No. 23 UCLA Baseball to Play Tuesday at No. 24 UC Irvine

No. 23 UCLA Baseball to Play Tuesday at No. 24 UC Irvine

May 23, 2011

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LOS ANGELES - The No. 23 UCLA baseball team concludes its regular season with four games this week. The Bruins (31-20) play at No. 24 UC Irvine (37-14) on Tuesday evening. Game time at UC Irvine's Anteater Ballpark is 6:30 p.m. The Bruins will open a three-game Pac-10 series at No. 8 Arizona State on Friday, May 27.

PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS
Tuesday, May 24 - 6:30 p.m.
UCLA - Zack Weiss, RHP, Fr. (5-2, 2.72)
UC Irvine - Andrew Thurman, RHP, Fr. (3-3, 4.11)

LISTEN LIVE ONLINE (click here)
Each of UCLA's remaining four regular-season ballgames will feature a live audio broadcast online, free of charge, at uclabruins.com. UCLA's John Ramey will have the call from Anteater Ballpark in Irvine, Calif., on Tuesday night. In addition, fans can follow online through GameTracker, which provides pitch-by-pitch updates of the game in progress on uclabruins.com.

THE FINAL COUNTDOWN
UCLA concludes its regular season with four road games this week. The Bruins play at No. 24 UC Irvine on Tuesday night before opening a three-game Pac-10 series at No. 8 Arizona State on Friday evening. Freshman right-hander Zack Weiss will take the mound for UCLA on Tuesday against the host Anteaters. Weiss earned the victory, allowing one run in seven innings, in UCLA's 6-1 win over UC Irvine on Tuesday, April 26. As a starting pitcher this season (all in midweek action), Weiss has gone 4-2 with a 2.36 ERA in seven starts.

LOOKING AT THE PAC
By winning two of three games against California over the weekend, UCLA crept to within one game of first place Oregon State in the Pac-10 standings. The Bruins are tied with Arizona State (both at 16-8) for second place in the conference race, while Oregon State (17-7) leads the group. The Beavers dropped two of three games at home to USC, while Arizona State won the first two of three at Washington last weekend. With a three-game lead over fourth-place California (13-11), UCLA can finish no lower than third in the Pac-10 standings.

COMPLETE STREAK
Junior right-hander Trevor Bauer has thrown seven consecutive complete games as UCLA's Saturday starter, totaling eight complete games this season. Bauer limited California to one run and five hits in a 2-1 victory last Saturday, striking out eight batters and issuing just one walk. The native of Valencia, Calif., hurled his 13th career complete game, moving into second place on UCLA's all-time list. He leads all active NCAA pitchers with 432 career strikeouts and ranks third in career wins with 32 (tied with Southern Mississippi's Todd McInnis).

FINISHING THE WEEKEND
Freshman right-hander Adam Plutko has shined as UCLA's Sunday starter, going 6-3 with a 1.70 ERA, 83 strikeouts and 19 walks in 95.1 innings. A sixth-round MLB Draft selection by Houston last year, Plutko ranks second in the Pac-10 in ERA (1.70) and opposing batting average (.184) and is sixth in strikeouts (83). He has allowed two runs or fewer in 12 of his 14 appearances, each of which has lasted at least 5.2 innings. Plutko has secured the victory in each of his last four starts, allowing six runs and 18 hits in a span of 31.1 innings.

POINT BLANK
UCLA has thrown nine shutouts, the most for the Bruins since 1978 (nine). In 1969, the Bruins hurled a school-record 10 shutouts. UCLA totaled eight in 1967 and had five in 2008, 1992 and 1977. Last season, UCLA's staff hurled just one shutout. The Bruins opened this season with six shutouts through their first 18 games.

TOP RUN PRODUCERS
Junior Dean Espy (.305) and sophomores Beau Amaral (.312) and Cody Regis (.279) have been among UCLA's most proficient run producers. Regis leads the Bruins with four home runs and 38 RBI. Espy ranks second on the team in RBI (33) and third in runs scored (28). Amaral is third on the ballclub in RBI (27) and first in runs scored (32).

THE COLE FILE
Gerrit Cole is among five UCLA pitchers in school history to have collected at least 20 wins and 250 strikeouts in a minimum of 250 innings (others include Trevor Bauer, Jim Parque, Alex Sanchez and Tim Leary). Cole enters the week sporting a 5-7 record and 3.27 ERA, having compiled 99 strikeouts and 19 walks (two intentional) in 99.0 innings.

RECORD WATCH
Trevor Bauer has become UCLA's career leader in strikeouts (432), wins (32) and innings (355.1), posting a career record of 32-8 (30-5 as a starter). He has become the only pitcher in school history to record a minimum of 10 wins in at least two seasons (11-2 in 2011, 12-3 in 2010). Bauer has averaged 12.5 strikeouts per start this season.

