Daniel AmaralDaniel Amaral

Daniel Amaral (photo by Katie Meyers)

Bruins Travel to Arizona State for Weekend Series

Baseball

UCLA will begin a three-game series at Arizona State beginning on Friday at 6:30 p.m. PT.

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LOS ANGELES – The UCLA baseball team will travel to Tempe, Ariz. this weekend to face Arizona State in a three-game Pac-12 series beginning on Friday at 6:30 p.m. PT from Phoenix Municipal Stadium. The Bruins are riding a five-game winning streak and are 4-2 during conference play this season.

Probable Starters
Friday, March 31 - 6:30 p.m. PT
UCLA – Griffin Canning, RHP, Jr. (1-1, 2.72 ERA)
ASU – Eli Lingos, LHP, Jr. (3-1, 3.05 ERA)

Saturday, April 1 - 6:30 p.m. PT
UCLA – Moises Ceja, RHP, Sr. (1-1, 2.39 ERA)
ASU – Chaz Montoya, LHP, Fr. (2-1, 4.76 ERA)

Sunday, April 2 - 12:30 p.m. PT
UCLA – Jon Olsen, RHP, So. (1-1, 3.96 ERA)
ASU – TBA

Live Video | Live Audio | Live Stats | Follow @UCLABaseball

UCLA Quick Hits
UCLA is 11-11 overall on the season and are currently riding a 5-game winning streak.

  • Griffin Canning has twice tied a career-high with 12 strikeouts this season. He has 49 total punch outs in seven starts, good for 23rd in NCAA. He leads the Pac-12 in strikeouts looking at 24 and ranks inside the top-10 in the conference in strikeouts, opposing batting average and innings pitched.
  • Sean Bouchard is second in the Pac-12 with five home runs and ranks inside the top-10 in the conference in slugging percentage, RBIs and total bases.
  • Kyle Cuellar is tops in Pac-12 only games in hits with 12 and also ranks in the top-five in batting average, on-base percentage, RBIs, doubles and total bases.
  • The Bruins pitching staff ranks 38th in the NCAA in hits allowed per nine innings at 7.83, and 62nd in WHIP at 1.33, 66th in strikeouts per nine innings at 8.8 and 67th in ERA at 3.78.

Week in Review
UCLA went 4-0 this past week after sweeping California and defeating No. 10 Cal State Fullerton on Tuesday.

  • On Friday, UCLA came back from four runs down to win 9-5. Griffin Canning earned his first win of the season, while Nick Valaika drove in three runs including a two-run home run and Chase Strumpf homered as well.
  • On Saturday, the Bruins once again rallied from four runs behind to defeat the Golden Bears, 9-4. Michael Toglia drove in three runs on two-extra base hits and Kyle Cuellar and Daniel Amaral collected three hits.
  • On Sunday, UCLA earned the series sweep with a 20-0 victory, the most runs scored by the Bruins since 2010. Sean Bouchard drove in five runs and Jon Olsen threw 7.0 shutout innings to earn the victory.
  • On Tuesday, the Bruins fell behind 5-1 before scoring eight runs in the fourth inning to defeat the 10th-ranked Titans 9-7. Sean Bouchard went 3-for-4 while Brett Stephens drove in three runs.

Scouting Arizona State
Arizona State enters the weekend with a 11-12 record and are 1-5 to begin Pac-12 season. The Sun Devils dropped two out of three at USC last weekend but bounced back to pick up a 5-4 win over UNLV on Tuesday. Offensively, Arizona State is led by Lyle Lin who is hitting a team-best .356 with 15 RBIs. On the mound, Eli Lingos is 3-1 with a 3.05 ERA in six starts for the Sun Devils with 32 strikeouts.

The Bruins vs. the Sun Devils
UCLA has faced Arizona State 189 previous times, posting a record of 72-117 against the Sun Devils. The Bruins lost two out of three games last season to Arizona State at home and in the last 10 games, UCLA is 5-5 against Arizona State. Under John Savage, UCLA is 13-23 against Arizona State.

NCAA Rankings
UCLA as a team is ranked in the top-100 in the country in a number of categories:

  • 38th in hits allowed per nine innings - 7.83
  • 43rd in fielding percentage - 0.977
  • 55th in shutouts - 2
  • 62nd in WHIP - 1.33
  • 66th in strikeouts per nine innings - 8.8
  • 67th in ERA - 3.78
  • 94th in Walks - 101

Pac-12 Leaders
After the first two weekends of Pac-12 play, several UCLA players are ranked inside the top-10 a number of categories:

  • Kyle Cuellar: 1st in hits (12), 2nd in on-base percentage (.552), 3rd in batting average (.480), T5th in RBIs (7), T5th in doubles (3), T5th in total bases (15).
  • Daniel Amaral: 1st in stolen bases (3), T1st in runs scored (8), T5th in on-base percentage (.500), 6th in batting average (.423).
  • Sean Bouchard: T1st in RBIs (9).
  • Brett Stephens: T1st in runs scored (8).

