UCLA
Oregon
No. 17 Bruins Welcome Oregon for Final Home Series
May 17, 2018 | Baseball
LOS ANGELES - The 17th-ranked UCLA baseball team (32-17, 15-9) will host Oregon (25-24, 11-13) for the final regular-season home games of the season this weekend with the Pac-12 series beginning on Friday at 4 p.m. PT. All three games of the series will be televised on the Pac-12 Network with Jim Watson and Wes Clements on the call and can also be heard live on UCLABruins.com with Tim Wilhelm on the call.
Probable Starters
Friday, May 18 - 4 p.m. PT
UCLA - Jake Bird, RHP, Sr. (6-3, 2.05 ERA)
ORE - Kenyon Yovan, RHP, So. (5-3, 2.55 ERA)
Saturday, May 19 - 1:30 p.m. PT
UCLA - Zach Pettway, RHP, Fr. (7-3, 3.56 ERA)
ORE - Matt Mercer, RHP, Jr. (5-5, 3.42 ERA)
Sunday, May 20 - 12 p.m. PT
UCLA - Ryan Garcia, RHP, So. (5-1, 2.68 ERA)
ORE - Kolby Somers, LHP, Fr. (2-6, 4.12 ERA)
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Weekendย in Review
UCLA dropped two out of three games at Washington over the weekend and are now 15-9 in Pac-12 play.
- UCLA won the series opener against the Huskies, 7-3, Michael Toglia hit a three-run home run and Jake Bird tossed 6.1 innings with seven strikeouts.
- The Bruins dropped game two, 13-6, as Michael Toglia hit a three-run home run and Chase Strumpf drove in two runs.
- UCLA fell in the series finale, 6-4, in 11 innings as Jack Stronach drove in two runs on two base hits and Jeremy Ydens hit a solo home run.
- The Bruins won their final midweek game of the season on Tuesday over CSUN, 15-2, as Ryan Kreidler drove in five runs and Jeremy Ydens recorded four RBIs on three hits.
Senior Day on Sunday
On Sunday, the Bruins will hold its final regular-season home game of the 2018 season and will also celebrate Senior Day. UCLA will honor Jake Bird, Garrett Barker, Matt Walker, Nathan Hadley and Daniel Rosica prior to the game along with their families. The ceremony is set to begin at 11:30 a.m. PT.
Savage Surpassing Milestones
UCLA head coach John Savage reached a milestone mark at UCLA this season and is looking to surpass another one. The skipper reached 800 career games at UCLA on March 29 at California and is just one game away from coaching in his 1,000th game of his career. Savage is the third longest-tenured coach in program history behind Gary Adams (1975-2004) with over 1,800 career games and Arthur Reichle (1941, 1946-74) with over 1,300 games. Coach Savage has the highest winning percentage of any coach since 1926 and has taken the Bruins to new heights with its first national championship in 2013, three College World Series appearances and led UCLA to postseason play in nine seasons.
Starting Pitchers Lead the Way
Under head coach John Savage, the UCLA baseball team has been known for its starting pitching and this year is no different. With just two weekends left in the season, Bruin starting pitchers have thrown over 265 innings and have allowed 85 earned runs for a 2.88 ERA. The starters have also totaled 198 strikeouts compared to just 68 walks, good or a 2.9 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
Dynamic Duo
Sophomores Chase Strumpf and Michael Toglia are becoming one of the most prolific teammates of the last 20 years. The right-side of the UCLA infield became the first Bruin teammates since 2007 to hit double-digit home runs in the same season when Cody Decker (14) and Gabe Cohen (10) accomplished the feat. Strumpf also became just the fourth Bruin since 2001 with 50-plus RBIs and 10-plus home runs in the same season with Toglia just one RBI away from reaching the same mark. The pair would be the first UCLA teammates since 2008 to each drive in over 50 runs in the same season (Casey Haerther, 52 and Brandon Crawford, 51).
Big Innings
The UCLA offense has scored in bunches to help facilitate a potent offense in 2018. This season, the Bruins have scored five or more runs in an inning 17 times already this season. That is the most by a UCLA offense since 2013 when the Bruins recorded 11 in 66 games and won the national championship. In addition, the offense has done a great job of picking up the pitching staff. After allowing a run on defense, UCLA has answered with two or more runs 17 times in the next half inning.
Pitching and Defense
The old adage that pitching and defense wins ball games remains true for the Bruins this season as they rank ninth in the NCAA in ERA at 3.08 and are also ninth in fielding percentage at 0.981. They are just one of four teams in the country (Florida, Gonzaga, College of Charleston) that rank in the top-15 in both ERA and fielding percentage this season.
