LOS ANGELES – The UCLA baseball team swept the Pac-12 Conference's weekly awards as sophomore shortstop Matt McLain was named Pac-12 Player of the Week and junior righty Zach Pettway was named the Pac-12 Pitcher of the week, the league office announced on Tuesday morning.
The duo led the Bruins to a 4-0 record last week, including a midweek win over then-unbeaten Pepperdine and three wins in as many games at the 2020 Frisco College Classic. UCLA outscored its opponents 40-6 for the week. With the perfect week, the Bruins moved to 11-0 on the year and jumped to No. 2 in the national rankings.
Pettway was named the league's top pitcher for a second consecutive week and the third time in his career. He is the first Bruin to repeat as the league's pitcher of the week since Trevor Bauer won the award three consecutive times (Apr. 11, Apr. 18, Apr. 25) in 2011.
The Long Beach, Calif. native limited No. 18 Oklahoma St – which entered the weekend with a .321 team batting average – to just two hits over seven shutout innings. He struck out four and needed just 87 pitches to get through his outing.
UCLA's Friday night starter went three-up, three-down in five of his seven innings of work. For the season, Pettway is 2-0 with a 0.92 ERA and an outstanding 25-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
McLain earned a weekly honor for the first time in his career, and it was his second nomination for the award over the first three weeks of the season.
The Tustin, Calif. native was named the MVP of the Frisco College Classic after batting .471 (8-17) with seven RBIs over the team's three games. He started the weekend with a three-hit performance against the Cowboys, opened the scoring against No. 23 Texas A&M with a first-inning two-run home run, then had four hits and four RBIs in the finale against Illinois.
McLain has had a stellar start to the season, locking down a middle-of-the-order spot and leading the team in most offensive categories including batting average (.417), hits (20), home runs (3), RBIs (17), total bases (32), and slugging (.667). He is the Pac-12 leader in RBIs and total bases.
UCLA returns to action on Tuesday night with a midweek battle at UC Santa Barbara. First pitch is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. from Caesar Uyesaka Stadium.