Baseball Opens Big West Play With Three-Game Homestand vs. UC Irvine

Mar. 28	6 pm PT	vs UC Irvine	LHP, Dylan Stuart	Game Notes		Live Stats	Purchase Tickets
Mar. 29	6 pm PT	vs UC Irvine	RHP, Jacob Smigelski		Listen Live	Live Stats	Purchase Tickets
Mar. 30	1 pm PT	vs UC Irvine	LHP, Ben Doucette		Listen Live	Live Stats	Purchase Tickets

Riverside, CA—The UC Riverside Baseball Team (10-9) returns home this week to open Big West conference play with a three-game series against UC Irvine. In observance of Easter Sunday, the series will run from Thursday through Saturday.

Before their break for finals, the Highlanders took one out of three in a road series at Portland, finishing the weekend with a 5-1 win (box score/recap).

Clayton Prestridge continues to lead the Highlanders offense batting .342 and hitting safely in 16 of 19 games, 7 of which are multi-hit efforts. Eddie Young tops the squad, and is third in the Big West, in on base percentage at .471, thanks in part to a conference-high 21 walks .

UC Riverside’s rotation against UC Irvine will consist of LHP Dylan Stuart (2-2, 5.28), RHP Jacob Smigelski (1-1, 5.72) and LHP Ben Doucette (1-1, 6.17). Smigelski leads the Highlanders with 20 strikeouts on the season, and has walked just five batters in his 28.1 innings of work.

UC Irvine entered the week with a 15-5 record and a No. 23 ranking courtesy of Collegiate Baseball. The 'Eaters face off against CSU Bakersfield Tuesday before traveling to the Inland Empire take on the Highlanders. The Anteaters are batting .304 as a team with six regulars hitting above .300. Spencer Connor is doing his best Ted Williams impression leading the team and the Big West with a .405 mark. His .554 slugging percentage also tops the squad.

The UC Irvine pitching staff boasts a 2.66 ERA, and the team’s defense has committed only seven errors in 20 games this year.

Coming off a complete-game win against Nebraska, Andrew Thurman (2-2, 2.38) will get the start Thursday for the Anteaters. Thurman leads the team with 31 strikeouts, recording a career-high 11 against the Cornhuskers. Left-hander, Matt Whitehouse (2-2, 2.48) is expected to start game two. Andrew Morales (6-0, 2.01) is scheduled to finish the series on the mound for UC Irvine. His six wins lead the team and the league.

The Highlanders are 19-39 all-time against UC Irvine. The 'Eaters swept the Highlanders a year ago and have won 11 of the last 13 games between the clubs. (View All-Time Results)

Baseball Opens Big West Play With Three-Game Homestand vs. UC Irvine

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