For the second week in a row, the Bruins are trying something new on the mound.
No. 1 UCLA baseball (31-7, 11-4 Pac-12) will host unranked Utah (12-22, 4-14) in its last home series for three weeks. Junior right-hander Ryan Garcia will get the start Friday as sophomore right-hander Zach Pettway – who has started all 9 series-openers for the Bruins – is out with a flexor strain.
Redshirt junior right-hander Jack Ralston will slide back into the role as No. 2 starter after a one-week hiatus, while coach John Savage has not announced his Sunday starter yet.
Pettway owned a 2.66 ERA with 49 strikeouts and two home runs allowed through his first six starts. In his last four appearances, he has allowed five home runs and struck out just 11 batters en route to a 7.94 ERA over that time period.
Garcia suffered from flexor inflammation during the preseason, delaying his season debut until March 9. The righty’s ERA has never tipped above 2.35 this season, and it currently sits at 1.35. Garcia – who was projected to be UCLA’s Friday starter before the season started – was the team’s Sunday guy upon his return until he moved up a spot in the rotation for the Cal series.
Garcia punched out eight-plus batters in five of his six starts with about 12.4 strikeouts per nine innings on the season.
As a whole, the Bruins own a Pac-12-best 2.71 ERA, while the Utes’ mark of 5.90 ranks ninth in the conference.
Utah has also yet to announce its Sunday starter, but left-handers Riley Pierce and Joshua Tedeschi are locked in to take the mound Friday and Saturday, respectively. Pierce is 1-5 with a 6.08 ERA, while Tedeschi is 5-3 with a 5.50 ERA.
The Bruins have been D1Baseball’s No. 1 team in the country for a program-record six weeks, but have also managed to fight their way to the top of the RPI.
UCLA has the highest strength of schedule this season as well, with just six of its 38 games so far coming against schools ranked outside the top 100 for RPI – boasting a 5-1 record in those matchups. Utah ranks No. 125 in the RPI and is an imperfect 0-7 against top-25 teams.
UCLA swallowed an upset loss against then-No. 64 Cal last Friday, but the Bruins have won their last seven matchups with the Utes with a six-run average margin of victory.
The UCLA-Utah series this weekend marks the second-to-last home series for the Bruins this year, with 11 of their final 15 games coming on the road. However, the Bruins’ top rank puts them in line to host both the NCAA regionals and super regionals come June.
First pitch on Friday will be at 6 p.m., with 2 p.m. and 1 p.m. start times on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.