UCLA (11-15, 4-8) vs. Oregon (20-7, 6-3)
Friday, April 5, 2024 - 7 p.m. PT
Saturday, April 6, 2024 - 6 p.m. PT
Sunday, April 7, 2024 - 12 p.m. PT
Location: Los Angeles, Calif. (Jackie Robinson Stadium)
TV: Pac-12 Networks
TV Talent: J.B. Long
Stream: Pac-12.com / Pac-12 Now app
Audio: UCLA Lean Player
Broadcast talent: Nick Koop
Live Stats

UCLA Hosts Oregon in Critical Pac-12 Set    
This weekend, the UCLA baseball team (11-15, 4-8 Pac-12) returns home to Jackie Robinson Stadium to host league rival and No. 20-ranked Oregon (20-7, 6-3) in a Pac-12 series. The set, which will be televised in its entirety by the Pac-12 Networks, begins on Friday night at 7 p.m. PT and continues on Saturday at 6 p.m. PT and Sunday at 12 p.m. PT. Nick Koop will be on hand for an audio-only call accessible via UCLABruins.com. Fans can also follow along with live stats (StatBroadcast) and X/Twitter updates (@UCLABaseball). 

UCLA Quick Hits    

• UCLA is 11-15 overall on the season, including a 6-5 mark over the team's last 11 games
• The Bruins are 4-2 in midweek contests, with wins against Nevada, Long Beach State, UC Santa Barbara, and LMU
• The Bruins are 10-4 so far this season at home
• UCLA is 4-8 in Pac-12 play, taking weekend series against Washington State and USC
• The Bruins enter the weekend with a plus-35 walk differential (131 drawn, 96 issued)
• Duce Gourson (19 gms) and JonJon Vaughns (11 gms) currently sport lengthy reached-base streaks
• UCLA has started multiple players at all nine defensive positions (plus DH)
• UCLA is coming off a 28-24-1 campaign and a berth into the 2023 Pac-12 Tournament
• It marked the program's 7th consecutive winning season and 15th overall in 19 seasons under HC John Savage
• The Bruins' freshman class was the No. 1-ranked recruit class in the country (as was the junior class)
• Junior 2B Duce Gourson earned Preseason All-America acclaim from Baseball America and Perfect Game
• Gourson, Cody Schrier, and Luke Jewett were named to the 2024 Pac-12 Preseason All-Conference Team
• The Bruins were picked to finish 3rd in the Pac-12 Preseason Coaches Poll
• Bruin alum Gerrit Cole won the 2023 AL Cy Young, making UCLA the first DI school ever to have had multiple Cy Young winners on the same team

Projected Pitching Matchups
Friday, April 5 - 7 p.m. PT 
UCLA - Jr. RHP Luke Jewett (1-2, 5.54 ERA)
ORE - RJr. RHP RJ Gordon (3-2, 4.17 ERA)
Saturday, April 6 - 6 p.m. PT 
UCLA - So. Michael Barnett (2-1, 4.58 ERA)
ORE - So. LHP Grayson Grinsell (3-2, 3.52 ERA)
Sunday, April 7 - 12 p.m. PT 
UCLA - Fr. RHP Landon Stump (0-1, 4.85 ERA)
ORE - Sr. RHP Kevin Seitter (3-1, 4.96 ERA)

Current Bruins Against Oregon    
Active Bruins with strong career numbers against Oregon include: Chris Aldrich (2 apps, 2.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 K), Duce Gourson (7-22, 3 HR, 10 RBIs in 6 GP), Cody Schrier (7-19, 6 R in 6 GP), and JonJon Vaughns (6-22, 3 HR, 7 RBIs in 9 GP). 

The All-Time Series Against the Ducks    
UCLA owns a 37-17 record all-time against Oregon, including a 26-15 mark under head coach John Savage. The Bruins have won six of the last seven sets against the Ducks, including a sweep in the last meeting at Jackie Robinson Stadium (2022). UCLA and Oregon have tended to play tight games in recent years. Of the last 11 games between the two teams, nine have been decided by two runs or fewer, and seven have been decided by one run. 

Last Year Against Oregon    
UCLA took two of three over Oregon at home from Mar. 10-12, 2023 in the first Pac-12 series of the season for both teams: 

• Game 1 – UCLA dropped the Friday of the series, 6-2. The Ducks built a 3-0 lead after two innings and never looked back. AJ Salgado and JonJon Vaughns hit solo home runs to account for the entirety of UCLA's run production. Oregon starter Jace Stoffal totaled nine strikeouts in four innings, and the Ducks' bullpen held UCLA scoreless the rest of the way.
• Game 2 –The Bruins evened the series with an 8-7 win on Saturday. UCLA hit four home runs in the contest, led by a two-bomb day from Duce Gourson (his first-career multi-HR game). Vaughns and Kyle Karros also went yard. UCLA held leads of 6-0 in the fifth and 8-2 in the ninth, but had to weather a five-spot in the ninth from the Ducks to pull out the win. Right-hander Alonzo Tredwell earned the win for the Bruins, allowing just two earned runs over 5 2/3 innings. Cody Delvecchio was a standout out of the pen, retiring all four batters he faced.
• Game 3 – UCLA routed Oregon, 16-0, on Sunday to clinch the series win. The Bruins were up 9-0 by the second inning, and ultimately posted four crooked numbers. Duce Gourson had his second-straight four-RBI game to pace the Bruin offense, while Karros (3-6, three RBIs) and Jack Holman (2-5, three RBIs) also had big days with the bats. Kelly Austin led a combined three-hit shutout, setting or matching career bests in innings (6.2) and strikeouts (8). Chris Aldrich and Finn McIlroy combined to face the minimum over the remainder of the game.
• For the series, UCLA outscored Oregon 26-13, out-hit them .245 to .219, drew 22 walks while issuing nine, and had a 4.50 to 8.33 advantage in team ERA

