Baseball readies to overcome Waves en route to extending win streak
Top-ranked UCLA baseball will play 11 of its final 15 regular season games on the road after going 11-1 at home over in the month of April. During the Bruins’ recent homestand, coach John Savage recorded his 600th win as a collegiate head coach in an April 12 victory over ECU. (Alice Naland/Daily Bruin)
Baseball
Pepperdine
Tuesday, 3 p.m.
Malibu, California
theW.TV
By Zack Venable
April 30, 2019 12:23 a.m.
The Bruins’ final stretch of the season will, for the most part, be on the road.
No. 1 UCLA baseball (34-7, 14-4 Pac-12) will head to Malibu, California, to face Pepperdine (19-17, 10-8 West Coast Conference) on Tuesday. After playing 11 of their last 12 games at Jackie Robinson Stadium, UCLA will leave town for 11 of their final 15 contests.
Coach John Savage said next month presents necessary challenges for the team after winning 13 of its last 14 games.
“The month of May is going to be hard,” Savage said. “We’re going be tested on the road and we need to be tested, but we did finish the homestead really strong.”
The upcoming road games are highlighted by a three-game series at No. 22 Arizona State this weekend, but Pepperdine presents the first hurdle for the Bruins.
The two programs have already met once this season, with the Bruins coming back from a two-run deficit in the seventh to win 3-2 at home April 15.
Freshman right-hander Jesse Bergin said the Waves are a difficult team to put away.
“Pepperdine is a scrappy team when we’re going at them,” Bergin said. “But it’s nothing that we can’t handle.”
Pepperdine currently sits at sixth in the West Coast Conference and are coming off a series win against Loyola Marymount.
The Bruins are 10-3 against the Waves over the past decade and are riding a five-game winning streak after sweeping the Utes over the weekend.
Sophomore right fielder Garrett Mitchell said the sweep gives the Bruins momentum, but they have to stay true to their game.
“It’s good momentum for us as a team, but we just have to keep working,” Mitchell said. “We’ve got to go to Pepperdine and play some Bruin baseball.”
Bergin has started the last five midweek games, but the freshman was moved up to the Sunday role with sophomore right-hander Zach Pettway currently out with a forearm strain.
Freshman right-hander Sean Mullen will make his first career start Tuesday, having only thrown 3 1/3 innings of relief in three appearances this season. He allowed four hits and three walks but has yet to give up an earned run.
The Bruins’ pitching staff boasts a 2.64 ERA, ranked first in the country. The bullpen’s back-end trio of right-handers – redshirt senior Nathan Hadley, junior Kyle Mora and sophomore Holden Powell – combine for a 2.40 ERA.
Powell is tied for fourth nationally with 12 saves and hasn’t allowed an earned run over his last 15 appearances.
First pitch will be Tuesday at 3 p.m. at Eddy D. Field Stadium.
