College Division/Division II The program was founded prior to the 1970 season and initially played as an independent school in the
NCAA College Division, made up of small-school athletic programs. Under head coach
Gary Adams, the team qualified for the College Division Tournament in 1970, 1971, and 1972. In 1973, the team ended the regular season with a twelve-game winning streak and again qualified for the tournament. After advancing to the College Division Championship, it defeated
Missouri-St. Louis,
Eastern Illinois, and
Ithaca twice to win a national championship. UC Irvine continued to play in Division II until following the 1977 season, though it did not qualify for another NCAA tournament. Former
Gonzaga head coach
Steve Hertz became the program's head coach prior to the 1979 season, in which the team finished 7th in the SCBA. In 1980, UC Irvine finished second behind
Cal State Fullerton, its best season in the SCBA. The team continued to play in the SCBA, though it finished no higher than third until the conference disbanded following the 1984 season. UC Irvine then became members of the
Pacific Coast Athletic Association, which was renamed the Big West Conference prior to the 1987 season. UC Irvine had a winning conference record only twice in eight PCAA/Big West seasons through the end of the 1992 season.
Program revival In 2000, the university announced plans to revive the varsity baseball program and build a multimillion-dollar on-campus venue for the program. The team began play in 2002. Its first game, also the opening of the newly built
Anteater Ballpark, was an 8-5 loss to
San Diego on January 25, 2002. Following the 2004 season, John Savage left the program to become the head coach at
UCLA. UC Irvine hired
Cal State Fullerton assistant coach
Dave Serrano to replace him. In
2006, Serrano's second season, the team qualified for the
NCAA tournament. In
2007, the team again qualified for the tournament. After defeating
Texas in the Round Rock Regional finals, the Anteaters defeated
Wichita State in the Super Regionals to advance to the
2007 College World Series. At the World Series, the team went 2-2 and was eliminated by eventual national champion
Oregon State. He was replaced by former USC head coach
Mike Gillespie. The team qualified for the NCAA tournament in each of Gillespie's first four seasons (2008-2011). In
2008, the team was eliminated by
LSU in the Super Regional round. In 2010, the team qualified for the NCAA tournament but was eliminated in the regional round. In
2011, the team won the
Los Angeles Regional to advance to its second super regional under Gillespie. In the super regional, the Anteaters lost to Virginia 2 games to 1.
Conference affiliations • Independent (College Division) (1970–1973) • Independent (
Division II) (1974–1977) •
Southern California Baseball Association (1978–1984) •
Big West Conference (1985–1992, 2002–present) • Known as the Pacific Coast Athletic Association from 1985–1986 ==UC Irvine in the NCAA Tournament==