UCI begins NCAA quest

UC Irvine junior Brett Smith, who will throw the first pitch in the

school’s NCAA Division I postseason history today, couldn’t help but

find the irony in the site of the 4 p.m. regional opener against

Arizona.

“The tradition there is almost overwhelming,” Smith said of the

Notre Dame campus that will host the four-team regional that

continues through Sunday. “Especially when you compare it to our

little niche here in Orange County.”

The UCI tradition was forged in the early 1970s when the Anteaters

won NCAA Division II College World Series titles in 1973 and ’74.

Recent history has been less eventful as the Anteaters went 10

seasons without a baseball program, before reinventing themselves

three seasons and one monumental recruiting class ago.

“For some guys, it took a lot of courage to come to UC Irvine,”

said Coach John Savage, who came to UCI after gaining renown as a

pitching coach at USC and Nevada.

“It is a beautiful place and it’s a great education, but we didn’t

even have a ballpark. I told the [those first recruits], guys like

Brett Smith, Jordan Szabo, Matt Anderson and Glenn Swanson, that

they’d have an opportunity like no other to be able to compete on the

same field against Long Beach and Cal State Fullerton and not have to

wait three years to crack the lineup. I could not have drawn it up

better. I’ve been trying to stay away from describing us as an

up-and-coming program, but it’s definitely a stamp of approval for

our program to go to regionals.”

UCI (34-21-1) could not have asked for a much better regional

opportunity. The Anteaters, who tied for fourth in the Big West

Conference and finished the regular season losing eight of their last

11, including a three-game sweep last weekend at Washington, are the

No. 2 seed in South Bend.

Notre Dame (49-10) is the top seed, while Arizona (30-24-1) is No.

3 and Kent State (35-25) is No. 4.

UCI is 2-0-1 against Arizona, having defeated the then-No.

13-ranked Wildcats, 3-1, 6-5, and played to an 8-8 tie halted after

10 innings due to the visiting Anteaters’ travel commitments in a

nonconference series Feb. 20-22 in Tucson.

Pitching, defense and opportunistic hitting have been UCI’s

formula for success this season, with Smith, whom Savage believes

could be a first-round pick in Monday’s first-year player draft, at

the forefront.

The 6-foot-5, 225-pound right-hander is 8-4 with a 2.19 ERA, with

107 strikeouts in 106 2/3 innings this spring. He is seeking his 22nd

career win when he takes the mound today.

“If you win [today], the tournament can get real fun, real quick,”

said Smith, who will try to keep the Anteaters from facing the

considerably longer odds of the losers bracket in the

double-elimination format.

UCI also relies upon All-American freshman closer Blair Erickson,

who leads the nation with 17 saves.

Arizona, fifth in the Pac 10, but making its 31st trip to the

postseason, including World Series titles in 1976, ’80 and ‘86, has a

staff ERA of 5.37, while UCI’s is 3.60.

The Wildcats are hitting .309 as a team with 53 home runs and 393

runs (an average of 7.1 per game).

UCI is hitting .288 as a team, with 36 homers and 320 runs (5.7

per contest).

UCI is 19-9 in games decided by two or fewer runs.

The Anteaters, whose lineup will be without injured standouts Erik

Johnson and Jamie Martinez, are paced offensively by Szabo (.360 with

77 hits, five homers and 26 RBIs), Anderson (.333 with six home runs

and 41 RBIs), Matt Fisher, it’s lone senior (.290, four homers, 39

RBIs), and sophomore catcher Mark Wagner (.282, four homers, 32

RBIs).

Arizona is led by Jordan Brown (.326 with 10 homers and 52 RBIs).

Today’s winner plays in Saturday’s 5 p.m. semifinal, while the

loser falls into an elimination game Saturday at 1 p.m.

“We have to get solid pitching, defense and timely hitting and we

have to be fundamentally sound,” Savage said. “We don’t have the

middle-of-the-lineup boppers and we don’t have a runaway offense. But

we’re not going to Notre Dame just to show up.”

One regional winner will advance to a best-of-three super regional

June 11-13.