Anteaters begin Big West quest

The UC Irvine baseball program, coming off its watershed Division I season with an appearance in the College World Series last summer, is off to its best start ever at 17-2. First-year coach Mike Gillespie’s Anteaters, ranked No. 3 by Collegiate Baseball, begin their quest for their first Big West Conference championship tonight at 6 at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

The Anteaters, who tied for second last season to post their top Big West finish, figure to battle perennial powers Long Beach State (17-4) and Cal State Fullerton (13-8) for the conference’s top prize. Long Beach State, ranked No. 4 by Collegiate Baseball, and Cal State Fullerton, ranked No. 25 in the USA Today/ESPN Poll, were picked to finish first and second, respectively, in the preseason coaches poll.

Cal Poly was picked to finish third, but the Mustangs have opened 8-12.

UCI was picked to finish fourth.

Defending conference champion UC Riverside, which claimed its first Big West title last season, has opened 6-12.

UC Davis, in its first season as an official conference member, is 14-8 heading into the opening weekend, when it plays host to Pacific (5-16).

Riverside plays a three-game series at Cal State Fullerton and Cal State Northridge (10-10) is at UC Santa Barbara (15-7) on opening weekend.

Long Beach State plays a nonconference series at Cal, beginning tonight.

The Anteaters have featured dominant pitching, led by junior All-American Scott Gorgen, who is 4-1 with an 0.72 earned-run average heading into tonight’s start. He has allowed just 14 hits and three earned runs in 37 1/3 innings and has struck out 43. Opponents are batting .110 against him.

UCI’s Saturday starter is redshirt sophomore Bryce Stowell (4-0, 1.91), while first-year ’Eaters pitching coach Ted Silva will likely give the ball to either sophomore Christian Bergman (4-0, 0.95) or sophomore lefty Danny Bibona (3-1, 2.33) for Sunday games.

Sophomore closer Eric Pettis (1-0, 1.35, six saves) anchors the UCI bullpen, helping the Anteaters post a staff ERA of 1.76.

Offensively, UCI, batting .316 as a team, is led by sophomore first baseman Jeff Cusick, who is hitting .439 with 12 RBIs.

Senior center fielder Ollie Linton, a preseason All-American, is hitting .397 with two home runs, 15 RBIs and has stolen 22 bases in 25 tries.

Sophomore designated hitter Francis Larson (.354, a team-leading four homers, and 21 RBIs), as well as freshman Ryan Fisher (.348, two homers, 24 RBIs) are additional big bats for the Anteaters.

Cal Poly is paced by sophomore outfielder Luke Yoder (.392 with four homers and 19 RBIs).

The series continues Saturday at 6 p.m. and concludes Sunday at 1 p.m.

The Anteaters play host to Cal State Fullerton, guided by former UCI coach Dave Serrano, April 4-6 at Anteater Ballpark.

BARRY FAULKNER may be reached at (714) 966-4615 or at barry.faulkner@latimes.com.