Powerhouse Weekend 1

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Last year, when I did my doubleheader at UC Riverside, I came to a realization. Because this is Southern California, and the weather is, for the most part, conducive to year-round baseball, teams from across the country want to come play here. Why else would a school like West Virginia come down to play lowly UC Riverside? With this in mind, and while planning for Baseball Road Trips, I noticed that some high-octane teams were coming to the area to play the local colleges. It started with Michigan visiting Long Beach two weeks ago, but the real action seemed to coalesce on the last weekend of February and the first weekend of March. I nicknamed the two weekends the "Powerhouse Weekends" because they featured the best college talent I will probably ever see. It started this weekend with my trip down to Irvine to see the Anteaters of UC Irvine play host to the Tennessee Volunteers.

To see the boys of Knoxville, and SEC team, play in my backyard was just too tantalizing for me to ignore. So, despite the ominous weather report of rain and thunder storms, I loaded my bike on to the Metrolink train and headed down into Orange County. 

My first stop in the OC was my old stomping grounds of Orange. Just riding down to my coffee shop and sitting outside on the Orange Circle sipping a cup of 'jo brought me back to those heady days of last summer. It really got me excited for Angels games this year, and just how awesome it is to have established such a great pre-game routine. While the main goal of that pit stop was to kill time, it reminded just how fantastic this season is going to be.

After coffee, I boarded another Metrolink train to the Tustin station and began my ride down to the ballpark. It was about a 6-mile ride from the station to the park, but it took me on the San Diego Creek Trail through downtown Irvine and right to the park. It was a good ride, but I have noticed something with all my riding on these off-street paths. It is these bike riders that have the $5,000 bikes and are all spandexed up like Lance Armstrong. They zoom past me without saying a word and startle me every time. I can count three times on my ride to and from the park that I was startled and nearly fell off my bike. It really makes me mad that people do that, and it takes every ounce of self-control not to yell obscenities at those stupid people.

Anteater Ballpark is on the campus of UC Irvine right on the border of Irvine and Newport Beach. I really liked the venue as it was small and intimate, which is what I didn't expect considering the success of the UC Irvine baseball program. For a team that is a perennial contender in the College World Series, their park seats a modest 2,900 and is really no-frills. The only thing I didn't like was that there was one particular usher who checked tickets constantly throughout the game. Look, I know that if you have a general admission ticket, you shouldn't be sitting in the reserved section. But, if no one is sitting in that seat in the 7th-inning, I'm sorry, but that seat is fair-game for anybody. The owner of that ticket, in my opinion, forfeited the right to that seat when the 4th-inning started.

The boys from Knoxville certainly drew out a crowd. I estimated that 75% of the people at the game were dressed in orange for the Volunteers. I was seated next to a couple that were from Knoxville and had flown out for the game. I didn't really talk to them because they were really drunk and super obnoxious. They were all talking about getting wasted on the beach and having orgies in beachfront condos. Normally the fans that travel with the team are so nice and humble that you can talk to them all game, but these Tennessee fans drove me crazy. 

The game itself was certainly welcome relief from their behavior. It was a crazy contest that featured numerous suicide squeeze plays, coaches being ejected, runners being called out on appeals, and lots of offense. Tennessee ended up winning the contest over UC Irvine 12-10. Definitely one the more exciting and wild games I have seen in a long time.

Powerhouse Weekend 1 is in the books, but at the beginning, it was a plural statement of weekend(s). On Saturday, I'll grab my board and bike and head down to Newport to get my first Beach Day of the season. After catching waves on the beach and maybe a drink at the Newport Brew Co., I'll drive up the 55 to Fullerton to see Cal State Fullerton take on the Texas Tech Red Raiders. Both the Titans and Red Raiders are ranked in the Top-25.

Sunday will have me enjoy a doubleheader at Dodger Stadium. The first game will be a sterling contest between the number-1 ranked and defending National Champion Vanderbilt Commodores and the number-5 ranked TCU Horned Frogs. The afternoon tilt will see the crosstown match-up of USC and UCLA. The Bruins and the Trojans are ranked, too.

Powerhouse Weekend 2 is going to be a lot of fun, and I'll be sure to bring all of you along on the adventure.

Always take on a 3-0 pitch ;)