The UC Irvine Anteaters baseball team is the varsity intercollegiate baseball program of the

University of California, Irvine The University of California, Irvine (UCI or UC Irvine) is a public land-grant research university in Irvine, California. One of the ten campuses of the University of California system, UCI offers 87 undergraduate degrees and 129 graduate and p ...

. The team's home venue is Cicerone Field at Anteater Ballpark located on campus in

Irvine, California Irvine () is a master-planned city in South Orange County, California, United States, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Irvine Company started developing the area in the 1960s and the city was formally incorporated on December 28, 197 ...

. UC Irvine baseball has been a member of the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

Division I

Big West Conference The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. The conference was originally formed on July 1, 1969, as the Pacific ...

since the start of the 2002 season which was the Anteaters' first season of play following the university's decision to revive its baseball program after the sport had been dropped following the 1992 season. The Anteaters won the College Division national championship in 1973 and the Division II national championship in 1974. Since moving to Division I play they have appeared in the NCAA Tournament nine times and the College World Series twice.

History

College Division/Division II

The program was founded prior to the 1970 season and initially played as an independent school in the

College Division, made up of small-school athletic programs. Under head coach Gary Adams, the team qualified for the College Division Tournament in 1970, 1971, and 1972. In 1973, the team ended the regular season with a twelve-game winning streak and again qualified for the tournament. After advancing to the College Division Championship, it defeated Missouri-St. Louis, Eastern Illinois, and Ithaca twice to win a national championship. In August 1973, the

reorganized its divisions. Prior to then, the NCAA had competed in two divisions, a large-school University Division and a small-school College Division. Following the reorganization, the University Division became Division I, while the College Division split into Division II and

Division III In sport, the Third Division, also called Division 3, Division Three, or Division III, is often the third-highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Association football *Belgian Thir ...

. UC Irvine, formerly an independent in the College Division, became a Division II Independent. In the first season of Division II, the team again won its regional tournament to advance to the Division II Championship. There, the program defeated

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

to win its second consecutive national championship. Following the 1974 season, Gary Adams left UC Irvine to become the head coach at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

. UC Irvine continued to play in Division II until following the 1977 season, though it did not qualify for another NCAA Tournament.

Transition to Division I

Prior to the 1978 season, the program joined the newly formed Division I

Southern California Baseball Association The Southern California Baseball Association or SCBA was a baseball-only conference that existed from 1977 to 1984. It was made up of schools from the Big West Conference, then known as the Pacific Coast Athletic Association (PCAA), and West Coast ...

(SCBA). Former Gonzaga head coach Steve Hertz became the program's head coach prior to the 1979 season, in which the team finished 7th in the SCBA. In 1980, UC Irvine finished second behind

Cal State Fullerton California State University, Fullerton (CSUF or Cal State Fullerton) is a public university in Fullerton, California. With a total enrollment of more than 41,000, it has the largest student body of the 23-campus California State University (CSU) ...

, its best season in the SCBA. When Steve Hertz returned to Gonzaga following the 1980 season, Mike Gerakos became the program's head coach. The team continued to play in the SCBA, though it finished no higher than third until the conference disbanded following the 1984 season. UC Irvine then became members of the

Pacific Coast Athletic Association The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. The conference was originally formed on July 1, 1969, as the Pacific ...

, which was renamed the Big West Conference prior to the 1987 season. UC Irvine had a winning conference record only twice in eight PCAA/Big West seasons through the end of the 1992 season. Following the 1992 season, state budget cuts caused the university to cut several sports programs, including baseball. At the time it was discontinued, the program had a 643-565-17 record.

