UCLA Baseball Opens Conference Action at Home Against Arizona
The Bruins are hoping a little home cooking is what they need after dropping two of three on the road last weekend.
After winning six in a row prior to last weekend, the Bruins had a tough weekend on the road in San Luis Obispo against the Cal Poly Mustangs, dropping two of the three games they played. But, with no midweek game this week, UCLA has had time to regroup before starting Pac-12 play tonight against the Arizona Wildcats at Jackie Robinson Stadium. First pitch for tonight’s game is scheduled for 6 pm PT and the entire series will be live streamed on Pac-12.com.
Last Time Out
Sunday’s game started out just fine for the Bruins. Kevin Kendall led off the game with a walk and Matt McLain moved him up to second with a single. JT Schwartz stepped to the dish and drove the ball through the right side, scoring Kendall. Michael Curialle followed and his double to right center scored McLain and moved Schwartz to third, but UCLA couldn’t get him across and the Bruins led 2-0 heading into the bottom half of the inning.
Cal Poly drew a one-out walk off UCLA starter Nick Nastrini and they followed that with a two-run homer to tie the game up. They took the lead in the second with another two-run homer and added two more insurance runs in the fifth to give them a 6-2 lead.
The Bruins got one of those runs back in the sixth, but they gave one more up in the bottom of the inning and the Mustangs led 7-3 after six.
After Curialle hit a one-out single in the eighth, Noah Cardenas and Josh Hahn, who was pinch-hitting for Emanuel Dean, both singled allowing Curialle to score, but, again, the UCLA bullpen gave up another run and Cal Poly led 8-4 heading into the ninth.
UCLA had a chance in the ninth. First, Kendall doubled to left center. Then, Mikey Perez and McLain both drew walks to load the bases for Schwartz. He grounded to first, scoring Kendall and advancing the other runners, but, then, Curialle struck out and Jarron Silva hit a grounder to short for the third out and the Bruins dropped the rubber game to the Mustangs, 8-5.
Arizona Wildcats
The Wildcats may have a slightly better record than the Bruins, but don’t be fooled. They’ve had an easier schedule. Four of the games they’ve played were against Southeastern Louisiana, which isn’t exactly, well…you get it.
The thing is that Arizona is batting .323 as a team, which means that they’ve been tearing the cover off the ball so far this year. By comparison, UCLA is batting just .269. The Wildcats haven’t faced a pitching staff like UCLA’s, however. Bruin opponents are hitting just .229 against UCLA while Arizona’s opponents are hitting .251 against the Wildcats.
So, that means that UCLA should be able to get to the Wildcats’ bullpen and that the Bruin pitchers should be able to hold Arizona’s hitters in check. Keyword: “should.”
Hopefully, a little homecooking will help UCLA out this weekend as they open conference play.
#6 UCLA Baseball (10-5)
Opponent: #17 Arizona Wildcats (12-4)
Where: Jackie Robinson Stadium, Los Angeles, CA
Media:
Live TV: None
Live Audio: uclabruins.com with Tim Wilhelm
Live Stream: Pac-12.com and the Pac-12 Now app
Friday
Game Time: 6:00 pm PT, Friday, March 19, 2021
Live Stats: UCLA StatBroadcast
Projected Pitching Matchup:
UCLA - Zach Pettway, RHP, Sr. (0-0, 6.43 ERA)
ARIZ - Chase Silseth, RHP, So. (3-0, 5.70 ERA)
Saturday
Game Time: 2:00 pm PT, Saturday, March 20, 2021
Live Stats: UCLA StatBroadcast
Projected Pitching Matchup:
UCLA - Jesse Bergin, RHP, Jr. (3-1, 2.18 ERA)
ARIZ - Garrett Irvin, LHP, Jr. (0-1, 3.38 ERA)
Sunday
Game Time: 1:00 pm PT, Sunday, March 21, 2021
Live Stats: UCLA StatBroadcast
Projected Pitching Matchup:
UCLA - Nick Nastrini, RHP, Jr. (2-1, 3.74 ERA)
ARIZ - TJ Nichols, RHP, Fr. (3-0, 4.29 ERA)
Weekend Notes:
This is your UCLA baseball vs. Arizona Wildcats game one open thread.
Go Bruins!
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