UCLA baseball faces a change-up in format against Long Beach State

At the halfway point of the regular season, UCLA baseball will face a familiar opponent, but with an unfamiliar twist.

The Bruins will take on the Long Beach State Dirtbags (13-14) for the second time this year, but two of the three games – on Friday and Sunday – will be played on the road at Blair Field in Long Beach.

“It’s something we haven’t faced yet,” said sophomore outfielder Ty Moore. “Usually it’s all at our place or all at their place, but I think it will be an interesting thing to go through. Blair Field is always a tough place to play at, so we’ll see how we do on Friday.”

Despite the conventional thinking that it is more difficult to play on the road, it might be a blessing in disguise for No. 21 UCLA (17-10, 6-3 Pac-12). The team is an undefeated 8-0 away from Jackie Robinson Stadium this season but is under .500 (9-10) on its home turf.

However, one of those home victories came during spring break, as the Bruins edged out a 2-1 midweek victory over the very same Dirtbags.

“Now we have a better idea of what they’re going to try to do to us,” said senior outfielder Brian Carroll. “But we still got to play the game, we still got to play our game.”

Per the norm, playing their game will involve relying heavily on a pitching staff that is eighth nationally with a 6.73 hits allowed per nine innings, 10th with a 3.08 strikeout-to-walk ratio and fifth with 1.01 WHIP (walks plus hits per innings pitched).

The pitching staff will be looking to bounce back this weekend after a series loss to Arizona State last weekend, in which UCLA pitchers had an earned run average of 4.18, nearly a run and a half higher than their season average of 2.70.

“Just play our game. That’s the way we’re going to get the best outcome and get things to come out our way,” said sophomore starting pitcher Cody Poteet, who owns a 2-1 record and a 3.35 ERA. “Stay in control of ourselves and play the game we know how to and do what we’re taught.”

With that in mind, sophomore starting pitcher James Kaprielian (4-3, 2.98 ERA) is focusing on getting ahead early in the count, retiring the Dirtbags’ leadoff hitter every inning and shutting down their momentum.

“(I want to) stay out on the field for as short as possible and in the dugout for as long as possible,” Kaprielian said. “That way we get the bats going … and keep the momentum on our side as much as we can.”

With a 5-3 victory over Loyola Marymount University on Tuesday night, UCLA was already able to recapture some of that momentum back on its side going into the weekend series.

“It’s always a good thing to start off the week right and get that Tuesday win,” Poteet said. “It gets us set for our Thursday practice to get back after it. It just sets the tone for the weekend.”