Baseball to hit road with undefeated streak and established pitching staff
Redshirt junior outfielder/designated hitter Jarron Silva drove in 3 RBIs in No. 10 UCLA baseball’s latest win over Pepperdine. Silva said he hopes the Bruins’ confidence from their eight-game winning streak will carry over into the weekend when they compete in Frisco, Texas.(Dhruv Singhania/Daily Bruin)
Sport
Oklahoma State
Friday, 1:00 p.m.
Frisco, Texas
UCLA Live Audio
No. 18 Texas A&M
Saturday, 4:00 p.m.
Frisco, Texas
UCLA Live Audio
Illinois
Sunday, 9:00 a.m.
Frisco, Texas
UCLA Live Audio
By Taiyo Keilin
Feb. 28, 2020 1:24 a.m.
The Bruins will take their undefeated record on the road.
After finishing its nine-game homestand without a loss, No. 10 UCLA baseball (8-0) will play its first road games of the season against Oklahoma State (7-2), No. 18 Texas A&M (10-0) and Illinois (3-3), in the Frisco College Classic this weekend in Frisco, Texas.
Coach John Savage said the Bruins’ starting pitching rotation will remain the same on the road trip, with junior right-hander Zach Pettway, sophomore right-hander Nick Nastrini and sophomore right-hander Jesse Bergin taking the mound in that order this weekend.
“A lot of our good teams (in the past) have kept their rotation throughout the entire year,” Savage said. “That’s a good sign of consistency, routine and guys knowing what their roles are. Our guys’ roles are very well-defined, and when they’re structured that way, they perform better.”
The four-man rotation of Pettway, Nastrini, Bergin and freshman right-hander Jared Karros has started each of the Bruins eight games thus far, leading a Bruins’ pitching staff whose .75 ERA and .69 WHIP both rank second in the country.
Karros – who picked up his second win of the season against Pepperdine on Wednesday – owns a 0.90 ERA in his first year at UCLA. Karros said the Bruins’ road trip will be a learning experience for the team.
“It’ll be cool to watch (Oklahoma State, Texas A&M and Illinois) and see how their style of play is,” Karros said. “We can learn from them. I’m not too sure what to expect from them, but I’m excited.”
The Bruins are 1-0 all-time against their first opponent of the classic, Oklahoma State, with their sole matchup coming as a 6-3 UCLA win at last year’s Dodger Stadium College Baseball Classic. Despite their success against the Cowboys, the Bruins own a 1-5 record against their other two opponents, including an 0-3 record against the Aggies.
Redshirt junior left fielder/designated hitter Jarron Silva said the Bruins will put past record behind them and focus on taking their success at home this season on the road with them.
“We have to carry over what we’ve been doing at home,” Silva said. “If we carry that over to Frisco, we’ll do just fine.”
Savage said the Bruins’ road stint will prepare the team for league play, which begins in two weeks with a series against Oregon at home.
“It’s good – we need this test before Oregon rolls in here, the first week of Pac-12 (play),” Savage said.
UCLA’s first game in the classic begins against Oklahoma State at 1 p.m. on Friday at Dr. Pepper Ballpark.
