University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
No. 9 UCLA Baseball Travels to Washington State for Pac-12 Road Series
April 24, 2013
UCLA at Washington St. - Game Notes 
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Los Angeles, Calif. - The ninth-ranked UCLA Baseball team will hit the road again this weekend, as they will play a three-game series at Washington State from Friday, April 26 to Sunday, April 28. Game times are 6 p.m., 2 p.m. and 12 p.m. respectively. Fans can follow all three games online through gametracker, which provides pitch-by-pitch updates. The links can be found on the front page of uclabruins.com on the events calendar or on the 2013 UCLA Baseball schedule page.
PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS
Friday, April 26 - 6 p.m.
UCLA - Adam Plutko, RHP, Jr. (5-2, 2.34)
WSU - Joe Pistorese, LHP, So. (4-3, 2.23)
Saturday, April 27 - 2 p.m.
UCLA - Nick Vander Tuig, RHP, Jr. (6-3, 1.87)
WSU - Tanner Chleborad, RHP, So. (3-6, 5.57)
Sunday, April 28 - 12 p.m.
UCLA - Grant Watson, LHP, So. (5-3, 3.21)
WSU - Scott Simon, RHP, So. (3-1, 3.67)
BRUINS TRAVEL TO PULLMAN
The Bruins lead the all-time series over the Cougars, 42-20, while head coach John Savage owns a record of 15-9 against Washington State in his time at UCLA. In addition, UCLA has won the last three series over the Cougars dating back to 2010. Last season, the Bruins took two of three from Washington State at Jackie Robinson Stadium, winning the first two games of the series by matching scores of 12-3.
A LOOK AT THE PAC-12 RACE
Midway through their conference schedule, the Bruins find themselves in third place in the standings, just 2.5 games behind Pac-12 leaders Oregon, who have played three more conference games than UCLA. The Bruins are two games behind Oregon State for second place in the conference and are currently tied for third with Stanford with matching 9-6 records. UCLA has five Pac-12 series left to play, playing road series against Washington State, USC and Stanford while hosting Utah and Arizona at Jackie Robinson Stadium. The Bruins have finished among the top three in the Pac-12 Conference each of the last seven seasons (2006-2012), the only Pac-12 team to have done so.
STARTING THE SERIES OPENER
Junior-right hander Adam Plutko will start the series opener for the Bruins on Friday night. Plutko owns a record of 5-2 entering this weekend's games, posting a 2.34 ERA in 10 starts this season. Plutko is arguably coming off his best start of the season, pitching seven shutout innings while striking out a season-high eight in UCLA's 1-0 win over Oregon last Friday. In his last four starts, Plutko is 3-0 with a 0.93 ERA and 30 strikeouts. He has also not surrendered an earned run in his last three starts (21 total innings). Overall, Plutko has a team-high 53 strikeouts in 65.1 innings this season and has allowed hitters to bat just .184 against him, which is third-lowest in the Pac-12. Plutko has also been named to the All-Pac-12 team twice in his UCLA career and in 2012, captured third-team All-America honors from Baseball America.
SATURDAY STARTER
Junior-right hander Nick Vander Tuig will toe the slab in the second game of the series on Saturday afternoon. Vander Tuig enters this weekend 6-3 on the year, but in all three of his losses the Bruins have been shut out. Like Plutko, Vander Tuig had one of his best outings of the season last weekend, throwing seven scoreless innings to lead the Bruins to a 1-0 win over Oregon. Overall, he has thrown a team-leading 67.1 innings in 10 starts this season, striking out 46 while walking just 10. Vander Tuig has also posted an outstanding 1.87 ERA on the season, good for seventh-best in the Pac-12, and has gone at least six innings in nine of his 10 starts this year. He has also allowed an opposing batting average of just .215 in his 67.1 innings pitched.
CLOSING OUT THE SERIES
Sophomore left-hander Grant Watson will start Sunday's series finale for the Bruins. Watson, who owns a career record of 13-4 as a starter, is 5-3 on the season with a 3.21 ERA. He has surrendered just 10 walks thus far, good for fifth fewest in the conference, and has struck out 36 in 56.0 innings pitched. As a team, UCLA is 7-3 in games that Watson has started. In 2012, Watson set a UCLA record for wins by a freshman with nine and was rewarded with freshman All-America honors from Collegiate Baseball.
