Heading into the season, UCLA baseball coach John Savage knew his team had the pitching to be competitive. He had confidence that a balanced pitching staff, composed of both young and experienced hurlers, would be able to fill the void left by the departure of ace Tim Murphy, who left the team after signing professionally.
But what Savage didn’t know was that his duo of prodigies ““ freshman right-handers Gerrit Cole and Trevor Bauer ““ would be the ones headlining his weekend rotation in the midst of conference play.
“The responsibility (for them) right now is pretty high, but that wasn’t by design,” Savage said.
A pair of battle-tested juniors, left-hander Gavin Brooks and right-hander Charles Brewer, were expected to anchor the rotation before the season began.
Yet halfway through the Bruins’ 56-game campaign, Cole is the scheduled starter for UCLA (12-17, 5-4 Pac-10) in its series opener tonight against Stanford (11-12, 5-4) in Palo Alto.
Bauer, who skipped his final high school season to enroll early, is slated to take the mound for the second game.
Regardless of their age, Savage is not concerned with Cole or Bauer’s ability to lead the rotation.
“We feel like we have the two best freshmen, potentially, in the country,” he said. “They’re both off to pretty good starts.”
Cole (2-3) has started seven games, holding opposing hitters to a .207 batting average.
The 18-year-old, whose fastball reaches the high 90s, has been unhittable at times, striking out 51 batters in just 37 innings pitched.
Unlike Cole, who started the season as a member of the rotation, Bauer is new to starting on weekends. The closer-turned-starter was impressive in his weekend debut Sunday at Washington State.
Bauer threw 116 pitches and struck out seven in 6.2 innings. He allowed four runs, but Bauer was good enough to earn his fourth win of the season.
“Bauer is thriving as a starter,” Savage said following UCLA’s important 8-3 victory against No. 5 UC Irvine on Tuesday night.
“We’ve found our niche in terms of roles out of the bullpen and starters. Now you’re seeing results,” he said.
Brooks, who was the heir-apparent to Murphy, has replaced Bauer as the team’s closer after struggling in his only start this season. Brooks has held the opposition to a .194 average ““ the best on the team.
“Gavin Brooks is thriving in (his) role out of the bullpen,” Savage said.
Meanwhile, Brewer remains in the rotation. He is scheduled to start the Bruins’ third game against the Cardinal at Sunken Diamond.
This weekend, the Bruins look to bounce back from a series loss against Washington State.
UCLA lost the first two games in Pullman, Wash., last weekend before taking the series finale behind Bauer’s strong outing.
“There’s a lot of positive feeling,” Savage said. “We salvaged that series (in Pullman). It sounds odd, but in the Pac-10, you’ve got to win on the road.”
The Bruins leave Westwood again this weekend, but the team is accustomed to being in the visitor’s dugout. UCLA has played 17 of its 29 games away from home.
“This team knows how to play on the road,” senior first baseman Cody Decker said.
“We’ve been in rain, snow and cold,” senior second baseman Eddie Murray said. “We can handle anything.”
A sense of relief was evident after the Bruins earned a significant nonconference victory over the highly ranked Anteaters amid a nightlong drizzle Tuesday.
“We have positive momentum that we can build off of,” Savage said.
UCLA avenged its early-season loss to UC Irvine with Tuesday’s win. The win also marked an important step for a Bruin team that looks to shake off the effects left by a prior 10-game losing streak.
But if recent outcomes are any indication of the Bruins’ true potential, the team’s success hinges on its pitching.
“If we can keep doing this on the mound, you’re going to see some good results,” Savage said.