The Bruins have the chance to sweep the Matadors for the first time in four years.
No. 1 UCLA baseball (20-5, 7-2 Pac-12) will host CSUN (12-16, 0-3 Big West) on Tuesday at Jackie Robinson Stadium after playing the Matadors once already this season. The Bruins earned a 4-3 win Feb. 26, their first victory in Northridge since 2015.
The two programs have split the season series 1-1 in each of the past two years, with every win at each team’s respective home field. The Matadors won both games in 2016, a year after the Bruins did the same in 2015.
UCLA is coming off a series win against crosstown rival USC in which it defeated the Trojans 7-1 and 9-2 after suffering a 7-2 loss Friday.
“I was disappointed with how we played on Friday, but we did respond Saturday and we responded (Sunday),” said coach John Savage after the game Sunday. “We did what we needed to do after getting beat on Friday by coming back out and winning the series.”
CSUN was swept by Cal Poly over the weekend, getting outscored 9-4 in its conference season-opening series. The Matadors are 7-12 since playing the Bruins earlier this year, compared to UCLA’s 13-4 record.
Savage said CSUN is better than its record suggests and views the midweek game as a chance for his team to improve.
“They have a good RPI (and) they have played a very tough schedule,” Savage said. “It will provide a good opportunity for us (and) a good challenge.”
The Bruins’ pitching staff is highly ranked in multiple categories across Division 1, including No. 2 in hits per nine innings, No. 4 in ERA and No. 4 in WHIP.
Redshirt junior right-hander Jack Ralston – who fell one out short of completing his first career complete game shutout Saturday – was one of many Bruins to improve these metrics over the weekend.
However, Ralston said they have yet to reach their potential, despite their elevated ranks.
“The pitching staff can improve upon continuing to be ourselves,” Ralston said. “Just going out there, picking each other up and pitching to the best of our abilities no matter what the outcomes are.”
Redshirt sophomore outfielder Jarron Silva similarly said the Bruins’ mindset is to continually outperform themselves.
“We can go and get better each and every day,” Silva said. “At the end of (the) year, we should be able to beat our own team in February.”
First pitch will be at 6 p.m. on Tuesday.