New day dawns for UCI

Barry Faulkner

With an offense that only struck fear into the hearts of its own

coaching and pitching staffs last season, the injury-riddled UC

Irvine baseball team suffered through a 21-35 campaign.

On its way to what Coach John Savage called an abysmal .253 season

batting average, the Anteaters scored four or fewer runs in 35 games,

losing all but five of those, including six shutouts and 12 occasions

on which they managed a single tally.

This offensive futility helped waste some quality work by UCI

pitchers, who held opponents to a .260 batting average and to four or

fewer runs 31 times, though the latter resulted in just 17 UCI

victories.

But with four players back at full strength after missing

virtually all of last season with health issues, another year of

maturity for a program that came out of a 10-year hiatus for the 2002

season, and a freshman class Savage rather subjectively considers the

best in the nation, things could be much different this spring.

Indeed, Savage believes, anyone referring to his squad as Anteater

United this season will be talking about team chemistry, not a

scoring proclivity better suited to soccer.

“I think, offensively, you can’t even compare the two teams,”

Savage said. “I think we’re going to be good, much healthier and

stronger. It’s night and day.”

Adding sunshine to the lineup are sophomores Matt Anderson, R.J.

Brown and Jaime Martinez, all of whom sat out last season with

injuries.

Anderson, who missed all but two games last season due to a stress

fracture in his back, was a freshman All-American and named

second-team All-Big West after leading the team with 91 hits (second

in the nation among freshmen, according to Savage), 57 runs and 28

multiple-hit games. He also had 44 RBIs in 2002, when he played

mostly second base. He will move to third this season.

Brown, who had arm problems last season, brings a 6-foot-3,

240-pound physique to the designated hitter role. He earned honorable

mention for freshman All-American honors after driving in 39 runs

with 38 hits in 2002. He can also catch, if need be, though that job

figures to be filled admirably by sophomore Matt Wagner.

Martinez, who also had a stress fracture in his back last season,

is a 6-5, 245-pound sophomore who saw time in 2002 at first base,

outfield and designated hitter. He figures to help the ‘Eaters

improve on the 15 homers they hit as a team last season.

Wagner started 54 games last year, when he led the team with 31

RBIs and 19 doubles and hit .273. He was a Louisville Slugger

freshman All-American and was second-team All-Big West in his

collegiate debut, after playing four varsity seasons at Mayfair High

in Lakewood.

Second baseman Matt Fisher, the team’s lone senior, hit .253 with

28 RBIs last spring, after transferring from the University of

Oklahoma. Savage praises Fisher as a strong leader, whose experience

should be a stabilizing factor.

Freshman Chad Lundahl, who helped lead Thousand Oaks High to a CIF

Southern Section championship last spring, has taken over at

shortstop. He committed just 10 errors in four varsity seasons as a

prep, but defense is not his only attribute.

Martinez, freshman Tim Stewart (Mater Dei High), and junior Greg

Wallis figure to share time at first base. Stewart impressed Savage

with some torrid hitting during the fall.

Sophomore Erik Johnson, also forced to redshirt with an injury

last season, has the early lead in right field, while junior Andy

Amara is penciled in to start in left.

Savage said junior Jordan Szabo (.272 with one homer, 12 RBIs and

six stolen bases in 125 at-bats last season) and sophomore Gary

Dudrey (23 hits and six steals last spring) will see action in center

field.

Savage declined to specify a batting order. He also said an

abundance of depth should allow several other position players to

make an impact and create constant competition for starting roles.

When it comes to the pitching staff, it is difficult to overstate

the impact juniors Brett Smith and Glenn Swanson have had on the

program, since it returned to competition two seasons ago.

“Those two guys have combined to make 59 starts the last two

years,” said Savage, who will count on them to maintain a similar

workload this spring.

Smith, a 6-5, 225-pound right-hander, led the staff in almost

every pitching category last season, when he went 8-4 with a 3.71 ERA

and posted 87 strikeouts in 102 innings.

A second-team all-conference honoree, he had an impressive summer

in the Cap Cod League. He capped an off-season in which he was 3-1

with a 2.92 ERA, with 52 strikeouts in 49 1/3 innings, as the winning

pitcher in the league championship game.

Swanson, a left-hander from San Diego, pitched much better last

season than his 2-9 record would indicate. He fashioned a career-low

3.67 ERA, fanned 68 and walked just 23 in 90 2/3 innings, after an

8-5 freshman season.

Swanson also sparkled in the Cape Cod League, starting the premier

college summer circuit’s All-Star game and going 5-1 with a 2.14 ERA

for the Chatham A’s, fanning 54 in 54 2/3 innings.

Savage terms Swanson a leader on and off the field.

Savage plans to start Smith, ranked No. 35 on Baseball America’s

top 50 junior prospects this season, on Fridays, followed by Swanson

on Saturdays.

Savage, noted for his work with pitchers as an assistant at USC,

said he’ll use David Huff, a freshman lefty out of Edison High, as

his Sunday starter. Tuesday starts, Savage said, will be handled by

heralded freshman Justin Cassel and sophomore Chris Nicoll.

Cassell was 15-0 with eight shutouts for Chatsworth High last

season, when he fanned 119 strikeouts in 99 innings and yielded just

57 hits and 22 walks. Baseball America named him a first-team

All-American and Chatsworth was ranked No. 1 in three national polls.

Huff, a three-time varsity MVP at Edison, was 10-2 with five saves

and a school-record 0.70 ERA last spring for the Chargers. He gave up

just one earned run and walked only 13 in 96 innings, striking out

76.

Junior right-hander Jimmy Alstot, with 69 strikeouts in 57 1/3

innings his first two seasons at UCI, is the projected closer, while

junior Steve Schroer (a 2.17 ERA and .195 batting average against in

nearly 46 innings last season) and 6-7 Michael Koehler are projected

as the long men.

The bullpen figures to also include setup men Blair Erickson and

left-hander Kevin Fox, both freshmen.

Savage believes last year’s adversity, which included losing

streaks of six, five, and four games (twice), may have made his

returners stronger.

“Sometimes you have to go through certain things to get to where

you want to get to,” Savage said. “What happened last year, with all

the things we had to go through, should make us a better program and

better coaches. After things went about as well as they could have

gone our first year, [2003] might have been the best thing for the

program.”

The Anteaters were picked to finish fourth in the Big West, behind

Cal State Fullerton and Long Beach State (both in the top 10 in

national preseason polls), as well as UC Riverside.

The UCI schedule, however, isn’t limited to challenges from

conference opponents. The Anteaters, who open Tuesday at 2 p.m. at

Pepperdine, have 20 nonconference games against teams that made the

NCAA tournament last season, a total surpassed only by Fullerton (25)

and USC (22).

UCI opens Big West Conference play April 8 against visiting UC

Santa Barbara.

“We’re anticipating a challenging season and we really want to put

a stamp on it,” Savage said.