With 25 years of coaching at the Division I level, Hall of Fame coach, Mike Gillespie, continues to enjoy a storied career. During his tenure, the Anteaters have finished in the top three four of his five years and have logged a fourth-place finish or better 20 of 25 seasons. Reaching his 200^th win as UCI’s skipper last year, Gillespie now sports a 200-97 mark with the Anteaters and with 963 Division I wins, Gillespie needs 37 victories to reach the 1000-win milestone.

Under Gillespie’s tutelage, UC Irvine baseball players have earned 36 all-conference honors, including capturing four straight All-Big West Pitcher of the Year accolades from 2008-2011. In 2012, first-team choice, Andrew Thurman, highlighted a group of six Anteaters on the All-Big West Conference teams. Thurman led UCI on the mound with an 8-3 record and hurled three complete-game shutouts, including UCI’s fifth no-hitter. Joining Thurman as all-conference honorees were Big West Defensive Player of the Year, D.J. Crumlich, who was the second consecutive Anteater to win the award, and Jordan Fox, Christian Ramirez, Tommy Reyes and Race Parmenter.

In 2011 the team dropped just two conference weekend series all year and then mounted a post-season charge at the Los Angeles Regional where the Anteaters defeated three conference champions, Fresno State, San Francisco and UCLA, to advance to the Charlottesville Super Regional. UCI earned eight All-Big West honors, the third-most collected by the program since 2009 and the 2011 season also saw UCI’s fourth no-hitter as Matt Summers handed Long Beach State a 2-0 shutout. UCI finished 43-18 for the program’s fourth 40-win season in the last five years and the team also posted a second-place finish in the Big West at 16-8 for its fourth consecutive top three conference finish. Brian Hernandez was named the Big West’s inaugural Defensive Player of the Year and he along with catcher Ronnie Shaeffer, collected American Baseball Coaches Association Gold Glove Awards with UCI being the only program with multiple recipients. Gillespie has also mentored nine all-west regional selections while at UCI and has seen his players amass 16 All-America honors.

In 2010, the Anteaters were 39-21 overall, logging a season-high six game win streak and earned the program’s sixth consecutive NCAA Tournament berth. Daniel Bibona became the first Anteater to win back-to-back Big West Pitcher of the Year honors and became UCI’s strikeout leader with 332. Christian Bergman nearly threw a perfect game, facing 27 batters in a complete-game win and seven Anteaters garnered all-conference awards. In post-season action, Gillespie’s Anteaters eliminated LSU and finished as runners-up in regional play.

Gillespie led the Anteaters into uncharted territory in 2009. UC Irvine was the consensus No. 1 team in the nation and was awarded a No. 6 national seed in the NCAA postseason, a first for UCI. Making their fourth consecutive postseason appearance, the Anteaters served as a regional host for the first time in the program’s history. Under Gillespie’s leadership, the Anteaters won their first-ever Big West Conference title, winning the championship with a 22-2 mark in league play and posting the Big West’s second-highest win percentage at .916. The Anteaters were a perfect 12-0 at home in conference action, becoming the first team in Big West history to accomplish the feat, and recorded its third straight 40-win season, finishing at 45-15 and posting the program’s second-highest number of victories since becoming a Division I program in 1977-78. At the conclusion of the regular season, a school-record ten Anteaters were honored on the Big West All-Conference teams and Gillespie was voted the conference Coach of the Year, his fifth such honor.

Gillespie was hired in the fall of 2007, becoming the baseball program’s eighth head coach. In 2008, the Anteaters kicked off the year with a 16-1 mark for the program’s best start. UCI lost just two weekend series in the regular season and went on to advance to the NCAA postseason, defeating Oral Roberts and Nebraska to win the Lincoln Regional. UCI, which recorded a 42-18 record, was ranked as high as No. 3 in the nation and saw its first Big West Pitcher of the Year honored in 2008.

His coaching fame includes a 20-year career at USC, where he guided the Trojans to 15 postseason appearances, four College World Series appearances (1995, 1998, 2000 and 2001) and a national title in 1998 for which Gillespie was named National Coach of the Year by Collegiate Baseball and the American Baseball Coaches Association.

Gillespie posted a 763-471-2 (.618) record during his tenure at USC, producing 30 major league players, including five who were voted to the All-Star Game in 2003 (Mark Prior, Barry Zito, Aaron Boone, Bret Boone and Geoff Jenkins).

His reign at USC began in 1987 and in just his second season, guided the Trojans to the West Regional, falling just one game shy of the College World Series. USC made four consecutive regional appearances, including winning the conference title in 1991. From 1993, Gillespie led USC to an impressive 10 consecutive postseason appearances that included back-to-back College World Series appearances in 2000 and 2001, marking the first time USC accomplished the feat since 1973 and 1974.

His teams won five Pacific-10 titles, garnered Pac-10 Coach of the Year honors four times (1991, 1995, 1996, 2002) and West Region Coach of the Year accolades twice (1996 and 1998) by the American Baseball Coaches Association.

In 2002, Gillespie directed his talents to the USA Baseball National Team, leading the team to a 27-3-1 record and posting the highest winning percentage (.900) in history until the mark was surpassed by the 2003 team. The national team reeled off a 21-game unbeaten streak at the end of the season and Team USA captured the crown with an 8-5 win against Cuba. For his efforts, Gillespie was nominated by the United States Olympic Committee as the baseball Coach of the Year. It was his second stint with USA Baseball, having served as an assistant coach with the 1997 USA team.