The Week In Review    
UCLA is 1-3 over the last week, absorbing a weekend sweep at Arizona before bouncing back for a midweek win at LMU:

• THU — Arizona's Brendan Summerhill hit a two-run walk-off homer in the tenth to give Arizona a 5-3 victory in the series opener. UCLA never trailed until the walk-off, building a 3-0 lead through the middle of the fourth, but Arizona knotted it up in the eighth to send it to extras. Payton Brennan had three hits and reached four times to pace UCLA. Malakhi Knight and Roman Martin added two-hit efforts. UCLA got a runner into scoring position in both the ninth and tenth innings, but couldn't come up with a big hit to break the 3-3 deadlock.
• FRI — Arizona's Clark Candiotti fired a complete game four-hitter and Emilio Corona hit a walk-off sac fly in the ninth as the Wildcats clinched the series with a 3-2 win. The 2-hour, 10-minute pitcher's duel saw UCLA's Michael Barnett deliver seven innings with just one earned run against. Roman Martin provided a pair of clutch hits to help UCLA erase a 2-0 deficit late, as he led off the eighth with a double before scoring, and then knotted it up with an RBI single in the top of the ninth.
• SAT — UCLA battled back from an 8-2 deficit to force extra innings in the series finale, but Arizona ultimately finished off the sweep via a Mason White walk-off homer in the bottom of the 12th. Eight of nine starters had a hit for UCLA, including three-hit days from JonJon Vaughns, Mulivai Levu, and Malakhi Knight. Trailing by six late, UCLA got back within one with a five-run eighth. The first seven batters of that frame reached in succession, highlighted by an RBI double fgrom Knight. Cashel Dugger added an RBI single an inning later with UCLA down to its last out, sending it to extras. The Bruins struck first in extras after Vaughns led off the 12th with a triple and later scored, but Arizona responded with a two-run homer off the bat of White in the bottom half to end the game at 10-9.
• TUE — UCLA's freshman class led the way in a 4-1 midweek win at LMU, capturing the squad's first road win of the year. The frosh trio of Luke Rodriguez, Justin Lee, and Cal Randall combined to limit LMU to one run over a combined 7 1/3 innings, while freshmen Mulivai Levu and Roch Cholwosky accounted for all three of the team's RBIs in the contest. The Bruins opened the scoring and produced the game-winning run with a two-run fourth. Graduate closer Rashad Ruff went five-up, five-down to close out the game and earn his sixth save of the year.

Friendly Confines    
The Bruins are off to a strong start in home games so far this season, going 10-4 at Jackie Robinson Stadium. UCLA is outscoring its opponents 92-87 at home and holds sizable advantages in batting (.282-.253), OBP (.413-.354), slugging (.421-.373), and ERA (4.98-6.55).The Bruins went 19-9-1 at JRS a season ago, including a 13-game home winning streak to open the campaign. UCLA had a plus-63 run differential (207-144) in home games last year. 

Brennan Has Historic Night vs. UCSB on March 26    
Payton Brennan had a night to remember on March 26, leading UCLA past UCSB in extras with a 7-for-7 performance:

• He became the first Bruin with seven hits in a game since Casey Haerther did so at Arizona on March 29, 2008
• Also became the first Division I player with seven knocks in one game since 2016
• He hit first first-career home run to give UCLA a 10-8 lead in the seventh
• His final knock was a walk-off single up the middle with runners on the corners and one out in the bottom of the 12th
• He entered the game with six hits and a .194 batting average, he finished at 13 hits and a .342 hitting clip

Bruins On the National Leaderboards    
UCLA enters the contest ranked in the upper-third nationally in the following team stats:

• BB/9 - 3.72 (3rd in the Pac-12 / 36th in the NCAA)
• WHIP - 1.46 (6th / 68th)
• ERA - 5.04 (6th / 76th)
• K-BB Ratio - 2.16 (4th / 82nd)

Dependable Duce    
UCLA junior infielder Duce Gourson has been a constant presence on the basepaths this season, reaching in 24 of 26 games thus far (he was kept off in the final two games of the TCU series, but has reached in every other contest). His 24 walks are second in the Pac-12 only to OSU's Travis Bazzana, and he enters the weekend having hit safely in five straight and seven of his last eight contests. 

Good Eye    
So far this season, UCLA has issued more walks than its drawn just six times in 26 games. The Bruins own a plus-35 walk differential overall on the season (131 drawn, 96 issued), good for second in the Pac-12, fourth among schools in the western half of the country, and 30th overall in the NCAA. UCLA is averaging 8.5 free passes (walks + hit batters) per game in wins this season, compared to 4.4 in losses.