UCLA baseball to confront Cal Poly for its first road series since pandemic

The Bruins have slept in their own beds after each of their first 12 games this season, but that will not be the case this weekend.

No. 6 UCLA baseball (9-3) will go out on its first road trip of the season, taking on Cal Poly (6-4) in San Luis Obispo starting Friday night. The three-game set will be the Bruins’ first road series of 2021 and their first road series in a world governed by COVID-19.

“Everything’s different with COVID; nothing’s completely the same,” said junior right-hander Sean Mullen. “There will be some differences – we’ll drive two busses, which kind of separates us a little bit – but there’s never been a good team that hasn’t been good on the road.”

UCLA played its second road game of the year Tuesday night – a 6-2 victory over Cal State Fullerton – something coach John Savage said was a purposeful scheduling choice to get his team prepared for the Cal Poly road trip.

“We wanted to go on the road the Tuesday before going out of town, and I think our guys had a good mindset,” Savage said. “They build off that road identity that they’re obviously trying to create and build and take that into the weekend a little bit.”

Two of the Bruins’ three losses this season have come at Jackie Robinson Stadium, both of which came in the first series of the season. Tuesday’s win over the Titans was the Bruins’ first road win of the young season, improving their limited road record over the past two years to 2-2.

Redshirt sophomore designated hitter JT Schwartz has now started and appeared in 17 career games for UCLA, with all but three of those games taking place at home. Schwartz said this year’s team has made a point of preparing for road series regardless of how the coronavirus pandemic can affect hostile environments.

“Baseball’s still the same game, whether or not there’s fans in the stands,” Schwartz said. “We have a pretty mature group of guys that can handle pretty much anything, so I think just focusing on the baseball part of it and understanding it’s a business trip … is kind of the main focus.”

Senior right-hander Zach Pettway will be making his first road appearance since April 5, 2019, when he takes the mound Friday in San Luis Obispo. Pettway is 3-4 with a 3.93 ERA on the road in his career, compared to his 10-2 record and 3.29 ERA in home and neutral site games.

Still, Savage said he trusts Pettway to round into form as the season moves along, considering the righty missed his first two starts with an injury he sustained in the offseason.

After Pettway in the rotation will be junior right-handers Jesse Bergin and Nick Nastrini, who both sport sub-2.00 ERAs through their first three starts.

“It’s just nice to have some quality starters that we can go to,” Savage said. “They can pitch at really any time, anywhere, and they’re doing a pretty good job at that.”

The trio of Bruins will be tasked with limiting a Mustang offense that has scored at least five runs in seven of its 10 games this season. Cal Poly averaged 5.7 runs per game in its series win over USC and topped out at 17 runs against Utah Valley on March 5.

Game one of the series will start at 6 p.m. on Friday, with games two and three getting underway at 6 p.m. on Saturday and 1 p.m. on Sunday, respectively.