After resurrecting its baseball program seven years ago, No.1 UC Irvine captured at least a share of its first Big West Baseball Championship and is already assured of making its fourth consecutive NCAA Tournament after securing the conference’s automatic qualifier. With two weeks remaining, the Anteaters own a near-perfect 17-1 Big West mark, followed by fourth-ranked Cal State Fullerton (14-7) and No. 18 Cal Poly (11-7). UC Irvine went 5-1 against the Titans and Mustangs this season, giving it the advantage if there is a tie for first at the end of the season. In order for Cal Poly and/or Cal State Fullerton to tie for the crown, they must both go undefeated in league play the remainder of the season and UC Irvine must lose its final six contests.
UC Irvine returns home to Anteater Ballpark this week, with an impressive 17-3 home record, to host San Diego in a midweek, nonconference contest and UC Davis in a weekend series. The Anteaters and Toreros square-off Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. UC Irvine, riding a seven-game win streak, dropped its first contest against USD, 7-4, back on April 14. The three-game series versus the Aggies gets underway Friday, May 15 at 6:00 p.m. Saturday and Sunday’s contests are slated with a 1:00 p.m. start.
UC Davis collected its first series win of the season last week with a 2-1 mark against UC Riverside and look to carry that momentum into this week. Prior to the showdown with the Anteaters, the Aggies visit Santa Clara Tuesday at 6:00 p.m.
A matchup that has post-season implications riding on it is the series between UC Santa Barbara and UC Riverside at the Riverside Sports Complex. Both teams are hovering near 30 wins and are looking to build upon their resumes to nab an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament. If the earlier two-game series is any indication of the upcoming matchup, it should be tightly contested as the teams split the series at Santa Barbara back in March. The weekend series closes out an unplanned 10-game road trip for the Gauchos, who were displaced from their home field, Caesar Uyesaka Stadium, last week due to a fire ravaging the Santa Barbara area.
Cal Poly suffered its first conference series loss since opening weekend when they were swept by UC Irvine. Looking to rebound this week, the Mustangs travel to Blair Field for a battle with Long Beach State, who also suffered a series loss to UC Santa Barbara Mother’s Day weekend. The 49ers, who have won eight straight versus the Mustangs, hold a 78-39-1 advantage over nationally-ranked Cal Poly. Both teams also play a nonconference game Tuesday evening with Cal Poly hosting Pepperdine and Long Beach State visiting UCLA.
Following a departure from conference play last week, Cal State Northridge returns to Big West action this week with a three-game stint versus Pacific. The two teams head to Matador Field May 15-17 with game times listed for 3:00, 1:00 and 1:00 p.m. The Matadors are coming off a pair of wins over USC last week, while the Tigers have dropped six straight, including a series sweep by top-ranked UC Irvine last weekend.
Prior to its trek to southern California, Pacific visits Stanford Wednesday evening for its final midweek contest of the 2009 baseball season. The Cardinal won the first meeting between the two teams, 10-2, back on March 30.
Cal State Fullerton has to wait a week before playing its final Big West Conference series of the season as UCLA is on this week’s docket. The Titans battle the Bruins Friday-Sunday with Cal State Fullerton hosting Friday’s contest at Goodwin Field and Saturday and Sunday’s taking place at Jackie Robinson Stadium, home of the Bruins. Dating back to 1975, Cal State Fullerton leads the series versus UCLA with a 54-24-2 record. The last time the two teams faced each other on the diamond was the 2008 NCAA Regionals in Fullerton, Calif. UCLA won the first contest, 11-4, but Cal State Fullerton won the final two games to advance to the NCAA Super Regionals.