The top two teams in the country will square off this weekend.
No. 1 UCLA baseball (21-5, 7-2 Pac-12) will play at No. 2 Stanford (19-3, 6-0) in a three-game series starting Friday night. This is the first and only time the Bruins will face the Cardinal during the regular season.
Stanford enters Friday’s game having won 10 in a row to move up to No. 2 in the rankings, while UCLA has won eight of its last nine to secure the top spot. Both teams have yet to lose a series this year.
The Bruins played in another highly ranked matchup earlier in the season, winning their series against Oregon State Beavers when the teams were ranked second and third in the nation, respectively.
Junior third baseman Ryan Kreidler said the key to UCLA’s success in these types of series is to treat them like any other and avoid distractions.
“We just want to come out on Friday and be ourselves,” Kreidler said. “That’s the big thing for us. We’re not really worried about any hype or anything. We know (Stanford) is a solid team, but we also know it’s just a Pac-12 road series.”
Last season, the Bruins won the series against the Cardinal for the second straight year. However, Stanford ultimately won the Pac-12 title with a 22-8 conference record.
This year, the Cardinal are once again atop the Pac-12 standings, going undefeated through their first six conference games.
“Stanford is a legitimate team,” said coach John Savage. “They had a really good team last year and a lot of those guys are older and more experienced now. It’s going to be a tremendous challenge for us.”
The series will also feature a matchup between two of the conference’s top pitching staffs. The Cardinal and the Bruins lead the Pac-12 in ERA, at 2.36 and 2.54, respectively.
“It will be fun to have a good pitchers’ battle,” said redshirt junior right-hander Jack Ralston. “These two teams that are playing are obviously two of the best teams in the country. So it will be a good series.”
Stanford’s 2.83 ERA last year was also the best mark in the conference – but its pitching staff surrendered 26 runs in the three-game series against UCLA. Junior second baseman Chase Strumpf led the charge for the Bruins’ offense, going 6-for-9 with a pair of homers en route to a series victory at home for UCLA.
Sophomore right-hander Zach Pettway will start Friday’s game and is the only starter with experience against the Cardinal. He was pulled in the third inning of his start last year, having allowed eight runs.
According to Savage, these games against top competition present a unique opportunity.
“It helps a lot to face competitive teams,” Savage said. “But you have to survive it. If you do that and come out of it, then you’re very well prepared.”
First pitch will be 6:05 p.m. on Friday, followed by 2:05 p.m. and 1:05 p.m. start times Saturday and Sunday, respectively.