After early season struggles, the No. 11 Bruins have a lot to be happy about. Their starting pitching is rolling, they have won every conference series so far, and they sit atop the Pac-10.
When UCLA (24-18, 10-2 Pac-10) plays UC Irvine tonight at 6 p.m. in Irvine, the Bruins have a chance to get back at one of the few teams that bested them in April.
In the teams’ first meeting, the Anteaters beat the Bruins 5-4 on April 10 at Jackie Robinson after coming back from an early deficit.
Right-hander Garett Claypool (1-0) will be taking the mound for UCLA in his sixth midweek start of the season. The freshman has struck out 15 hitters in 19.2 innings as a starter while allowing just four walks.
Irvine is coming off of a series win at home against UC Davis, winning 16-7 to dominate the rubber game.
The Anteaters have been playing strong baseball as of late, taking five of their last seven games.
“They’re very competitive and they’re different from most teams,” third baseman Jermaine Curtis said.
“They bunt more. They drag, they push,” he said.
Although the non-conference game has no effect on its standing, the team still has a lot to play for when going up against coach John Savage’s former team.
“We look at it as just as big as a weekend series pretty much,” sophomore Tim Murphy said. “They’re big games for RPI and rankings when it comes to postseason, so we’ll look at it just like a weekend game. And we definitely want to go out there full force and try and beat them.”
Murphy, who has logged a lot of innings this season both on the mound and in the outfield, absorbed the loss against the Anteaters before stepping up and establishing himself as the team’s Saturday starter.
“He’s really competed the last couple Saturdays and he’s really turning into a pitcher,” Savage said. “He’s really a position pitcher who’s being converted into a pitcher. He’s always had a great arm, and always had the talent to be a pitcher. … We always thought he was going to be a two-way guy, and with (Charles) Brewer going out, Murphy had to step up, and you’ve got to give the guy a lot of credit.”
Murphy and his teammates find themselves in a position a UCLA team has not been in for quite some time, sitting in the driver’s seat very deep into the season.
Tonight’s game against the Anteaters will be the Bruins’ second-to-last midweek game, with the final one being at Pepperdine next week.
Other than that, the Bruins have four Pac-10 series remaining, including a home series against Oregon State to close out the regular season.
“We’ve really talked about two seasons the last week or two,” Savage said. “We’re focused in and we got to step up the next two Tuesdays, and then it’s the Pac-10 mentality.”