UC Irvine Professional Athletes

UC Irvine's Week in MLB: Sept. 20–26

Two Anteaters defined opposite ends of the baseball spectrum this week — one putting together one of the most historically notable pitching seasons in Cardinals history, the other watching a promising campaign close prematurely from the trainer's room.

Pallante Is Doing Something Special in St. Louis

Andre Pallante has been one of the quiet stories of the 2026 MLB season, and the numbers are starting to demand attention. According to Sports Illustrated, the Cardinals haven't seen a pitching season like Pallante's since 2019 — a benchmark that underscores just how rare his performance has been in the context of a franchise with deep pitching tradition.

Pallante backed that up again Tuesday against Pittsburgh, going six innings and allowing just one earned run while striking out two in a start against Pirates righty Jared Jones. He exits with an ERA of 3.61, and with only six games left in the Cardinals' season, the case for Pallante as one of the team's foundational arms heading into 2027 is all but closed. Fellow UC Irvine alum Nathan Church also suited up in left field for St. Louis throughout the week, going 1-for-2 Thursday and batting .249 by Saturday.

The Cardinals' 2027 outlook piece from Sports Illustrated specifically calls out Church as a piece the organization is tracking, so the Irvine pipeline in St. Louis isn't slowing down.

Muñoz's Knee Sidelines Seattle's Closer

The week's toughest news came from the Pacific Northwest. Mariners closer Andrés Muñoz was placed on the 15-day IL with right knee inflammation, effectively ending what had been a critical late-season stretch for a Seattle club now facing elimination math. Muñoz hadn't taken the mound since the previous Sunday, and the team held out hope before ultimately making the move official.

To fill the roster spot, the Mariners recalled right-hander Troy Taylor — another UC Irvine product — directly from the depth chart. Taylor stepped in Saturday against the Angels, tossing two innings and allowing one earned run across a 5-7 loss while striking out two. It's a bittersweet footnote: one Anteater's injury opened the door for another.

Around the League

Calvin Faucher continued to work out of the Marlins' bullpen, logging three appearances during the week — Sunday, Tuesday, and Wednesday — and bringing his ERA to 3.34 through the stretch run. The UC Irvine righty has been reliable in low-leverage situations all season.

Christian Koss of the Giants bounced between the lineup and the bench across a busy week of late-season games against the Dodgers and Twins, carrying a .226 average into the final days of the schedule.

FanDaily is an AI-generated newsletter. All facts are sourced from the research brief and linked articles below.

Two UC Irvine alumni are making late-season statements in MLB — from opposite dugouts, no less.

Koss Powers the Giants' Offense

Christian Koss has been one of San Francisco's most productive bats over the past week, and his biggest moment came in a 9-5 shellacking of the Mets, where he went deep twice alongside Rafael Devers in a multi-homer performance. The 2B didn't slow down in the Cardinals series either, notching a solo home run in a tight 2-1 Giants win Wednesday, going 2-for-4 while driving in a run and scoring one. Through Saturday's doubleheader against San Diego — where he scored in both games and drew walks — Koss pushed his average up to .228 after spending much of the stretch below .210.

It's been a genuine hot streak at the right time. Koss has hit safely in every game captured in the research window, collecting hits, runs, and extra bases against three different opponents. For a Giants team grinding through late-season positioning, that kind of consistency from the middle infield matters.

Church a Steady Presence in St. Louis

While Koss was making headlines, former Anteater Nathan Church has been quietly doing the dirty work in the Cardinals' lineup. The left fielder went 1-for-something with a run and an RBI in Sunday's loss to the Rockies, then picked up a hit and an RBI in Tuesday's 4-5 setback against San Francisco — the same game in which he squared off against his UCI counterpart Koss on the other side.

Church kept it up Wednesday (1 hit, 1 run, 1 walk in the 1-2 loss) and then broke out for his best game of the stretch on Saturday against the White Sox, going 3-for-something with an RBI as St. Louis won 5-6. His batting average climbed from .243 to .251 across the week — a meaningful tick forward for a player looking to cement his roster standing heading into the offseason.

Worth noting: the two UCI alumni met directly in San Francisco this week, with Church's Cardinals dropping the series to Koss's Giants.

Elsewhere in the UCI Alumni Network

The week wasn't uniformly positive for UCI's MLB contingent. The Athletics designated Taylor Rashi for assignment to make room for a waiver claim, ending his run on Oakland's active roster. And in Miami, the Marlins released Leo Jimenez — a transaction that surfaced the earlier deal sending UCI infielder Dub Gleed to Toronto. Gleed's current status with the Blue Jays organization remains part of the broader roster churn this time of year.

Andre Pallante, meanwhile, made the most of his Wednesday start against the Giants — going five innings, allowing just one earned run, and striking out four — though the Cardinals couldn't back him up in the loss. Calvin Faucher logged clean relief appearances for Miami. Troy Taylor was optioned to Triple-A Tacoma after the Mariners reinstated Víctor Robles from the family medical emergency list.

The headline story, though, belongs to Koss and Church: two Anteaters, one league, and a week that neither will want to forget.

UC Irvine Alumni Report | MLB | Aug. 30–Sept. 5

Christian Koss has been quietly building a case all week, and Saturday he made it loud.

The Giants second baseman went off against the Mets on Sept. 5, going 2-for-the-day with two home runs, three RBI, and two runs scored — a performance that lifted his season average from .203 to .211 and served as the punctuation mark on a strong week at the plate. It wasn't a fluke, either. Koss had been on a steady roll since Tuesday, when he went 2-for-the-day with an RBI and two runs against Pittsburgh, then added another hit and two runs Wednesday against the Pirates again. A quiet Friday — a hit, two runs, and a walk against the Mets — set the table perfectly for his Saturday eruption.

The pop was unexpected from a player whose average spent much of the stretch hovering around the Mendoza line, but a .211 clip with multi-homer upside is a profile worth watching as rosters expand in September.

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Cardinals Duo Makes Good on Colorado

While Koss was doing damage in New York, two of his Irvine brethren were handling business in St. Louis.

Andre Pallante took the ball against the Rockies on Saturday in a game flagged as a notable return to the rotation, and he delivered five innings of one-run ball — allowing just one earned run while striking out one in a 7-6 Cardinals win. His ERA now sits at a respectable 3.51, and for a Cardinals club fighting for a Wild Card berth, a dependable five-inning outing from a starter is precisely what the pitching staff needs as the calendar flips to its final pages.

Pallante's Cardinals teammate Nathan Church chipped in from the other side of the lineup card. The outfielder went 1-for-the-game and scored a run in the victory, rounding out a solid week in which he collected hits in four of five games — including a two-hit, two-run performance Thursday against the Dodgers. Church's average held steady at .242 throughout the stretch, a reliable floor from a roster contributor on a team with legitimate October ambitions.

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Faucher Grinds Through Marlins' September

In Miami, Calvin Faucher continued to piece together a quietly solid bullpen season in difficult circumstances. The Marlins righty logged two one-inning outings against the Royals early in the week before returning Saturday for a two-thirds of an inning appearance against the Cubs, punching out one. His ERA ticked down to 3.73 by week's end — a respectable number for a reliever on a team that's been anything but a contender. For Irvine's MLB pipeline, Faucher represents the unglamorous but essential back-end relief work that keeps big-league rosters functioning.

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The week was a microcosm of what UC Irvine's MLB presence looks like in 2026: a breakout Saturday from Koss, steady production from Church, a quality start from Pallante, and Faucher grinding out outs in the background. Four Anteaters, four different contributions — all of them meaningful in their own way.