UCLA baseball will be put to test against Stanford ace

In its final regular season home game on Tuesday, the UCLA baseball team had a flashback reminder of what it takes to make it in the postseason.

After allowing the first two runners to reach base, UC Santa Barbara pitcher Justin Jacome began his pitching motion, lifting his right leg then quickly spinning back around and off the mound in a rarely effective pickoff attempt.

It worked – the Bruin base runner was caught in no man’s land, eventually tagged out between second and third. In the very same at bat only seconds later, the other runner was caught with the same move.

The baserunning mistakes left UCLA coach John Savage scratching his head afterward, reflecting back on the 2010 College World Series national championship.

“It was pretty ugly. I mean, to get inside-moved twice in the first inning brought back memories of the South Carolina game in Omaha, the one we got inside-moved on a similar play,” Savage said. “It’s disappointing. We didn’t have very good baserunning (Tuesday).”

While the Bruins (38-15, 20-7 Pac-12) were able to get away with those mistakes this time around, against a team not likely headed to the postseason, they will not have that same luxury when the postseason starts in a week.

In fact, No. 8 UCLA will need to avoid those kinds of errors in its three-game series with Stanford (30-21, 14-13), who will start one of the top pitchers in the country, Mark Appel, tonight. The Bruins are tied for second place in the conference standings, two games back with three to play.

Savage likened the Cardinal ace to a pair of former Bruin starters who were taken first and third overall in the 2011 draft.

“It’s like facing Gerrit Cole or Trevor Bauer. … It’s another tremendous challenge. He’s one of the best, if not the best, college pitchers in America,” Savage said. “We’re going to have to go through the best guys in the country the rest of the way (in the postseason) – if his name is not Appel, it’s somebody else so we’ll take it in stride.”

The Bruins will counter Appel with their own ace, junior pitcher Adam Plutko. UCLA has won each of Plutko’s last seven starts, setting up a marquee matchup. Junior shortstop Pat Valaika believes the Bruins will be up for the task, having faced strong pitching throughout the season.

“He’s an extremely hard-throwing righty … we have a little experience with that and I think we just have to battle him, get his pitch count up,” Valaika said about facing Appel. “He’s a great pitcher so we’re just going to have to be ourselves and do what we can.”

While there will be a battle of the starters, UCLA will also look to get the game into the later stages where it has been dominant. Sophomore closer David Berg, the new school record holder for saves in a season, has picked up the save in each of UCLA’s last four games.

“I’m getting a lot of opportunities right now. Guys are going out there playing excellent defense, we’re pitching well and the offense is doing enough to get us ahead, and I get to go out there and finish it off for us,” Berg said.