BERG'S BRILLIANCE
After his record-setting freshman season in 2012, sophomore David Berg has continued to string together terrific performances out of the bullpen in 2013. Berg, a preseason All-American, currently leads the Pac-12 with a 0.83 ERA, which is also good for third best in the nation. He has allowed the fewest walks (4), fewest runs (4) and second-fewest hits (27) in the conference as well. Berg has appeared in 26 games thus far (second-most in the Pac-12), posting a record of 4-0 with 10 saves and 43 strikeouts in 43.1 innings pitched. Additionally, Berg has allowed an opponent's batting average of just .178, the lowest opposing average in the Pac-12, and is second in the nation in WHIP with a 0.71 mark. In 2012, Berg led the Pac-12 with a 1.46 ERA, appearing in 50 games, which was one appearance shy of the NCAA Division I record. Berg also earned freshman All-America honors from Baseball America in 2012.
STRONG STAFF
UCLA's pitchers have combined to post a team ERA of 2.74, which ranks second in the Pac-12 and was ninth-best nationally entering the week. The Bruins also rank fourth in the country with an overall WHIP of 1.08. UCLA's starting pitchers have posted a combined ERA of 2.79 in 37 games, striking out a total of 150 batters. In addition, the Bruins have held opponents to just a .217 batting average against them and have allowed the fewest walks in the conference (102) and second fewest runs (121).
CENTER STAGE
Junior center fielder Brian Carroll has had a solid 2013 season so far, leading the Bruins in multiple categories. Carroll has especially wreaked havoc on the basepaths, stealing 21 bases in 25 attempts. His 21 steals rank second in the Pac-12 and were 20th in the country entering the week. In addition, Carroll leads UCLA with 26 runs scored, 37 hits, two triples and seven sacrifice bunts. He has also not committed an error in center field this season and is third on the team in batting average (.274).
GOLD GLOVE DEFENSE
UCLA has been outstanding in the field this season, posting a team fielding percentage of .980, which was ranked seventh in the country entering this week and is second in the conference behind only Oregon (.983). The Bruins have committed only 30 errors their 37 games thus far. Individually, junior shortstop Pat Valaika has not committed an error in his last 27 games, with his last error coming back on March 3 against Wright State. In 2012, UCLA's defense recorded a .976 fielding percentage, matching the second-highest mark in school history.
HOT CORNER
Sophomore Kevin Kramer has been swinging a hot bat as of late, hitting safely in six of the last seven games. The Turlock, Calif. native leads the team with a .429 on-base percentage and is second in hits (36), RBI (25), home runs (2) and runs scored (22). Kramer also leads the team in walks with 24, which is good for third most in the conference, and 12 hit by pitches, tops in the Pac-12. As a team, UCLA is second in the Pac-12 in walks (173) and first in hit by pitches (57).
TUESDAY RECAP
The Bruins fell to the Long Beach State Dirtbags on Tuesday night by a score of 11-1 at Jackie Robinson Stadium. The Dirtbags scored two runs in the top of the first to take an early lead before opening up an eight-run lead with six in the top of the third. Sophomore Kevin Kramer went 2-3 with a run scored to lead the UCLA offense while freshman right-hander Cody Poteet took the loss for UCLA, pitching 2.1 innings and allowing five runs (four earned). Freshman James Kaprielian had a good outing out of the bullpen, tossing 2.1 scoreless innings and striking out four. Junior Zack Weiss and sophomore David Berg pitched scoreless eighth and ninth innings out of the bullpen as well.
CONSISTENTLY RANKED
UCLA came in at No. 9 in the most recent Baseball America top-25 poll, marking the 28th consecutive week that the Bruins have been ranked in the top 25. The Bruins last dropped out of the poll on May 22, 2011. UCLA finished the 2012 season ranked No. 5 by Baseball America and reached No. 1 in the poll back on April 12, 2010. In the last three seasons, the Bruins have been ranked in the top 10 by Baseball America a total of 11 times.