UCI aims to clean up on ‘Dirtbags’

Steve Virgen

A year ago, UC Irvine, which had not fielded a baseball team since

1992, came to a crossroads when the Anteaters faced Long Beach State

in a three-game Big West baseball series. UCI swept the 49ers, ranked

No. 15 at the time, at Blair Field and that seemingly opened the door

for the Anteaters and introduced the new team as the up-and-comer in

the Big West.

This season, UCI has the opportunity to make itself the commodity

it believes it can be when the “Dirtbags” come to Anteater Ballpark

for a three-game series that starts tonight at 7. Long Beach State is

ranked No. 10 by Baseball America, while the unranked Anteaters have

won three in a row, including two victories that gave them the series

over UC Santa Barbara last week.

“They are up for this series,” UCI Coach John Savage said of his

team’s attitude toward this weekend. “We were up for the series last

weekend. Getting two games on the road last week really helped us.

We’re believing in ourselves. We’re playing good sound baseball.

We’re getting back to the basics and making it happen. That’s what

the program has been based on since we started.”

Clearly one of the reasons UCI (14-20, 2-1 in the Big West) has

improved recently is senior Jon Horwitz. He collected five hits and

five runs against UCSB. The center fielder hit .385 in the three-game

series against the Gauchos, then went 4 for 4, including a double and

two RBIs and two runs, to lead the Anteaters to a 5-1 nonconference

home truimph over Pepperdine Tuesday.

“He looks like the Horwitz of old from last year,” said Savage of

the standout who led UCI with a .388 batting average last year. “He’s

more relaxed now and the pressure is off him a little bit. He was

trying to do too much earlier when we were going through injuries.”

UCI is without sophomores Matt Anderson and Jaime Martinez, both

out indefinitely with stress fractures in the lower back. However,

the Anteaters have been able to adapt and are, perhaps, playing their

best baseball of the season.

Long Beach State is commonly referred to as one of the benchmarks

in Big West baseball by Savage. And, this season the “Dirtbags” are

21-11, 2-1 in the Big West and feature what Savage calls one of the

best pitching tandems in the nation.

Abe Alvarez, a left-handed pitcher with a 2.06 ERA and 6-0 record,

will take the mound for Long Beach State tonight. On Saturday, the

Anteaters will have to deal with Jered Weaver, a 6-foot-6 sophomore

right-hander, who earned Big West Pitcher of the Week honors

recently. Weaver, the younger brother of New York Yankees’ pitcher

Jeff Weaver, has a 2.04 ERA and is 7-2 on the season.

Long Beach State, which rallied for a 5-3 victory at UCLA Tuesday,

plans to start Cesar Ramos (3.53 ERA) on Sunday.

UCI will counter with sophomore left-hander Glenn Swanson tonight.

Swanson, who built a reputation of intensifying his efforts against

ranked teams last year, is 1-5 on the season and has a 4.24 ERA.

Swanson is looking to rebound from a loss Friday at UCSB, when he

lasted just 2 2/3 innings, giving up five runs on nine hits.

Sophomore Brett Smith (4.02 ERA), who leads UCI in strikeouts with

52, will pitch on Saturday and is seeking his seventh win of the

season.

Paul French (3.50 ERA), a senior pitcher slated for Sunday,

retired the first nine batters en route to his first victory Sunday

to give the Anteaters the series win over UCSB.

The Anteaters also feature senior Chris Klemm, who was recently

named Big West Player of the Week. He batted .462 (6 for 13) with

three runs scored and three RBIs, including a home run last week.

Klemm leads the Anteaters with a .347 batting average.

Long Beach State, coached by Mike Weathers who is in his second

year, is led in batting by junior third baseman Adam Heether who has

a .380 average.