UCLA (23-22-1, 10-11) at #2 Oregon St. (35-8, 17-4) / Goss Stadium / 7:30 PM PDT / Pac-12 Channel / KEJO 1240 AM / KPOJ 620 AM
Game Notes / UCLA Series Notes
Oregon St. returns home after road trips to Berkeley last weekend and Tuesday night in Eugene for a Mother's Day weekend Pac-12 weekend series against UCLA, starting tonight.
The Beavers have reeled off 8 straight wins, 4 of them over Oregon, including their 4-3 12 inning win Tuesday, and back to back conference series sweeps the last 2 weekends. Oregon St. has won 10 of their last 11, and 15 of 17.
The Bruins, the defending NCAA National Champions, aren't going to defend that title, and are going to get really rolling down the stretch to even sneak into the post-season. UCLA has lost 3 in a row, and have only 1 win and 1 tie in their last 8 games, with a 1-0 loss to Fullerton St. Tuesday night their last outing.
Stanford took the last 2 of 3 in last weekend's series, and their rival Trojans swept the Bruins the weekend before.
Oregon St. will send senior Ben Wetzler (8-1, 0.78 ERA) out as they always do on Friday nights. Wetzler, who has the lowest ERA in the country, worked 7 2/3 innings last Friday, allowing 5 hits and 2 walks, and just 1 run, while striking out 6, in the Beavers' 10-4 win at California.
UCLA will counter with sophomore RHP James Kaprielian (6-4, 2.43). Kaprielian was a Freshman All-American last year, and currently leads the Pac-12 in strikeouts, with 82. Kaprielian got the win in the Bruins' sole victory over Stanford in last weekend's series, a 7-2 win Friday, in which he worked 5 2/3 innings, giving up 5 hits and 4 walks, which led to just 1 run, while striking out 10 Cardinal batters.
The Beavers are also hopeful of having Jerad Casper available again this weekend to get some depth back at 1st base.
Andy_Wooldridge@yahoo.com