Gerrit Cole was the Bruins’ ace the last time they faced the Cornhuskers.

The right-hander – just months away from being selected first overall in the 2011 MLB Draft – took a perfect game into the seventh and finished the series opener with nine shutout innings and eight strikeouts in UCLA’s 1-0 extra-innings victory.

Fourteen years later, UCLA baseball (13-4, 2-1 Big Ten) will host Nebraska (7-8, 1-2) in its inaugural Big Ten home series at Jackie Robinson Stadium, beginning Friday and continuing into Saturday and Sunday.

“We’re right at the start of it,” said coach John Savage. “Two big wins at Maryland and that was a good way to start the Big Ten. Nebraska’s going to be very competitive and a tremendous challenge for us.”

The Huskers are coming off a 2024 NCAA regional appearance and were ranked No. 23 in the nation by D1Baseball’s Feb. 17 rankings before falling outside the top 25 after loses to Grand Canyon and Louisiana. Additionally, Nebraska was picked to finish second – two spots ahead of UCLA – in the Big Ten by the conference’s 17 head coaches in a preseason poll. In its last weekend series, Nebraska fell 2-1 to Washington.

The Bruins head into Friday having won six of their last seven games, most recently defeating UC Irvine on Tuesday, largely thanks to homers from sophomore first baseman Mulivai Levu and redshirt sophomore center fielder Payton Brennan.

Levu leads the Bruins with seven big flies this season and is slashing .314/.375/.643 through 17 games – only behind sophomore shortstop Roch Cholowsky for the team lead in OPS.

“We’re on a good streak right now,” Levu said. “The important thing is to stay focused on Nebraska – another good team, another Big Ten opponent.”

Following in Cole’s footsteps, Cody Delvecchio will get the start Friday. However, the junior right-hander has yet to prove himself as a reliable front-of-the-rotation arm – instead posting a 9.18 ERA and 1.62 WHIP across four starts.

After Huskers’ ace right-hander Mason McConnaughey suffered a season-ending arm injury Feb. 28, right-hander Ty Horn slid into the No. 1 slot – pitching game one against the Huskies last weekend. However, Horn – who is 0-2 with a 7.71 ERA this season – gave up seven earned across four innings and will move back into his Saturday role.

Instead, veteran southpaw Will Walsh will take the bump Friday. Walsh has appeared as a Saturday starter, Sunday starter and as a reliever for Nebraska this season, posting a 2-2 record and 2.70 ERA across 20 innings pitched. He has previously served as a two-way player for the Huskers, slugging seven homers in 80 career plate appearances, but has yet to step into the batters’ box this season.

Meanwhile, Ian May has been bumped from the weekend rotation, Savage said, last appearing out of the bullpen Tuesday. In his last start, the redshirt junior left-hander failed to make it out of the third inning and was charged with five earned runs – currently posting a 5.50 ERA this season.

Michael Barnett – who has appeared exclusively in relief this season – will take the bump Saturday. The junior right-hander served as the Saturday starter for the majority of last season, leading the team with five wins and finishing second with 79 innings pitched despite a 5.47 ERA.

Sophomore right-hander Landon Stump – who leads the weekend rotation with a 4.08 ERA – will make the start Sunday, Savage said. The Bruins have won all four of Stump’s starts this season.

Infielder Devin Nunez leads the Huskers with a .395/.439/.632 slash line – and went 3-for-5 with five RBIs Tuesday against Wichita State – but has seen just 41 plate appearances in his freshman campaign. Center fielder Cayden Brumbaugh, meanwhile, is slashing .333/.409/.524 through 71 plate appearances.

Bruin Justin Lee has assumed a back end of the bullpen role this season. The sophomore right-hander has appeared a team-leading nine times – all in the seventh inning or later – posting a 1.08 ERA through 8.1 innings.

“We belong in the Big Ten,” said Lee. “We’re definitely one of the top teams in the country, and I think we’ve shown that so far.”