Three-game stand at UC Irvine

Both BYU and host UC Irvine look to bounce back from a pair of baseball losses last week as they start a three-game series Thursday.

The Anteaters (6-5) have been ranked No. 21, 24 and 30 in previous weeks, but are out of the polls this week due to a pair of losses at Baylor.  Meanwhile, BYU (4-4) has hopes for a better showing after a pair of losses at No. 4 Arkansas.

“We’re excited to get back at it again,” said BYU coach Vance Law after a rare weekend off from games.  “This will be a good challenge against a good club.  Hopefully we learned a few things at Arkansas.”

The starting BYU pitching remains the same as those who produced a 4-2 record going into the Arkansas series.  Chris Capper (0-2, 4.91), Mark Anderson (2-0, 2.13) and Adam Miller (1-0, 0.00) will start on the mound for games Thursday, Friday and Saturday, respectively.

Miller is among five pitchers on the BYU staff with a 0.00 ERA thus far, including freshman Mason Marshall who has two saves in 7.1 innings.

In the first NCAA statistics of this season, BYU was 59th in fielding and 63rd in triples. Austin Hall was 13th in triples and Miller was tied with many at No. 1 in ERA at 0.00.

The games at 6:30, 6:30 and 1 p.m. PST, will be broadcast live on the Internet through links on www.byucougars.com and may be broadcast live locally in California on KUCI FM (88.9) depending on the outcome of UC Irvine basketball games in the Big West Tournament.

BYU leads the series, 7-6, against UC Irvine, having split the last time they played in 2005.  The Anteaters won the first meeting in 1970.