LEFT IN CHARGE
Sophomore Cody Keefer enters UCLA's final week of the regular season leading the Bruins with a .314 batting average. The native of Davis, Calif., has started 50 of UCLA's 51 games in left field. Keefer's .404 on-base percentage is second on the team, and his .411 slugging percentage ranks third behind Beau Amaral (.435) and Cody Regis (.430).

NATIONAL WATCH LISTS
Junior right-handers Trevor Bauer and Gerrit Cole are among the 60 semifinalists for the Golden Spikes Award, as announced by USA Baseball on May 3. The Golden Spikes Award is presented at the conclusion of each season to the nation's top amateur baseball player. Bauer has been named as one of 25 pitchers to the National Pitcher of the Year Watch List, as announced by the College Baseball Hall of Fame. In addition, Bauer has been selected as one of 36 semifinalists for the annual Dick Howser Trophy.

PACKING SOME POWER
Sophomore infielder Cody Regis has been among UCLA's most prolific power hitters in 2011. He leads the team with four home runs and 38 RBI. After batting .179 through the Bruins' first 14 games, Regis has since hit safely in 27 of UCLA's 37 contests, reaching base safely in at least 33 of those 37 games. The native of Glendora, Calif., leads all current UCLA ballplayers with 13 career home runs, 85 RBI and 64 walks. In a 10-0 victory over Pepperdine (May 3), Regis had UCLA's first inside-the-park homer since March 22, 2008.

HISTORY WITH THE `EATERS
John Savage assumed UCLA's head coach position in July 2004 after having spent three seasons as UC Irvine's head coach (2002-04). Savage posted a 4-0 record against UCLA during those three years and has since gone 11-5 against UC Irvine in seven seasons as UCLA's head coach. He arrived at UC Irvine during the 2000-2001 school year to resurrect a previously-dormant baseball program after having spent four seasons (1997-2000) as USC's pitching coach under then-USC head coach Mike Gillespie, now UC Irvine's third-year skipper.

NEWS AND NOTES
UCLA has limited the opposition to two runs or fewer in 29 games (25-4 record) and to one run or less in 18 games (18-0 record) ... the Bruins lead the Pac-10 Conference in ERA (2.33), opponent batting average (.199), strikeouts (499) and strikeouts per nine innings (9.78) ... UCLA's pitchers have limited the opposition to six hits or fewer in 28 of 51 games this season ... UCLA had a season-high 21 strikeouts against Nebraska (March 5) ... junior infielder Tyler Rahmatulla has been suspended for the remainder of the 2011 season (academics).

CHASING HISTORY
UCLA was no-hit by Oregon State's Josh Osich on April 30, the first no-hitter against UCLA (and in a Pac-10 game) since May 8, 1994, when Stanford's Jason Middlebrook no-hit UCLA. This season, two Bruin starters have had a no-hitter intact through six innings. Gerrit Cole had a perfect game broken with two outs in the seventh at Nebraska (March 4) and with one out in the seventh against Georgia (March 11). Trevor Bauer had a perfect game with one out in the seventh at USC (March 26) and allowed his first hit with one out in the eighth.

SUCCESS ON THE MOUND
Five of the Pac-10 Conference's top 11 career strikeout leaders have been coached by UCLA seventh-year head coach John Savage. UCLA's Trevor Bauer ranks third on the list (432) and teammate Gerrit Cole is 10th overall (356) entering the final week of college baseball's regular season. Savage spent four seasons as the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator at the University of Southern California (1997-2000), where he coached Rik Currier (2nd, 449), Seth Etherton (4th, 420) and Mark Prior (11th, 352).

THIS WEEK'S POLLS
The Bruins have returned to the top 25 in each of the five prominent college baseball polls this week. Collegiate Baseball has tabbed UCLA at No. 17, at No. 19 by the ESPN/USA Today Coaches' Poll and the National Collegiate Baseball Writers' Association, at No. 23 by Baseball America and No. 24 by Perfect Game USA. Three Pac-10 teams have been ranked by Baseball America - Oregon State (6), Arizona State (8) and UCLA (23). Collegiate Baseball has ranked five Pac-10 teams in its weekly top 30 selections.

SIX-SEASON COMPOSITE
In conference games over the last five-plus seasons (2006-11), UCLA ranks second in both wins (89) and winning percentage (.597). Overall, the Bruins are tied for third in total wins (208) and fourth in winning percentage (.588). UCLA finished second in the Pac-10 in 2010, after having been third the previous four years.