At the midpoint of the season, there was only one program in the country that ranked in the top 15 nationally in run scoring, ERA and fielding percentage.
That program wasn’t Arkansas or Texas A&M or Wake Forest, the three teams this year to rank No. 1 in the Top 25. It wasn’t Clemson, Florida State or Oregon State, powerhouses that have consistently ranked in the top 10 this spring.
Instead, it was UC Irvine. The Anteaters were producing as one of the most complete and consistent programs in the country.
UCI has a rich tradition of its own, having reached the College World Series twice in the last 20 years—2007 and 2014—and won the Big West Conference in 2009 and 2021. But they have never started a season this well.
UC Irvine was 24-4 at the midpoint, the best mark in program history, and had just won a showdown series against UC Santa Barbara, which had been picked to win the conference in the preseason coaches poll.
The Anteaters were feeling good about themselves, but they knew the job was far from finished.
