Southpaw Daniel Bibona Shines for UC Irvine.

Anteaters Ranked #1

Lefty Daniel Bibona (pictured) has blossomed into the ace of the #1 ranked UC Irvine Anteaters (37-12, 17-1) of the Big West. Danny is 9-1 with a 2.14 ERA and leads the conference in strikeouts with 80. And he's the odds-on favorite to win the Big West Pitcher of the Year.

Earlier today, Bibona was named a semi-finalist (one of 15) for College Baseball Foundation's Pitcher of the Year award.

The junior from Lake Forest, California pitched for the 2007 Corvallis Knights following his freshman year at UCI.

He came to the Knights unheralded, but with solid references and great potential.

Bibona worked hard that summer on his change with Corvallis pitching coach Trent Baysinger (former Husky pitching star and ex-pro).

"When I got to summer ball we worked on my change every day, and one day it just clicked," said Bibona. To hear more from Danny, click here to listen to Bibona tell the Blue and Gold Report in a May 13, 2008 interview how he turned things around in the summer of 2007.

UCI head baseball coach Mike Gillespie told Tyler Davis of The New University in a March 10, 2008 article, "The thing I love about Bibona is he's just not afraid. He's fearless. He doesn't pretend to be something he's not. He doesn't crack and he's not afraid to throw to contact."

In that same piece, Bibona said the biggest difference between his freshman and sophomore year was confidence.

"It's definitely my confidence. I'll admit it, my freshman year I was scared, I was nervous. But I know what to expect now. I've been to Omaha, I've been to the highest level," Bibona said. "Once I stopped thinking, everything started working for me over the summer. I transferred that mindset I had in the summer back to here."

Bibona is following up his breakout sophomore season where he led the Anteaters to a Super Regional and went 9-3 with a 3.04 ERA and 97 strikeouts over 20 appearances, 16 starts and 102 1/3 innings pitched with another masterful campaign that he hopes ends in another appearance at the College World Series in Omaha.

Daniel went 2-2 with a 2.29 ERA and earned All-WCCBL honorable mention in his one season in Corvallis.

Bibona makes his 13th start Friday, May 15 at Anteater Ballpark vs. UC Davis as UCI opens its Big West three-game series with the Aggies at home.