200 K's
Griffin Canning is the 22nd pitcher in UCLA program history, and the eighth pitcher since John Savage took over the program in 2005, to surpass the 200 strikeout mark. Canning also currently ranks 21st in the NCAA on the active career strikeout list.

UCLA career strikeout list:

Bruin Bats on Fire
The Bruins are riding a five-game winning streak for the first time since last season between March 12-20. They have averaged 11 runs during the streak and are hitting .327 with 15 extra-base hits as a team. UCLA has scored at least eight runs in every game and it marks the first time since 2010 the team has scored eight or more runs in five-straight games.

Canning Effect
Griffin Canning made the jump last season to UCLA's Friday starter and has excelled on the bump for the Bruins. Earlier this season, he was selected to the Golden Spikes Preseason Watch List and named a Preseason All-America third team selection by Baseball America. He lasted at least 5.0 innings in 20 of last 21 eligible starts, including throwing 7.0 or more innings in 11 of the 21 starts. In addition, Canning ranks top-100 in the country in several individual categories:

  • 3rd in games starts (7)
  • 23rd in strikeouts (49)
  • 73rd in strikeouts per nine innings (11.12)
  • 94th in hits allowed per nine inning (6.13)

Freshman Stepping Up
A number of UCLA freshman have made a big impact through the first third of this season:

  • Kyle Cuellar is hitting .429, tops in the Pac-12 and 13th in NCAA, and is second on the team in RBIs with 15. He also ranks top-10 in the conference in on-base and slugging percentage. Cuellar hit his first career home run at Texas and twice drove in the go-ahead runs against California. Over the last five games, he is hitting a team-best .474 with seven RBIs.
  • Ryan Kreidler is fourth on the team in batting average at .255 and RBIs with 12 and hit his first career home run in win over Arizona. He also drove in the game-winning run against San Jose State in the season opener.
  • Nick Scheidler is tied for fourth on the team with 11 appearances on the mound and earned his first career win against Gonzaga on Feb. 26. He made his first career start against Texas on March 11 and struck out a career-best four batters against Cal State Fullerton.
  • Chase Strumpf is second on the team in home runs with three including hitting a solo home run against the Trojans at Dodger Stadium on March 5.
  • Michael Toglia has started 17 games for UCLA this season in the outfield and set a career-high with three RBIs with two extra-base hits against Cal on March 25. Over the five game winning streak he has hit .364 with a .636 slugging percentage.

Savage to Lead USA Baseball
UCLA Head Coach John Savage was named the manager for the 2017 USA Baseball Collegiate National Team. Savage previously served as an assistant coach on the 2000 USA Baseball Collegiate National Team. The 2000 team finished the summer with a 27-3-1 record that won a gold medal at Haarlem Baseball Week in the Netherlands. The U.S. will host three international friendship series against Chinese Taipei, Cuba, and Japan in 2017.

Baby Bruins
The Bruins welcome 14 newcomers to Westwood for the 2017 season. The recruiting class was ranked No. 16 by Baseball America. Three newcomers had been previously selected in the MLB draft as Ryan Kreidler, Michael Toglia and Jeremy Ydens were each 2016 MLB Draft selections. Over the summer, Toglia was named the MVP of the West Coast League in 2016 after hitting .306 with a league-best seven home runs and 40 RBIs. Toglia (No. 8), Kreidler (No. 22) and Chase Strumpf (No. 85) were named to D1Baseball's Top Freshman Prospects list. Incoming catcher Will McInerny was named the 2016 CIF-SS Division 4 Player of the Year, while Gavin Johns transferred from Yavapai College and was named an All-NJCAA Region second team selection.

It's a Family Affair
UCLA has bred a strong athletic tradition and many current players are following in the footsteps of their notable family members.

  • Daniel Amaral's father Rich and brother Beau played baseball at UCLA, while his sister Jessica played softball.
  • Jordan Myrow's father John and godfather Dave Roberts played baseball at UCLA.
  • Jake Pries' father Jeff played baseball at UCLA.
  • Nick Valaika's brother Pat played baseball at UCLA and was a member of the 2013 National Championship.

Watch Live
UCLA is scheduled to be featured on television at least 16 times in 2017 with 15 of those contests being carried by the conference's Pac-12 Networks.

Listen Live
This season all 56 regular season games and any potential postseason games will be broadcast live online at uclabruins.com. UCLA radio veterans John Ramey and Tim Wilhelm return to call all of the action at home and on the road.

Follow UCLA Baseball
Follow UCLA Baseball all season long on their various social media platforms.
Twitter: @uclabaseball
Instagram: @uclabruinsbaseball
Facebook: UCLA Baseball
Snapchat: ucla.athletics