Ace makes postinjury debut in baseball’s victory against Stanford

Coach John Savage made a surprising decision Sunday, calling upon the masked man in the biggest game of the season to date.

Jon Olsen wasn’t expected to return this weekend from facial fractures suffered last month; however, the junior ace came out wearing a protective, clear mask to start for No. 21 UCLA baseball (19-8, 8-4 Pac-12). He led the Bruins to a 7-2 victory and a series win over No. 2 Stanford (23-5, 6-3) at Jackie Robinson Stadium.

On March 11 against USC, Olsen was hit in the face with an errant line drive in the first inning, fracturing several bones, causing him to be rushed to the hospital and sitting him out for several weeks.

“I couldn’t really do anything for two weeks. I lost quite a bit of weight and put it back on now,” Olsen said. “I had some jaw issues and couldn’t really eat too much. I just had to ramp it up pretty quick once (I was) cleared.”

Savage originally considered Olsen to be the Friday ace before the start of the season, but opted to start him Saturdays. In the four games he played, including the USC game, the right-hander posted a 2.08 ERA with five runs allowed in 21 2/3 innings pitched.

Olsen pitched the first three innings in a rubber match against conference-leading Stanford, allowing two runs on two hits while striking out five.

“That was super exciting, seeing him back out there. It was really encouraging to see him get back out on the field after getting hit in the face only a month ago,” said freshman center fielder Garrett Mitchell. “That was definitely a motivator for us today. It got us going offensively.”

It was a pivotal game for improving RPI and climbing back to the top of the Pac-12 standings for UCLA, which progressed from fourth place to first with the win. Prior to the series, UCLA had played one team in the top-25 RPI – a loss to No. 24 Vanderbilt. Stanford was ranked No. 1 in RPI with a top-10 strength of schedule, while UCLA was ranked No. 30 and No. 96, respectively.

Stanford struck first in the opening frame with a two-run homer off Olsen, continuing its form after hitting four home runs Saturday. However, the Cardinal were held to just four hits the rest of the game.

Sophomore pitcher Ryan Garcia relieved Olsen for his 10th appearance of the season, throwing four shutout frames, allowing two hits and striking out seven. It was the most strikeouts recorded in a sub-five-inning outing by a Bruin this season.

“That was really gutsy by Garcia today,” Olsen said. “He already pitched Friday too, so that was huge.”

The Bruins threw 13 strikeouts on the day, tying the season high of UCLA’s pitching staff and Stanford’s offense.

Sophomore second baseman Chase Strumpf answered in the bottom of the third, hitting his fifth homer of the season. The Bruin bats tied the game in the third on a passed ball and took a two-run lead on a two-RBI single from sophomore designated hitter Jack Stronach.

Mitchell replaced junior Daniel Amaral in center field, who split his finger open in Friday’s game, causing him to sit out at least a week. Mitchell was the benefactor of UCLA’s next three runs, knocking a two-out, two-RBI single to left field in the third inning and another RBI single in the fifth.

The Bruins put up 26 runs over the weekend against a team with the second-best ERA in the nation.

“It was super encouraging,” Mitchell said. “Coming in against Stanford we were super confident and we knew as long as we got past those starting pitchers, if we got into that bullpen, it was going to be game over.”

The performance came a week after a series loss to California in which UCLA scored just nine total runs.

“We came back from Cal with the thought of being a different team,” Savage said. “I made that pretty clear after that loss that if we’re going to go anywhere we need to play completely different. We need to be a different club.”

UCLA will have all its starting pitchers available for the first time in more than a month heading into the week. Redshirt sophomore Kyle Molnar, who hasn’t played since his freshman year, is also expected to pitch against Utah next weekend.

Savage has taken the adversity caused by the injuries as beneficial, seeing his pitching depth become more experienced and serviceable.

“We’ve gone pretty deep into the roster. Some guys that maybe weren’t going to pitch as much as we thought have pitched a lot and pitched pretty well,” Savage said. “All of a sudden everybody on a staff can pitch effectively at the Pac-12 level. It changes everything because this league is such a dogfight.”

UCLA will travel to Long Beach State on Tuesday. Redshirt sophomore Jack Ralston will throw the first pitch at 6 p.m.