Colonels open up Corvallis Regional against nationally-ranked Cal-Irvine Anteaters

The University of California at Irvine, Nicholls’ opponent in the opening game of the Corvallis Regional in Oregon, may not have three Division I national championships like host Oregon State, but the Anteaters have been a recent postseason fixture.

Ranked 20th in the Baseball America poll, Cal-Irvine is in the postseason for the 10th time in the last 20 years, making their first trip since 2021. Their 43-12 record tied the school mark for most wins in the regular season.

By contrast, Nicholls is making its second consecutive appearance in the NCAA tournament and fifth all time.

Nicholls (38-20) garnered the No. 3 seed in the regional. Oregon State is the No. 1 seed, with UC-Irvine the No. 2 seed, and Tulane the No. 3 seed.

Action in the Corvallis Regional begins on Friday. Nicholls is scheduled to face UC-Irvine at 3 p.m. CDT on ESPN+. Oregon State and Tulane are slated to square off at 8 p.m. on ESPNU. It will be the first-ever meeting between Nicholls and UC-Irvine.

The Anteaters finished second in the Big West to UC Santa Barbara, which is ranked No. 18 in the nation.

“Their conference is one of the best in college baseball,” Nicholls coach Mike Silva said. “There are teams in that league that have won national championships and they’ve been in the College World Series multiple times.

“It’s going to be challenging, but it’s a fun challenge if you look at it as an opportunity instead of something that can hold us back. It would be a big step forward for our program. We played Alabama at home last year and gave them all they wanted. Our guys have been there before. I’m looking forward to see how they handle it.”

Opening up with Cal-Irvine, Silva said, could work to the Colonels’ advantage.

“Not playing the host, I think it’ll be a little better for us, to be honest. We’re not playing the host opening night. That’s a tough task. It really is. When you play the opening night of a regional and you pay attention across college baseball, very rarely does that go in the favor of the visiting team. I think this gives us a better opportunity,” the Nicholls coach said.

The Big West had no postseason conference tournament, so the Anteaters closed the season with a three-game series against Cal State University-Northridge.

Cal-Irvine won the opener of the series 5-2. Anteaters’ starter Nick Pinto pitched five innings, allowing two runs on eight hits and one walk, while striking out two in a no-decision. Reliever Ricky Tibbett pitched a scoreless ninth inning for the save.

In a 14-9 loss in the second game, starter Trevor Hansen worked two innings, allowing seven runs, four of which were earned, on six hits and one           walk, with one strikeout.

Cal-Irvine won the finale 14-9. Tim Grack worked the first 2 1/3 innings, allowing four runs on four hits and four walks, while striking out three. Tibbett tossed two scoreless innings to pick up his 10th save of the year.

“They can pitch. They don’t walk very many people,” Silva said of the Anteaters. “Defensively, they’re outstanding across the board. Really, every position on the field, they’re great defensively.

“Offensively, they can beat you in a variety of ways. They can steal bags. They can execute buts. They can hit the ball out of the yard.”

Pinto is 9-2 on the season with a 3.44 earned run average. He has allowed 34 runs on 94 hits and 21 walks, with 90 strikeouts in 89 innings.

Hansen is 6-3 on the season with a 5.64 ERA. He has allowed 43 runs on 83 hits and 33 walks, with 66 strikeouts in 68 2/3 innings.

“Both of them are extreme pitchability guys,” Silva said of Pinto and Hansen. “They’re not going to beat themselves and they have good stuff. I think we have to do a good job of not striking out and string some hits together. We probably will need to run one out of the yard.”

Grack is 2-1 on the season and sports a 5.60 ERA. He has allowed 22 runs on 38 hits and 21 walks, with 39 strikeouts in 35 1/3 innings.

“He’s got some of the more electric stuff. He can overpower you a little bit,” Silva said.

To go along with his 10 saves, Tibbett is 4-1 on the season with a 3.07 ERA. He has allowed 15 runs on 37 hits and 18 walks, with 48 strikeouts in 44 innings.

“They have a finisher, and you know who you are going to see,” Silva said of Tibbett. “I think that’s a tall task when you look at his numbers. You also have to know how the game’s gonna play out. They will try to get him the ball in the eighth or ninth inning and shut the door. He is really comfortable in that situation.

“Hopefully, we don’t get to give him an opportunity to get into the game. That’s the goal.”

Outfielder Myles Smith leads Cal-Irvine in hitting with a .405 average. He has eight home runs and 43 runs batted in.

Catcher Thomas McCaffrey, who is hitting .300 on the season, leads the team with 70 RBI.

Seven UC-Irvine hitters have at least 43 runs batted in. Six are hitting .300 or better.

Shortstop Woody Hadeen, who is hitting .365, leads the team in stolen bases with 12 steals in 15 attempts.

The Colonels plan to start Jacob Mayers against the Anteaters. The sophomore right-hander is 5-1 on the season with a 4.28 earned run average. He has allowed 33 runs on 37 hits and 74 walks, while striking out 105 in 69 1/3 innings.

For Nicholls to have success against the Anteaters, Silva said, the Colonels need to mirror the kind of effort they had in last year’s regional appearance when they gave host Alabama all it could handle in a 4-3 loss

“Jacob’s gotta throw strikes. He has to,” said Silva. “We can’t create innings and we gotta strike guys out when we have an opportunity to, and Irvine doesn’t strike out. So it’s a unique matchup, but it was last year when we played ’Bama, too. We kind of felt the same way. I think those teams are fairly similar.

“These guys have been there before and they’re excited. They’re confident right now. We could go out and go in two. We could also go make a run at this thing and find ourselves in the championship. That’s the goal.”