UCI baseball picked to finish second in Big West

UC Irvine has been picked to finish second in the Big West Conference in the preseason baseball coaches poll.

The Anteaters totaled 65 points and received one first-place vote, trailing only defending champion Cal State Fullerton, which had 71 points and four first-place votes.

Long Beach State (62 points) and UC Santa Barbara (60) received three and one first-place vote, respectively.

UCI returns the majority of its offense from 2015, when it finished 33-23, 15-9 in conference, good for third place. Thirteen players recorded at least six runs batted in for a team that finished third in the Big West with a .283 batting average and led the conference in home runs (31) and was second with 100 doubles.

All-American Keston Hiura returns to UCI after earning Big West Freshman Player of the Year laurels and leading the Big West with 52 RBIs in 2015. He also hit seven homers and shared the conference lead with 118 total bases.

Senior shortstop Mikey Duarte, a first-team All-Big West honoree, also returns. He led the conference with 78 hits with a team-best .345 average and 43 runs.

Senior first baseman Mitchell Holland, a second-team all-conference choice last spring, hit .325 with 35 RBIs on 64 hits. He had 14 doubles and five home runs.

UCI opens its season Feb. 19 at San Jose State.

Cal State Northridge (44 points), Cal Poly San Luis Obispo (43), Hawaii (27), UC Riverside (17) and UC Davis (16) round out the poll.

— From staff reports