UCLA Baseball Tries to Salvage Stanford Series
After yesterday's loss, the Bruins have slipped to eighth in the Pac-12 standings.
The Bruins dropped yesterday’s game against Stanford as UCLA continues to struggle in Pac-12 play. They are now just 5-6 in conference action. Today, the Bruins will look to salvage a game from the series and get back to .500 in the Pac-12.
Last Time Out
Unlike Friday’s game when UCLA couldn’t generate enough offense, the problem yesterday afternoon wasn’t the offense as much as it was the pitching.
Starter Jesse Bergin gave up six runs in just 1/3 of an inning, which meant it was going to be a long day for the bullpen.
The Bruins clawed back with a run in the second and three in the third, but the two runs that Nick Nastrini gave up in the bottom of the third sealed the win for Stanford as the Cardinal took an 8-3 lead.
UCLA even got two more runs back in the fourth on a two-RBI double by Kyle Cuellar. That cut the Stanford lead to just two runs, 8-6. The bullpen just couldn’t stop the Cardinal offense, giving up insurance runs in the fourth, fifth and seventh innings as Stanford took an 11-6 lead.
While the Bruin bats went quiet after the fourth, you can’t really blame a loss on the offense when the opponent scores more than 10 runs. Six runs is a solid offense outing, except, of course, when your pitching staff gives up even more, and that’s exactly what happened to UCLA yesterday.
Today, Sean Mullen (5-1, 3.18 ERA) will have a chance to salvage a win from the Bruins’ fourth lost weekend series when he takes the hill for UCLA. It might not be as tough as it seems. At first glance, it looks hard because Stanford will send junior right-hander Alex Williams (0-0, 0.00 ERA) to the mound but, when you know that Williams has only pitched an inning and two-thirds so far this season, it seems a little less daunting.
Unfortunately, it looks like the Bruins could slip out of the Top 25 come tomorrow, regardless of the outcome of today’s game.
#17 UCLA Baseball (16-11, 5-6)
Opponent: #23 Stanford Cardinal (19-5, 6-2)
Game Time: 1:05 pm PT, Sunday, April 11, 2021
Where: Sunken Diamond, Stanford, CA
Live Stats: Stanford Sidearm Stats
Live TV: None
Live Audio: uclabruins.com with Tim Wilhelm
Live Stream: Pac-12.com and the Pac-12 Now app
Projected Pitching Matchup:
UCLA - Sean Mullen, RHP, Jr. (5-1, 3.18 ERA)
STAN - Alex Williams, RHP, Jr. (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
Weekend Notes:
This is your UCLA baseball vs. Stanford Cardinal game three open thread.
Go Bruins!
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