Everything’s Fine at Irvine
UC Irvine is known for its scientific and medical research, not its baseball program.
Great moments in Anteater history are limited to two NCAA Division II championships won in the 1970s. The last remnants of a middling Division I program were buried in 1992 under statewide budget cuts.
When former athletic director Dan Guerrero fulfilled his vision of restoring baseball to the sports portfolio, John Savage saw an experience he wanted to take part in.
“It was incredible,” the Anteaters’ third-year coach said. “We had the opportunity to hire a staff and really formulate a blueprint on how to begin a program and how to incorporate it into a very, very competitive market.
“We were literally going from nowhere to somewhere at a high level. That’s what made it so attractive and so intriguing.”
Irvine reintroduced baseball to great fanfare two years ago in front of a capacity crowd at its new stadium, Anteater Ballpark. Now in their third season back, the Anteaters (34-21-1) will forge new ground Friday by playing their first NCAA tournament game in Division I when they face Arizona (30-24-1) in a regional at South Bend, Ind.
Savage, 38, gets much of the credit for Irvine’s fast rise, building a solid team around pitching and defense.
“I’m a giant fan of John’s and to do as much as they’ve done as fast as they’ve done it is noteworthy and significant,” said USC Coach Mike Gillespie, for whom Savage was an assistant from 1996 to 2000. “I recognize there are players [in Southern California], but finding and developing them this fast is something I don’t think just anyone can do.”
As the pitching coach at USC, Savage tutored current major-league stars Mark Prior and Barry Zito. Rik Currier and Seth Etherton are other pitchers who flourished under him.
The latest may be Brett Smith, a 6-foot-5 junior right-hander from La Habra Sonora High. Smith has been the Anteaters’ ace with an 8-4 record and 2.91 earned-run average. He will start Friday against Arizona, a team he limited to one run in eight innings on Feb. 20.
Smith has lowered his ERA in each of his three seasons and credits Savage with improving his preparation between starts and his mental outlook on the mound. Other top pitchers for the Anteaters are junior Glenn Swanson, sophomore Chris Nicoll, and freshmen Justin Cassel, David Huff and Blair Erickson, who has a nation-leading 17 saves.
“There’s definitely something special about him,” said Smith, who is expected to go in the first three rounds of the baseball draft next week. “I like the way he goes about things and the way he handles us. There’s a lot of expectations and you kind of get buried by them, but one day it clicks and when it does you have nowhere to go but up.”
Savage considers himself a pitching coach at heart -- he had the final say on the dimensions of Irvine’s spacious home field -- and says he is “still learning as a head coach.” But his own transformation is moving along quickly enough that he is considered a top candidate to take over at UCLA when Gary Adams retires as Bruin coach at the end of the season.
Guerrero, now the athletic director at UCLA, has already hired him once.
Savage has a five-year contract through 2007 and has publicly stated that he loves the school and doesn’t see himself anywhere else. Guerrero, of course, knows the coach and has seen him recruit successfully under similar UC admission standards.
Guerrero declined to be interviewed for this story but said through a UCLA spokesman, “I had a great respect for John and what he had accomplished with his pitching staff at his previous places of employment. I knew he would be a great fit at Irvine.”
Whether Savage becomes a fixture at Irvine may depend on the school’s commitment to baseball. Athletic Director Bob Chichester said the school was trying to raise $1.5 million to expand seating and build a clubhouse with the ultimate goal of hosting a baseball regional.
“I think it’s amazing what John and his staff have done in 3 1/2 to 4 years,” Chichester said. “With the success we’ve had, I don’t want people to not appreciate how difficult this job has been.
“The ideal thing is to have coaches that are doing so well that they’re on everyone’s radar screen. Hopefully we can do some things here that John will have a continuing interest to be part of this program.”
At the moment, the Anteaters aren’t looking at what the future holds. They have already come a long way, looking to build their own tradition.
“I saw a bunch of guys that wanted to start something special,” said junior third baseman Matt Anderson, who was one of the first recruits. “Obviously this year, we’re showing that we can do some damage.”
