UC Riverside Highlanders
2026 UC Riverside Highlanders baseball team
Founded	1958; 68 years ago (1958)
University	University of California, Riverside
Head coach	Justin Johnson (6th season)
Conference	Big West
Location	Riverside, California
Home stadium	Riverside Sports Complex (Capacity: 2,500)
Nickname	Highlanders
Colors	Blue and gold[1]
College World Series champions
Division II: 1977, 1982
College World Series appearances
Division II: 1977, 1981, 1982, 1991
NCAA tournament appearances
Division II: 1975, 1977, 1981, 1982, 1990, 1991, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1999 Division I: 2003, 2007
Conference regular season champions
CCAA: 1977, 1981, 1982, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1995, 1996 Big West: 2007

TheUC Riverside baseball team is the varsityintercollegiate baseball team of theUniversity of California, Riverside, located inRiverside, California, United States. The program has been a member of theNCAA Division IBig West Conference since the start of the2002 season. The program's home venue is theRiverside Sports Complex, located on the university's campus.Justin Johnson serves as the team's interim head coach starting with the 2021 season. The program has won twoDivision II national championships. It has appeared in four Division IICollege World Series and 12NCAA tournaments (two in Division I). It has won eightCalifornia Collegiate Athletic Association championships and oneBig West Conference championship. As of the start of the2013 Major League Baseball season, 16 former Highlanders have appeared inMajor League Baseball.

Although the school traces its history to the early 20th century, the University of California, Riverside opened for classes in February 1954.^[2] It adopted the Highlanders nickname in a student election held later that year.^[3] The varsity baseball program was founded shortly thereafter, beginning play in 1958.^[4]

Little record exists of the program's early years, though it competed as an Independent in theNCAA College Division (made up of small-school athletic programs) through the end of the 1970 season.^[4] Don Edwards, who had assisted in the development of the program prior to its first season, became the program's second head coach prior to the 1960 season.^[5] From 1965 to 1968, futureUC Irvine andUCLA head coachGary Adams was an assistant coach under Edwards.^[6]

On September 2, 1970,John Lowenstein became the first program alumnus to appear inMajor League Baseball, as he debuted for theCleveland Indians. Lowenstein went on to have a 16-year major league career.^[7][8][9] While at UC Riverside, Lowenstein had become the first athlete in school history to be awarded an athletic scholarship.^[5]

Prior to the start of the 1971 season, the program joined the College Division'sCalifornia Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA). It finished well below .500 in its first three seasons in the league.^[4] In August 1973, theNCAA reorganized its divisions. Prior to then, the NCAA had competed in two divisions, a large-school University Division and a small-school College Division. Following the reorganization, the University Division becameDivision I, while the College Division split intoDivision II andDivision III. UC Riverside became aDivision II Independent.^[10]

Also following the 1973 season,Emporia State coach Jack Smitheran was hired as the program's third head coach. The team's play improved soon after his hiring. In 1975, the Highlanders appeared in their first Division II NCAA tournament. In the West Regional, the team defeatedChapman, 9–8, before being eliminated byCal State Northridge, 8–1.^[4]

In 1977, the program returned to the NCAA tournament and won the Division II National Championship. After winning the CCAA with a 15–9 conference record, the team earned a berth in the West Regional. After advancing through the West Regional with wins over Cal State Northridge andCal State Hayward, the program played in the Division II College World Series. There, it went 5–1, defeatingEckerd 4–1 in the championship game.^[4][11] Future major leaguersSteve Lubratich andEric Show played on the championship team.^[7]

The Highlanders' home venue, theRiverside Sports Complex, hosted the Division II College World Series from 1980 to 1984.^[12] The team qualified for two World Series played on its home field. In 1981, the team won the West Regional, but was eliminated after losing consecutive World Series games toFlorida Southern and Cal State Northridge.^[13] In 1982, the team again qualified for the NCAA tournament and won the West Regional. In the World Series, the Highlanders won their second Division II National Championship with victories overLongwood,New Haven, and Florida Southern twice.^[4] Future major leaguerCalvin Jones played on the 1982 team.^[7]

For the seven straight seasons from 1983 to 1989, the program failed to qualify for the NCAA tournament, despite finishing with an above-.500 CCAA record in six of the seven years. In the 1990s, however, the team qualified for seven NCAA tournaments (1990, 1991, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1999). On one occasion, in 1991, it advanced to the Division II College World Series, the program's fourth appearance. After losing toSIU Edwardsville in its first game, the team won consecutive games overShippensburg, SIU Edwardsville, andJacksonville State. In the championship game, however, the team lost to Jacksonville State 5–2.^[4] In 1995, the Highlanders entered the West Regional finals with a 43–15 record, but were upset byUC Davis, which had entered the game at 29–30.^[14][15]

