On Tuesday night, UCLA baseball will face a player – and a team – that has undergone a transformation during the 2015 season.
The player is freshman Cameron Bishop. The team is UC Irvine.
The Anteaters (23-13, 10-2 Big West) have reinvented themselves since starting the season 0-6, winning 23 of 30 games and taking the lead in the Big West Conference.
Over that time period, Bishop has redeveloped in his own way. During UC Irvine’s 0-6 start, he played an inconsequential role, taking seven at bats and pitching a third of an inning. But ever since, the versatile freshman has emerged as both a starting outfielder/designated hitter and the team’s starting pitcher Tuesday – and an imposing one at that.
Bishop stands at 6-foot-5, 225 pounds, with a fastball that touches the mid-90s. He’s also a lefty – something the Bruins haven’t seen much of this season.
No. 3 UCLA has faced seven left-handed starters this year, five of which fit Bishop’s criteria: a left-handed pitcher with a sub-3.00 ERA. In those five games, the Bruins (28-8, 14-4 Pac-12) are 3-2 with a .223 batting average against the southpaw starters. In contrast, UCLA’s overall team batting average this year is .287.
The Bruins’ decreased batting average against strong left-handed starters may result from the fact that UCLA has a lineup dominated by left-handed hitters. The Bruins’ usual starting lineup has six left-handed bats, and the team’s top three run producers – junior left fielder Ty Moore, redshirt junior shortstop Kevin Kramer and senior third baseman Chris Keck – all bat from the left side.
In their last outing against a left-handed starter Saturday, the Bruins once again struggled to get things going offensively. Cal’s Matt Ladrech held UCLA scoreless through the first six innings, puzzling the Bruin batters with an array of pitches that never topped 88 miles per hour.
“(Ladrech) was able to mix pitches with his fastball, changeup and curveball,” Keck said. “We’d be expecting an outside pitch, and he’d jam us late inside. He definitely did a good job mixing pitches.”
The scouting report will be a bit different Tuesday night, as UCI’s Bishop relies more on power pitching and strikeouts than craftiness and ground outs. For the Bruins to win, a key may be to take pitches and run up Bishop’s pitch count, so he loses some velocity on his fastball.
“(Coach John Savage) kind of tells us to outlast the other teams,” Moore said. “If things aren’t going your way, you just gotta stay positive and keep battling. I mean, (Saturday’s) a good example.”
On Saturday, the Bruins overcame their initial struggles against Ladrech by protecting against the strikeout and putting the ball in play. With two outs in the eighth, four straight UCLA batters either made contact or walked. All four of those batters reached base, helping the Bruins score the two runs they needed for the victory.
“We touched the ball with two strikes – and good things happen when you don’t strike out,” Savage said.
Come Tuesday night, the task of making contact may be a bit more difficult, as Bishop leads the Anteaters with an average of 9.35 strikeouts per nine innings.