University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
UCLA
Cal State Fullerton
Bruins Conclude Homestand Against No. 10 Cal State Fullerton
March 27, 2017 | Baseball
LOS ANGELES – The UCLA baseball team will conclude an eight-game homestand on Tuesday when it hosts No. 10 Cal State Fullerton for a midweek contest at Jackie Robinson Stadium with first pitch scheduled for 6 p.m. (PT). The game will be broadcast live on the Pac-12 Network with Ted Robinson and Scott Erickson on the call.
Probable Starters
Tuesday, March 28 - 6:00 p.m. PT
UCLA – Justin Hooper, LHP, So. (0-0, 4.50 ERA)
CSF – Joe Wills, RHP, Jr. (3-0, 5.51 ERA)
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UCLA Quick Hits
UCLA is 10-11 overall on the season after earning a three-game sweep at home against California over the weekend.
- 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 36th in the NCAA in hits allowed per nine innings at 7.73, 60th in strikeouts per nine innings at 8.8, 61st in ERA at 3.72 and 63rd in WHIP at 1.31.
Week in Review
UCLA went 3-0 this past weekend against California to improve to 4-2 in Pac-12 play.
- 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.
Scouting Cal State Fullerton
Cal State Fullerton enters the game with a 15-8 record and a No. 10 ranking by Baseball America but dropped three games to Long Beach State over the weekend. Offensively, the Titans are led by Taylor Bryant hitting a team best .342 with 10 doubles and 16 RBIs. On the mound, Joe Wills is projected to get the start and holds a 3-0 record with a 5.51 ERA in 16.1 innings this season and has collected 15 strikeouts.
The Bruins vs. the Titans
UCLA has faced Cal State Fullerton 103 previous times, posting a record of 34-67-2 against the Titans. The Bruins lost a pair of games to Cal State Fullerton last season during midweek games. In the last 10 games, UCLA is 4-6 against Cal State Fullerton and under John Savage, UCLA is 11-26 against the Titans.
NCAA Rankings
UCLA as a team is ranked in the top-100 in the country in a number of categories:
- 31st in fielding percentage - 0.978
- 36th in hits allowed per nine innings - 7.73
- 54th in shutouts - 2
- 60th in strikeouts per nine innings - 8.8
- 61st in ERA - 3.72
- 63rd in WHIP - 1.31
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 20th in the NCAA on the active career strikeout list.
- 1. 460 - Trevor Bauer (2009-11)
- 2. 376 - Gerrit Cole (2009-11)
- 16. 223 Ed Cowan (1974-76)
- 17. 215 Pete Janicki (1990-92)
- 18. 210 - Griffin Canning (2015-Pres.)
Tough Road
The Bruins have played one of the toughest schedules in the country as UCLA ranks No. 17 on the NCAA's Toughest Schedule Report. UCLA's opponents have accumulated a 0.601 winning percentage coming in to this weekend. California is the only other Pac-12 team in the top 10, coming in at No. 4 with an opponents winning percentage of 0.626.
Freshman Stepping Up
A number of UCLA freshman have made a big impact through the first third of this season:
- Kyle Cuellar is hitting .426 (15th in NCAA) in 47 at-bats and is second on the team in RBIs with 14. He hit his first career home run at Texas and drove in the go-ahead runs twice against California. Over his last 10 games, he is hitting a team-best .450 with 13 RBIs and six extra-base hits.
- Ryan Kreidler is fourth on the team in batting average at .264 and RBIs with 11 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 10 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.
- 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 16 games for UCLA this season in the outfield and set a career-high with three RBIs with two extra-base hits against California on March 25.
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.
Preseason Rankings
The Bruins were tabbed to finish fifth in the Preseason Pac-12 Coaches Poll as UCLA received 54 points overall. Prior to the season, D1Baseball.com ranked the top position players in the country and 11 Bruins made the positional lists:
- Griffin Canning (SP) - No. 16, Sean Bouchard (1B) - No. 24, Nick Valaika (SS) - No. 38, Ryan Kreidler (3B) - No. 39, Chase Strumpf (2B) No. 39, Brian Gadsby (RP) - No. 39, Michael Toglia (OF) - No. 50, Jake Bird (SP) - No. 85, Daniel Amaral (OF) - No. 149, Jon Olsen (SP) - No. 165 and Justin Hooper (SP) - No. 200.
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, including four consecutive home games.
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
