IRVINE, Calif. — Anteater baseball unveiled its slate for 2018 with a consistent stream of quality opponents throughout the year.
Things start to warm up in late January with the yearly Alumni Game slated for Saturday, Jan. 27 as all the past UC Irvine greats return to Anteater Ballpark.
Opening day again commences at home with a three-game set against Nevada, February 16-18. UC Irvine will be home for eight weekend series including Nevada and last year’s WCC Champion Gonzaga to start the year with all weekend series falling into the same time format with Friday nights at 6:30 p.m., Saturdays at 2:00 p.m., and Sunday finales beginning at 1:00 p.m. throughout the year.
Other non-conference visitors will be Utah Valley around a weekend filled with St. Patrick’s Day and March Madness, and Pac-12 presence Oregon with former assistant coach Jason Dietrich travels down in the midst of conference play to do battle in the first week of May.
The ‘Eaters go on the road for seven weekend series highlighted by a rematch with TCU. The Horned Frogs were the No. 1 ranked team in the nation in 2017 when they were upset by UCI in Anteater Ballpark which spurned them on to a Big 12 title and trip to the College World Series. UCI heads to Fort Worth, Texas to open March in a highly-anticipated grudge match.
Elsewhere on the non-conference docket are a return trip to face Portland in the second week of March for four games that features a Saturday doubleheader, and a lead-in to Big West play will be a late-March trip to Southern Illinois who finished right in the middle of the competitive Missouri Valley Conference.
Big West play will begin on Easter weekend with Hawai’i visiting Anteater Ballpark for a Thursday-Friday-Saturday series. UCI will alternate between home and away weekends during the conference schedule highlighted with visits from UC Santa Barbara (April 13-15), Cal State Fullerton (April 27-29), and UC Riverside completing the home portion finishing with a Senior Day Sunday on May 20.
UCI’s Big West road series feature trips to Long Beach State (April 6-8), CSUN (April 20-22), up to Cal Poly for Mother’s Day (May 11-13), and a season finale away from home at UC Davis, May 24-26.
The Tuesday midweek matchups will continue with five home contests starting with San Diego State (Feb. 27) and LMU (March 27) early, and return with three midweek showdowns down the stretch against USD (April 24), UCLA (May 1), and USC (May 15) all starting at 6:30 p.m.
The ‘Eaters will play each school at their place as well starting at LMU (Feb. 20), making their way to USC on March 20, and three more to start April with consecutive weeks in San Diego at USD (April 3) and SDSU (April 10) and a trip to UCLA on April 17.
UCI sprinkles in another international exhibition matchup again with an early season visit from Hosei University from Tokyo, Japan on Wednesday, Feb. 21.
In all, UC Irvine plays 29 home games highlighted by a stretch of eight straight against USD-Cal State Fullerton-UCLA-Oregon for its longest homestand. The longest home absence from the team’s 27 total road matchups is a seven-game stint to start March travelling to TCU and Portland.