Program revival

In 2000, the university announced plans to revive the varsity baseball program and build a multimillion-dollar on-campus venue for the program. Following the 2000 college baseball season, the school hired USC assistant John Savage as the program's new head coach. The team began play in 2002. Its first game, also the opening of the newly built Anteater Ballpark, was an 8-5 loss to

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United State ...

on January 25, 2002. In 2004, the team qualified for the NCAA Tournament, its first in Division I. In the South Bend Regional, the team lost consecutive games to

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

and Notre Dame and was eliminated. Following the 2004 season, John Savage left the program to become the head coach at

. UC Irvine hired

assistant coach

Dave Serrano David Scott Serrano is a former American baseball coach and pitcher. Serrano formerly served as head coach at Cerritos College from 1984 to 1985 and at California State University, Fullerton from 1986 to 1987 for coach Augie Garrido. He served a ...

to replace him. In 2006, Serrano's second season, the team qualified for the NCAA Tournament. In 2007, the team again qualified for the tournament. After defeating

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

in the Round Rock Regional finals, the Anteaters defeated Wichita State in the Super Regionals to advance to the 2007 College World Series. At the World Series, the team went 2-2 and was eliminated by eventual national champion

Oregon State Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering col ...

. Following the 2007 season, Dave Serrano returned to Cal State Fullerton to become the team's head coach. He was replaced by former USC head coach Mike Gillespie. The team qualified for the NCAA Tournament in each of Gillespie's first four seasons (2008-2011). In

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

, the team was eliminated by LSU in the Super Regional round. In the team's 2009 season, the Anteaters won the Big West Championship with a 22-2 conference record and qualified for the NCAA Tournament as the #6 National Seed. It hosted an NCAA Regional at Anteater Ballpark, but was eliminated in the Regional by

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

. Following the 2009 season, Anteater Ballpark was renamed Cicerone Field at Anteater Ballpark for former UC Irvine chancellor Ralph J. Cicerone. Meeting on the mound (21361428070)

In 2010, the team qualified for the NCAA Tournament but was eliminated in the regional round. In 2011, the team won the Los Angeles Regional to advance to its second super regional under Gillespie. In the super regional, the Anteaters lost to Virginia 2 games to 1.

Conference affiliations

* Independent (College Division) (1970–1973) * Independent ( Division II) (1974–1977) *

(1978–1984) *

(1985–1992, 2002–present) ** Known as the Pacific Coast Athletic Association from 1985–1986

Venues

Cicerone Field at Anteater Ballpark

Cicerone Field at Anteater Ballpark has been the program's home venue since it opened in 2002, also the year in which UC Irvine sponsored varsity baseball for the first season since 1992. The venue was known as Anteater Ballpark from 2002-2009, before it was renamed for former university chancellor Ralph J. Cicerone. It has a capacity of 2,900 spectators.

Head coaches

Mike Gerakos, who coached for 12 seasons, is the program's longest tenured coach.

Yearly records

Below is a table of the program's yearly records.

Notable former players

Below is a list of notable former Anteaters and the seasons in which they played for the program. *

Brady Anderson Brady Kevin Anderson (born January 18, 1964) is an American former baseball outfielder and executive who played 15 seasons in Major League Baseball (1988–2002) for the Boston Red Sox, Baltimore Orioles and Cleveland Indians. He spent the majori ...

(1983-1985) *

Garrett Atkins Garrett Bernard Atkins (born December 12, 1979) is an American former Major League Baseball third baseman. Between 2003 and 2010, he played for the Colorado Rockies and Baltimore Orioles. Amateur career High school career Atkins attended Univer ...

* Dylan Axelrod (2006-2007) *

Justin Cassel Justin J. Cassel (born September 25, 1984) is an American professional baseball pitcher who is currently a free agent. Prior to beginning his professional career, he played college baseball at the University of California, Irvine. Cassel has als ...

(2004-2006) *

Keston Hiura Keston Wee Hing Natsuo Hiura (born August 2, 1996) is an American professional baseball first baseman and second baseman for the Milwaukee Brewers of Major League Baseball (MLB). Hiura was born in Santa Clarita, California and attended Valenci ...

(2015-2017) * David Huff (2004) * Doug Linton (1984-1986) * Ben Orloff (2006-2009) * Bryan Petersen (2005-2007) * Sean Tracey (2002) * Gary Wheelock (1972-1974)

References

{{Big West Conference baseball navbox