Bruins look to improve postseason prospects following Pac-12 title win
The No. 2 UCLA baseball team will face UC Irvine, the Bruins’ last non-conference opponent for the season. The UCI matchup will give UCLA one of its final chances to boost its NCAA RPI rankings and claim a stake as the No. 1 overall seed for the NCAA Tournament. (Owen Emerson/Daily Bruin)
Baseball
UC Irvine
Today, 6:30 p.m
Irvine
No TV info
By Matt Joye
May 19, 2015 12:52 a.m.
With less than a week left to play in the regular season, UCLA baseball and UC Irvine are going in opposite directions.
No. 2 UCLA (40-12, 21-6 Pac-12) is surging, fresh off a three-game sweep of Arizona which won the Bruins their first Pac-12 title since 2012.
UC Irvine, on the other hand, is sliding. The Anteaters (31-21, 13-8 Big West) are on a four-game losing streak that marks the team’s longest skid since starting the season 0-6.
When the two teams face off in Irvine on Tuesday evening, the one thing bringing them together will be a shared focus on three letters: RPI.
The Bruins, ranked No. 3 in RPI, need another win to remain in top contention for the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Anteaters, ranked No. 49 in RPI, are trying to earn a bid into the field of 64.
“Our Tuesday games are very, very important to us for RPI reasons, for strength of schedule, for taking care of business,” said UCLA coach John Savage earlier this season. “We’ve always built off our weeks with that Tuesday game.”
The game Tuesday night will present the Bruins with one of their last chances to boost their NCAA Tournament resume. It marks UCLA’s final nonconference game before its regular season-ending Pac-12 series at Oregon this weekend.
Other highly ranked teams, such as No. 1 Louisiana State University, No. 3 Louisville and No. 4 Texas Christian University, all have chances to boost their rankings at their respective conference tournaments this weekend. The Pac-12 holds no such conference tournament, meaning UCLA may not have as much of a national spotlight during its final push for a postseason ranking.
Griffin Canning injury update
Freshman starting pitcher Griffin Canning, who’s 7-1 with a 2.97 ERA, missed his second straight start on Sunday. Savage said Canning is still recovering from a back injury he sustained while the team was at Arizona State on the weekend of May 8 to 10.
“Saturday (May 9), that 17-inning game, he locked up, and hasn’t been able to really do anything since,” Savage said. “We’re hoping it’s a rehab deal, and it’s a week (off). But, yeah, it’s concerning.”
Savage said redshirt sophomore left-hander Hunter Virant will most likely take Canning’s place once again as UCLA’s starter this Sunday at Oregon. Virant went 4.2 innings against Arizona this past Sunday, yielding three hits, a walk and an earned run. His ERA on the year is 3.05 and he holds an 0-1 record.
Compiled by Matthew Joye, Bruin Sports senior staff. Contributing reports by Conor Cusack, Bruin Sports reporter.
