In 2021, as the world continued to be gripped by the coronavirus, UC Irvine’s baseball team finished first in the Big West. The Anteaters were a dominant 32-8 in conference play and went 43-18 overall with a 23-4 record at Cicerone Field on campus. By contrast, my neighborhood team Cal State Fullerton would finish 20-35 despite their program’s sterling reputation and four national titles, the last coming in 2004. UCI has never won a championship at the highest level but did capture the Division II crown in both 1973 and 1974.
Thus far in 2022, Irvine sits fourth in the conference with a 9-6 mark against Big West squads and has the third most total wins with a 21-13 overall record. It’s true that UC Santa Barbara could be running away with things at 13-2 in conference. Nevertheless, fans in Orange County should consider spending $8 for a fun day at the ballpark or making a donation so that the program never has to go dark like it did from 1992-2001. All the better if you can join me in figuring out a way to avoid the $13 parking structure fee, but don’t get towed!
During UCI’s April 5 home matchup with the aforementioned CSUF Titans, I had a fun exchange with the Anteater social media team. Third baseman Dub Gleed had just hit a massive dinger to left field, and they provided a bonus video of the action. To wit:
This is the sort of stuff that college programs should play up. The odds that the Angels are going to respond to any given tweet are not that good, but I wrote two words and received nearly a minute of video from UCI. Minor league teams should probably take note of the exchange as well. On this night, the Eaters defeated their intracounty rival 6-1 thanks to quality pitching by seven different hurlers as well as some shoddy defense by the Titans in the third inning. I’ll always remember it as the Dub Game, especially because Gleed went on to be named Player of the Week for the conference thanks to providing nine RBI in just four contests. When interviewed after the game, he said: “I haven't really hit that many home runs. Most of the ones I've hit were over the summer coming into this freshman year. That's when I really started to enhance my power.”
Did you need another reason to attend? It’s surprisingly easy to get on camera if you sit behind home plate, even if the view isn’t especially close up. A week after the CSUF game, I attended Tuesday’s matchup with Loyola Marymount. I managed to put this theory to the test by using my phone to check out the ESPN+ feed from my seat.
The most dramatic play of this game came in the top of the 6th, when LMU scored two runs and had the bases loaded with two men out. Second baseman Cole Roberts hit a grounder to UCI shortstop Taishi Nakawake, who threw out Roberts at first on a very close play. Lions manager Nathan Choate argued vehemently, but the call stood. Nakawake shared the Big West Defensive Player of the Year award last season, and that was a very impressive play in any event.
The Anteaters triumphed 7-3, and second baseman Justin Torres flashed his power with a home run to right field. Two days later, he would hit his fourth and fifth dingers of the season in a 7-1 win over Cal Poly.
Among qualified players, Torres leads the team with a .553 slugging percentage. First baseman Ben Fitzgerald, who delivered an early RBI single, is second at .514. Sophomore outfielder Nathan Church, who ripped a run-scoring triple in the seventh, boasts the best batting average at .324. David Vizcaino struck out five batters in four scoreless innings, while Jacob King closed out the game and fanned a pair of LMU hitters.
UCI has made the College World Series twice since 2007 and captured the Big West title in 2009. Current head coach Ben Orloff took the helm in 2019 and guided the Anteaters to another conference championship last season, but it will take a strong second half for them to repeat. Nevertheless, there’s plenty of upside here, especially considering that the pitching staff ranks second in the Big West with a 4.00 ERA.
I didn’t even get to see the speedy Woody Hadeen, who is 11-for-12 in stolen base attempts, play in either contest. That figure is also good for second place in the conference behind Santa Barbara’s Jordan Sprinkle, who boasts 17 swipes. Despite some middling team statistics when it comes to hitting, the Anteaters have been able to manufacture offense and sit third in the Big West with 205 runs. As Orloff put it: “This team should be fun. We've gotten a lot of different contributions from a lot of different guys.”