Pair of Bruins Named to Academic All-District Team
UCLA right-handed pitcher Jake Bird and catcher Daniel Rosica each secured Google Cloud Academic All-District 8 team honors, as announced by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). Bird and Rosica become the first UCLA baseball players to earn the All-District academic honor since Ryan Deeter won back-to-back awards in 2012-13. In addition, Rosica was also named the UCLA Male Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
Pac-12 Hitting
The UCLA offense has been one of the best in the conference during Pac-12 play. In conference games, the Bruins are top-3 in batting average (.297), runs scored (168), RBIs (156), on-base percentage (.399), doubles (49) and walks (114). UCLA is scoring seven runs a game against Pac-12 opponents.
Youth Movement
This year the Bruins offense is being led by a talented group of underclassmen. The freshmen and sophomores have combined to drive in 78 percent of the team's runs and have also tallied 76 percent of the team's hits. In addition, they have scored just under 73 percent of the team's runs and have registered 119 of the 154 extra-base hits.
The Bruins Keeping Pace
UCLA continues to keep pace with some of the great UCLA teams of the recent past with a 32-17 record. This is the best record for the Bruins at this point of the season since the 2015 season when they were 37-12, becoming the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament and also the 2013 season starting 34-15, the year the Bruins won its first-ever NCAA championship.
NCAA Rankings
With just two weeks left of the college baseball season remaining, the Bruins are ranked top-25 nationally in a number of categories:
- ERA (9th, 3.08), Fielding Percentage (9th, .981), WHIP (10th, 1.21), Sacrifice Flies (10th, 31), Doubles per Game (12th, 2.20), Walks Allowed Per Nine Innings (12th, 2.96), On-Base Percentage (20th, .397) and Doubles (20th, 108).
Pac-12 Leaders
UCLA is ranked in the top-3 in the conference as a team and top-10 individually in a number of categories:
- As a team, the Bruins are top-3 in ERA, on-base percentage, runs, RBIs, doubles, walks, sacrifice flies, stolen bases, opposing batting average, runs allowed, hits allowed, walks allowed and fielding percentage.
- Offensively, Chase Strumpf and Michael Toglia are top-10 in the conference in slugging, home runs, RBIs, doubles, runs and walks. Strumpf is also top-10 in batting average and on-base percentage. Jeremy Ydens ranks inside the top-10 in batting average, doubles and stolen bases. Daniel Amaral and Kevin Kendall are both top-10 in the conference in stolen bases.
- On the mound, Jake Bird is tops in the conference in ERA and second in innings pitched, while Ryan Garica leads the conference in opposing batting average and is sixth in ERA. Zach Pettway is top-10 in wins and innings pitched. Nick Scheidler leads the Pac-12 with 34 appearances and Holden Powell is tied for sixth with six saves.
In The Polls
UCLA dropped in the national polls after going 1-3 last week. Baseball America has the Bruins at No. 17, down six spots from last week and D1Baseball has UCLA sliding back seven spots to No. 18 in the country. The ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll has the Bruins dropping to No. 18 after being No. 14 last week.
Representing the Red, White and Blue
Over the summer in 2017, head coach John Savage was the manager of the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team and right-handed pitcher Jon Olsen became the first Bruin to play for Team USA since James Kaprielian in 2014. Savage led the U.S. to a 15-5 record over the summer, including holding an 11-4 mark during international play. The United States won all three international series it competed in, including going 4-0 against Chinese Taipei and 3-2 versus both Cuba and Japan. Olsen finished the summer with a 1-0 record and a 2.67 ERA in six appearances for the red, white and blue. He also registered 15 strikeouts compared to just two walks.
Scouting Oregon
Oregon comes into the weekend with a 25-24 overall record, including 11-13 in Pac-12 play after sweeping Utah at home last weekend. The Ducks offense is led by Jakob Goldfarb batting .320 with a team-best six home runs and 33 runs scored. Kenyon Yovan leads the Oregon pitching staff with a 2.55 ERA with 86 strikeouts in 70.2 innings on the mound, while Matt Mercer is 5-5 with a 3.42 ERA in 13 starts this season.
History against the Ducks
The Bruins are 26-14 against Oregon all-time as UCLA won two out of three last season on the road in the final three games of the season. UCLA is 9-9 against the Ducks since 2012. Under head coach John Savage, UCLA is 15-12 vs. Oregon.
Positional Rankings
With the season past its halfway point, D1Baseball updated its positional power rankings and a number of Bruins have made the positional rankings:
- Michael Toglia - 1B - No. 4
- Chase Strumpf - 2B - No. 9
- Daniel Amaral - OF - No. 72
- Zach Pettway - SP - No. 90
- Jake Bird - SP - No. 97
- Jon Olsen - SP - No. 99
Looking Ahead
UCLA will travel to Oregon State next week for the final three games of the regular season with the Pac-12 series beginning on Thursday May 24 at 4 p.m. PT. All three games of the series will be televised with the first two on the Pac-12 Network and the series finale on ESPNU.