He is only one of two men (Arizona's Jerry Kindall) to both play for and coach an NCAA-championship baseball team. He was the left-fielder for USC’s 1961 national-championship squad and coached the 1998 team to the program’s 12th title.

Prior to coaching at USC, Gillespie coached at the College of the Canyons, where he built the program from scratch. In his 16 seasons at Canyons, Gillespie compiled a 420-167 (.716) record and won 11 Mountain Valley Conference championships, including six consecutive from 1981-86. He captured three state titles and finished as the California runner-up twice. His teams finished with 20 or more wins in 13 years of his tenure, posting 30-plus wins six times. His final squad won 41 games in 1986, the most-ever by a California community college at that time. His term included three California Community College Co-Coach of the Year awards.

Gillespie served as Canyon’s athletic director from 1977-86 and taught English, physical education and health education. He earned his bachelor’s (1962) and master’s (1963) degrees from USC.

Gillespie and his wife, Barbara, have four children, Kelly, Mitch, Matt and Tiffany and have three grandchildren, Cade, Cole and Samantha.

Bob Macaluso begins his sixth season with the UC Irvine Baseball program. Macaluso joined the UCI staff after serving in a similar capacity at Cal State L.A., where he helped the Golden Eagles win the 2007 Division II West Regional title and advance to the College World Series in Montgomery, Alabama. Macaluso served as the team's third-base coach and worked with the infielders.

From 1998-2006, Macaluso was the head baseball coach at Muhlenberg College. Taking over a program that had never finished higher than ninth in the Centennial Conference, Macaluso led Muhlenberg to a fourth-place finish in his first season. In 2002, the Mules recorded a school-record 23 wins en route to an appearance in the conference championship series. The following season, the team posted a 21-14-1 record and advanced to the championship series for the second consecutive year. Under Macaluso's tenure, Muhlenberg had its first conference Player of the Year, its first all-regional honoree and saw the school's first no-hitter.

Macaluso has coached in the Cape Cod Baseball League, managing the Brewster Whitecaps for the last five years and was named Manager of the Year in 2003. He served as an assistant coach for the club from 2000 - 2002, helping the team win the league title in 2000.

He began his coaching career as an assistant at Melrose High School in Melrose, Massachusetts and became the head varsity coach at Weston High School (Massachusetts) in 1993. He also had a two-year stint from 1996-98 as an assistant coach at Springfield College.

Macaluso earned a B.S. in physical education from Springfield College in 1987 and his master's degree in physical education in 1998.

Macaluso resides in Garden Grove.

All-American pitcher Daniel Bibona will join the UC Irvine Baseball staff, announced head coach Mike Gillespie.

"I'm looking forward to the opportunity in front of me and am excited to be back at UCI," said Bibona. I am grateful Coach Gillespie has the confidence in me to lead the pitching staff this upcoming season. This program has been built around pitching from the time it was brought back and I don't intend for that to change."

Bibona played from 2007-10 and was the first Anteater to be named Big West Pitcher of the Year back-to-back seasons. The southpaw collected five All-America honors and also was a two-time all-conference first-team selection. Bibona helped the Anteaters to four NCAA Tournament berths and was voted to two NCAA Regional All-Tournament teams. He was named a USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award semifinalist and holds the career record in strikeouts. Bibona also won the prestigious Lowe's Senior CLASS Award for displaying excellence in four areas; community service, the classroom, character and competition.

"We are excited to welcome Danny Bibona to our staff at UCI," said Gillespie. "Those who follow college baseball and specifically UCI baseball know Danny as one of college baseball's most outstanding pitchers from 2007 thru 2010 when he was the Big West Pitcher of the Year twice and a five-time All-American. His professional career was cut short by a shoulder injury and his desire to teach pitchers coincidentally timed with our need for an additional coach, and he fits our needs perfectly.  As a graduate of UCI, as the Big West Scholar Athlete of the Year, and as one of UCI's finest athletes in its history, Danny brings qualities possessed by no other. We are fortunate to have him become a key part of our efforts to maintain UCI baseball excellence."

Bibona, who received a degree in sociology, was drafted in the eighth round by the St. Louis Cardinals and pitched for the Quad City River Bandits, where he was 4-0 with a 1.91 ERA while striking out 39 batters in 33 innings.

Deragisch was an All-Big West first-team honoree and posted a .331 career batting average, along with 116 hits including 15 doubles, five triples and four home runs. He also had 55 RBI. 

Prior to playing at UCI, he competed at Sierra College, where he was named to the 2007 All-Northern California Team and voted to the Big 7 All-Conference Team as a sophomore. He played 41 games and was second on the team with a .353 average while leading the team with 14 doubles and 34 RBI.

Deragisch prepped at Jesuit High School, where he was voted the team's Player of the Year in 2005. He led the team to a Delta League championship and picked up all-league honors in 2004 and 2005. During his senior season, he batted .296 with 18 RBI to go along with 24 hits and 27 runs scored. He also spent some time on the mound and a 4-0 record on the hill, striking out 15 in 24 innings and hurled a pair of complete games.

He graduated from UCI with a degree in sociology.