In February 2000, UC Riverside announced that it would move toDivision I in the 2000–2001 academic year and join theBig West Conference in the 2001–2002 academic year.^[16] After spending the 2001 season as anIndependent, the baseball program played its first Big West season in 2002.^[4]

Compared to many of the school's other athletic programs, the baseball program transitioned successfully to Division I.^[17] Beginning in 2002, it had an above-.500 overall record in six consecutive Division I seasons. In 2003, the Highlanders finished third in the Big West and received an at-large bid to theNCAA tournament. As the #3 seed in the Palo Alto Regional, the team beatRichmond 10–8 in its opening game. It was then eliminated after losing consecutive games to regional hostStanford and Richmond.^[4][18]

Following the2004 season, Jack Smitheran retired as the program's head coach.^[19] In 31 seasons, Smitheran had a record of 974–729–3 and won two Division II National Championships.^[4] Following his retirement, Smitheran worked for theSeattle Mariners as a scouting advisor.^[20] He had been inducted into theAmerican Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2002, the UC Riverside Hall of Fame in 2004, and had his number #2 retired by the program in 2006.^[21] He was replaced byDoug Smith, who had been an assistant coach with the program since the 1983 season.^[4]

Prior to the 2007 season, an unused storage building near theRiverside Sports Complex was renovated and converted into the team's home clubhouse. Program alumnusTroy Percival both paid for the improvements and renovated the building himself.^[22]

In the2007 season, the team went 38–21 and won the Big West title, thus receiving an automatic bid to theNCAA tournament as a #2 seed in the Tempe Regional. As in 2003, the team won its opening game, 10–5, againstNebraska. It then lost consecutive games toArizona State and Nebraska and was eliminated.^[18][23]

Smith coached the team through the end of the2014 season, when he retired. In that seven-year stretch, the program had three winning seasons and finished as high as third in the Big West; it did not qualify for the postseason. In his ten years as head coach, Smith had a record of 282–264. Percival replaced him.^[24]

• Independent (College Division) (1958–1970)
• California Collegiate Athletic Association (College Division/Division II) (1971–2000)
• Independent (2001)
• Big West Conference (2002–present)

The program's home venue is the Riverside Sports Complex, located on the university's campus. The facility was renovated in 2007 and has a capacity of 2,500 spectators. In addition to hosting the Highlanders, it hosted the Division II College World Series from 1980 to 1984. It has also been the home venue ofminor league baseball teams, hosting theRiverside Red Wave (1988–1990) and theRiverside Pilots (1993–1995).^[12][22]

Jack Smitheran, who coached for 31 seasons and won 974 games, is the program's longest-tenured and most successful coach.

Below is a table of the program's yearly records.^{[4][5][23][26][27]}

The following is a list of notable former Highlanders and the seasons in which they played for the program.^[4][7]

• Kim Allen (1973–1975)
• Stephen Bishop (1991–1992)
• Rob Brantly (2009–2010)
• Anthony Claggett (2003–2005)
• Bobby Clark (1974)
• Andrew Garcia (2005–2008)
• Calvin Jones (1982–1983)
• Joe Kelly (2007–2009)
• John Lowenstein (1966–1968)
• Steve Lubratich (1976–1977)
• Troy Percival (1987–1990)
• Adam Reifer (2005–2007)
• Rick Rodriguez (1981)
• Dan Runzler (2005–2007)
• Marc Rzepczynski (2004–2007)
• Eric Show (1975–1978)
• Chris Smith (2000–2002)
• Joe Strong (1984)
• Curt Wardle (1981)
• Matt Andriese (2008-2011)

One Highlander was selected in the2012 Major League Baseball draft.P Eddie Orozco, selected in the 22nd round by theChicago Cubs, chose to sign a professional contract.^[28][29]

Two Highlanders were selected in the2013 Major League Baseball draft. TheCleveland Indians selected P Trevor Frank in the 8th round, and thePittsburgh Pirates selected P Jacob Smigelski in the 39th round. Frank signed with Cleveland, while Smigelski chose to return to Riverside for his senior season.^{[30][31][32][33]}

• UC Riverside Highlanders baseball

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