and Marco DiGirolamo (28 G, 1-1, 4.81, 24.1 IP, 11 BB, 22 K) that have made it tough on opponents all season

Schedule