UCI'S FAB FIVE
The students who spearheaded the referendum to bring back Anteater Baseball
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Five fab for a good reason
BASEBALL: Scoggin, Lawrence, Libecap, Nekota, Benitez helped UC Irvine get baseball back.
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Bring back UC Irvine baseball!Weeds filled the future site of the Anteater Ballpark, but Scoggin first thought pulling those out from under the ground with his teeth would be easier than having to bend over backward as a senior.
Bring back the grass!
Scoggin didn't play baseball. He was part of the basketball program, so you'd think he'd ask himself what most students would in their last year.
What am I doing busting my chops for something that wouldn't help me?
The basketball season was over, but senioritis never hit Scoggin, or four other senior student athletes — Mike Lawrence (golf), Sarah Libecap (volleyball), Kay Nekota (track and field/cross country) and Chris Benitez (swimming/diving) — during their 1998-99 school year.
They're UCI's "Fab Five" and they'll be remembered for more than their athletic feats, from Scoggin coming in as a role player and becoming a captain to Lawrence turning into a Big West Conference Player of the Year to Libecap and Nekota assuming captain roles and Benitez winning a conference crown.
The Fab Five were part of the athletic advisory council that spearheaded the campaign to bring baseball back to UCI after the school dumped the sport in 1992 because of a statewide budget crunch.
Scoggin said they look back proudly at their efforts of putting together a referendum allowing students to vote on whether to rebuild the baseball program, much on their own dime. The five can pat themselves on their backs and the students who voted for baseball. It made it back in 2002 after garnering 62% of the vote, above the 60% required.
Five years later, the Anteaters are reaping the benefits as they're in the NCAA Division I College World Series for the first time in school history.
Most of the Anteater baseball players don't know the Fab Five. Heck, most of the five students don't even know each other anymore. They've gone their separate ways. Some are married. A couple of them are in medical school. Most admit they haven't followed the baseball team closely this year.
