Although the UCLA-USC rivalry is nearly a century old, at least one outfielder is excited.
“I’m looking forward to the rivalry,” said freshman Michael Toglia, the only out-of-state starter on the roster. “It’s new for me and I’m ready to go.”
UCLA baseball (21-20, 10-8 Pac-12) will get a chance to avenge its Dodger Stadium loss to USC (19-22, 6-12) with a three-game set against the Trojans that starts Thursday.
The Bruins saw Trojan Chris Clarke toss 5 2/3 innings in relief in that game. Clarke, the brother of Bruin redshirt sophomore Zander Clarke, has since found his way into the weekend rotation and will start Saturday.
“Zander, his brother, knows more than anyone about what he has,” said junior first baseman Sean Bouchard. “You can tell someone as much as you want, but just getting up there and having live at-bats off him is pretty unique and definitely an advantage.”
USC’s 5.33 team ERA ranks second to last in the Pac-12.
The Bruins currently sit in a tie for fourth in the conference standings, while the Trojans’ conference record has them in a three-way tie for last.
“With where we are in the Pac, we want to try to make up as much ground as we can,” Bouchard said. “Each game’s huge.”
With the Pac-12 race approaching its end, the Pac-12 Networks ended up rescheduling this series to air three games, despite the fact that UCLA played a Tuesday game.
“The Pac-12 got us on this Thursday deal,” Savage said. “I don’t know if you would schedule a Tuesday to Thursday if you knew. Originally this was a Tuesday, Friday. But, it is what it is.”
Savage mentioned he was concerned with the pitch count in Tuesday’s game, particularly with senior closer Scott Burke, who threw 20 pitches against San Diego State.
USC did not play a Tuesday game this week with the Trojans starting finals Wednesday.
But with all of the tidbits of information that may favor one team over the other, it’s still a rivalry game.
“I’ve done it a long time and I just know how those series go,” Savage said. “It’s UCLA and USC, you know, so it’s going to be very competitive. You can throw a lot of that stuff out.”