‘Eaters ranked 36th

The UC Irvine baseball team reached territory it hadn’t seen in 27

years when Collegiate Baseball tabbed the squad 36th among the

publication’s “Fabulous 40” preseason poll. It is the first time the

Anteaters have been ranked in a preseason poll since UCI joined

Division I for the 1977-78 season.

UCI relief pitcher Blair Erickson earned individual recognition

when he was tabbed “Louisville Slugger” preseason third-team

All-America by Collegiate Baseball.

Erickson, who was named preseason All-America by the National

Collegiate Baseball Writers Assn. in November, amassed 17 saves last

season as a freshman. The right-hander struck out 51 batters in 37

1/3 innings and finished second in the country in saves en route to

earning seven All-America honors. He also was the Big West

Conference’s Freshman Pitcher of the Year and a first-team selection.

Erickson rewrote the Big West freshman save record as well as

UCI’s career annals. He then capped off a season of awards with an

invitation to the 2004 USA Baseball National Team trials.

The University of Texas took top honors in Collegiate Baseball’s

rankings while Miami came in second. UCI returns a talented squad and

will be led by first-year head coach Dave Serrano, who was hired to

lead the program in October.

Serrano retains 25 lettermen from the 2004 squad, including

two-time All-Big West honoree Matt Anderson and NCAA All-Regional

Team selection Mark Wagner. Serrano, the 2004 Baseball Coaches

Association/Baseball America Assistant Coach of the Year, takes over

the reins of a pitching staff that finished second in the Big West in

ERA at 3.69 and tied for third in strikeouts at 483.

In just the third season since the program’s reinstatement in

2002, UCI earned its first NCAA postseason berth in the school’s

Division I history after finishing 34-21-1.

UCI opens the 2005 season with a three-game series against

California at Berkeley (Feb. 4-6) and faces No. 17 Washington

(Collegiate Baseball) in the Anteaters’ home opener (Feb. 11-13).