When the UCLA baseball team begins its series against Stanford on Friday at 7 p.m. at Sunken Diamond, two very different pitching staffs will collide.
The Cardinal structures its pitching staff on a by-committee basis, with 11 different pitchers logging more than 15 innings and only its main starter, sophomore right-handed pitcher Brett Hanewich, eclipsing 40 innings.
By comparison, only seven Bruin pitchers have more than 15 innings pitched, and six of them boast upward of 30.
The vast disparities between the two staffs are partly a result of coach John Savage’s philosophy of maintaining each pitcher’s role despite the state of the game. For example, in UCLA’s 15-8 win over UC Irvine on Tuesday night, senior closer David Berg pitched the ninth inning despite having a seven-run lead.
Savage said it’s important to establish clear roles for each pitcher, and so far it’s worked: Each pitcher knows his role and is prepared for each game, regardless of the score.
While junior catcher Darrell Miller Jr. might not have to handle as many arms as Stanford’s catcher does, it is his first year as a starting catcher, and so he has had to quickly learn a seasoned staff. He said it’s been a process and he’s still learning, but it helps that all the pitchers know themselves well and thus are effective at making the most of each pitch.
“The bullpen and our starters have done a great job pitching to their strengths and staying away from weaknesses, (as well as) working on their weaknesses to make them more of a strength,” Miller Jr. said.
The vast number of options that the Cardinal has on the mound, the Bruins have at the plate. Against UC Irvine, the lineup showed that it could still put up runs without a handful of its starters.
Savage said he was impressed with backups freshman second baseman Nick Valaika, redshirt junior catcher Justin Hazard and sophomore outfielder/designated hitter Brett Stephens, who is making his way back from a thumb injury.
“(The depth) shows well for us, (and) it shows well for those guys certainly,” said redshirt junior outfielder Christoph Bono. “We know that guys are putting in the work they need to in practice, whether they’re in the game every night or not.”
Both sophomore outfielder Kort Peterson and Bono said that the coaching staff’s recent emphasis on keeping a middle-opposite field approach every at-bat has helped hitters up and down the lineup. That approach will be key for UCLA (29-8, 14-4 Pac-12) against Stanford (17-21, 4-11) because they will likely face many different arms without being able to see the same pitcher multiple times in a game.