Anteaters take third in preseason conference rankings

UC Irvine baseball team finishes behind Cal State Fullerton and Long Beach State in Big West Conference coaches’ poll.UC Irvine was picked to finish third in the Big West Conference’s preseason baseball coaches’ poll, released Wednesday.

It was the second consecutive season the Anteaters have been the preseason No. 3 pick in the conference.

Cal State Fullerton was the coaches’ selection to win the conference title, receiving seven of the eight first-place votes. Long Beach State finished second in the preseason poll.

UC Irvine edged out Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, which received the other first-place vote, by one point for third-place. Rounding out the rest of the poll were UC Riverside, Pacific, UC Santa Barbara and Cal State Northridge.

The Anteaters are coming off back-to-back 30-win seasons, after going 31-25 last season, and finished fifth in the Big West with a 10-11 conference mark.

Coach Dave Serrano returns 14 letterwinners, led by preseason All-America reliever Blair Erickson. The junior recorded 10 saves last season, striking out 52 batters in 35 innings with a 1.80 earned-run average.

The right-hander was a third-team preseason All-America pick by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers’ Assn., a second-team pick by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper, and a third-team selection by RosenblattReport.com.

Erickson is the lone returning all-conference selection for UCI after catcher Mark Wagner and pitcher Chris Nicoll were chosen in the Major League Baseball draft and signed.

Among the other key returnees for the Anteaters are pitcher Justin Cassel and infielder Jaime Martinez.

Cassel, a junior, went 9-4 last season for UCI with a 3.54 ERA in 117 innings. The right-hander struck out 86 batters and walked 21 and pitched two complete games.

Martinez, a senior, hit .339 with a team-best five homers and 46 RBIs. The first baseman recorded 57 hits and eight doubles for the Anteaters.

The Anteaters will also have left-hander Glenn Swanson back after redshirting last season with an elbow strain. The senior went 16-18 with a 4.51 ERA his first three seasons at UCI. Swanson, a former Baseball America Freshman All-America selection, has been drafted by the Boston Red Sox and the Texas Rangers in previous seasons.

Fullerton, which reached the NCAA Super Regionals last season, brings back five of its eight position starters from last season, plus conference Freshman Pitcher of the Year Wes Roemer. The Titans’ roster includes pitcher Adam Jorgenson, a Costa Mesa native who attended La Quinta High. The sophomore went 2-0 with a 4.67 ERA last season.

Long Beach State, which lost a pair of first-round selections in shortstop Troy Tulowitzki and pitcher Cesar Ramos, has four starting position players returning. Matt Cline, an All-Orange Empire Conference infielder at Orange Coast College last season, is on the 49ers roster.

Cal Poly went 36-20 last season and tied with Long Beach State for second. The Mustangs bring back honorable mention All-Big West outfield Jimmy Van Ostrand.

UCI’s season begins Feb. 3 with a three-game series at home against California. Following the opening set is a Feb. 7 game against Loyola Marymount.

The Anteaters’ schedule includes a three-game road trip to Hawaii, a two-game trip to Arizona, and midweek games against USC, UCLA, San Diego, San Diego State and UNLV.

The home slate has series against Sacramento State, Houston and Oral Roberts.20060112DQ1MS4FDNo Caption20060112ifqrzakfMARK C. DUSTIN / DAILY PILOT(LA)Jaime Martinez (35), shown here tagging Cal State Northridge’s Rodney McMahon in a 2005 game, is one of UC Irvine’s top returners.