UCLA baseball to face USC in weekend Pac-10 series at Jackie Robinson Stadium

There will be fewer fans, but more on the line.

The baseball teams from UCLA and USC will meet this weekend for the first time since the two squared off in front of 14,588 at Dodger Stadium on Feb. 28. This time, the rival programs will meet for a three-game set at Jackie Robinson Stadium, with more than just city bragging rights hanging in the balance.

Including this weekend, the No. 11 Bruins (34-11, 10-8 Pac-10) have three more Pac-10 series. They are currently in a second-place tie with Stanford, four games behind conference front-runner Arizona State. A series with USC could be a prime opportunity for the Bruins to gain ground on the Sun Devils, as the Trojans (23-25, 5-13) are currently bringing up the rear in the conference race.

After playing five consecutive road games ““ in which they went 4-1 ““ UCLA will return home for the first time since being swept by Arizona State. Despite losing on Tuesday to UC Irvine, the squad should have plenty of confidence after taking three games from Washington in Seattle over the weekend.

UCLA will once again look to its pair of sophomore aces to start off the weekend on the right note. Right-handers Gerrit Cole and Trevor Bauer are two of the four Bruin starters with seven wins on the season, and they are first and second in the conference in strikeouts, respectively. Coach John Savage will likely continue to tinker with a lineup that has been dealing with minor bumps and bruises as of late, including those to key hitters Tyler Rahmatulla and Dean Espy, both of whom should play this weekend.

Meanwhile, USC has won six of its last eight games, including two out of three against Arizona in their most recent Pac-10 series two weekends ago. That was the first conference series victory of the year for the Trojans, who dropped a 6-1 decision to UCLA in the Dodgertown Classic game back in February.

Compiled by Ryan Eshoff, Bruin Sports senior staff.