College Baseball: Anteaters ready to leave everything on field

Steve Virgen

UC IRVINE - Like the construction trucks that continued to break

ground and build the UCI Baseball Stadium, so too did the UC Irvine

baseball team begin with its own groundbreaking in its first practice

Wednesday.

The new Anteaters stretched and then ran in their new outfield. Since

1992, UCI has been without a baseball team, but after the school’s

students passed a referendum May 19, 1999, Anteater baseball is back,

along with the addition of three women’s sports, golf, water polo and

indoor track.

The UCI baseball team’s home opener is Jan. 25, 2002, the first of a

three-game homestand against the University of San Diego.

“The excitement is almost like it’s building up to Christmas Day,” UCI

Coach John Savage said. “It’s been unbelievable. The kids have been

awesome.”

Wednesday’s practice included wind sprints, power skips and stomach

crunches among other conditioning drills. Savage, who was a pitching

coach at USC before becoming an Anteater, worked individually with his

pitchers. There was also a pro scout on hand and he kept a close eye on

the pitchers, perhaps a sign of things to come at the UCI Baseball

Stadium.

UCI Athletic Director Dan Guerrero also attended the team’s first

practice.

“It’s just been really exciting here,” Guerrero said. “It’s been a

long time coming. If you look at the guys and how the field is shaping

up, it’s going to be a great first year for us.”

Amid the team conducting its training drills, construction workers

continued to put the finishing touches on the baseball stadium. Just

north of second base, a flagpole stood with the American flag waving from

its top. There were grunts and sounds of high-fives heard in the air.

Also heard from the practice was Savage placing his players in order.

Savage seems to be a bit of a perfectionist or at least an organized

coach. He made sure every player had their shirts tucked in at all times.

“Nice. Nice pitch, that’s the way I want it,” Savage said while Sean

Tracey threw fastballs to catcher Jeff Werhun. Tracey, just as the rest

of the Anteaters, will play his first year of Division I baseball.

“We’re all very anxious to get after it,” said Tracey, a junior

college transfer from Citrus College and one of the many hopeful

starters. “All the guys here, we all came ready to go and we’re all

leaving in sweaty T-shirts. We’re leaving exhausted because we left

everything on the field and that’s our mentality: We’re here to leave

everything on the field, from this first day to the last day of the

season.”

The Anteaters will use their infield for practice and hitting on Oct.

26, as the stadium continues to build to form. UCI will be in the Big

West Conference, which includes national power Cal State Fullerton. Also

on its schedule is Savage’s former team, USC, at UCI March 5, then at the

Trojans’ campus, April 2.

“We’re getting thrown into the fire from day one,” Savage said.

“There’s no year of cushion. It’s right away. We’ll take some lumps along

the way, but in the end you’ll see us get better each day. The more we

get out there in the community and the more people see us, I truly

believe we’re going to put a solid product on the field and people are

going to rally around us. And it’s always nice to have another team in

Orange County to go along with (Cal State) Fullerton.”