This weekend, #8 Stanford baseball will welcome UCLA to Sunken Diamond. Game one will be on Friday at 7:00 PM PT on ESPNU and KZSU radio. Game two will be on Saturday at 2:05 PM PT On Stanford Live Stream and KZSU radio. Game three will be on Sunday at 1:05 PM PT on Stanford Live Stream and KZSU radio. Stanford comes in at 26-12 overall and 13-5 in the Pac-12 while UCLA comes in at 23-13-1 overall and 9-7-1 in the Pac-12.
Probable pitchers: On Friday, the matchup will be Stanford senior left-handed pitcher Quinn Mathews (4-3, 2.60 ERA, 86K) vs. UCLA junior right-handed pitcher Jake Brooks (5-3, 4.42 ERA, 55K).
On Saturday, the matchup will be Stanford freshman right-handed pitcher Matt Scott (5-2, 3.53 ERA, 46K) vs. UCLA redshirt junior right-handed pitcher Kelly Austin (3-2, 2.49 ERA, 58K).
On Sunday, the matchup will be Stanford junior right-handed pitcher Joey Dixon (3-0, 4.91 ERA, 52K) vs. UCLA sophomore left-handed pitcher Ethan Flanagan (1-1, 3.97 ERA), 12K).
Last time out: On Tuesday, Stanford had a 6-5 walk-off win over Cal at Sunken Diamond. Jake Sapien had the game-winning RBI.
RECAP: #8 Stanford BSB walks off to beat Cal on Tuesday
On UCLA: The Bruins have had a strong season overall, though they are currently not ranked in the Top 25. They’ve done well in the non-conference, but in conference play it’s been a bit more up and down for them. Most recently, they lost two out of three games at USC before bouncing back with a 7-1 win on Tuesday at LMU.
The top contact hitter on this Bruins team is junior infielder Kyle Karros, who is batting .330 for five home runs, 29 RBIs, a .530 slugging percentage, and a .409 on base percentage. The top power hitter for the Bruins is sophomore infielder Duce Gourson, who is batting .295 for eight home runs, 35 RBIs, a .525 slugging percentage, and a .431 on base percentage. Junior outfielder JonJon Vaughns also has eight home runs on the season, batting .231 for 26 RBIs, a .463 slugging percentage, and a .375 on base percentage.
As a team, the Bruins are batting .261 for 41 home runs and 219 RBIs while their opponents are batting .245 for 26 home runs and 144 RBIs. On the mound, the Bruins have a 3.57 ERA while their opponents have a 5.88 ERA.
Keys to the series: For Stanford, the first thing they need to do is give Quinn Mathews run support on Friday and carry that into the rest of the series. With his 2.60 ERA, he should have a 6-1 record instead of a 4-3 record. Mathews is one of the top starting pitchers in the country right now and Stanford needs to start giving him the run support that he deserves.
The second thing Stanford needs to do is keep finding different heroes. On Tuesday it was Jake Sapien, other times it has been Cole Hinkelman or Temo Becerra. Stanford has a deep bench with a lot of different guys who are capable of having big moments. That needs to continue this weekend against a very good UCLA team.
Finally, Stanford needs their bullpen to pitch well. The bullpen has been shaky at times this year, but as of late, they seem to be turning the corner. It would be huge if the bullpen came through this weekend. Especially if the hitting gets off to a slow start.
Prediction: I got Stanford taking two out of three games. I think they’ll win the series, but I have a hard time seeing a sweep. A series win is all Stanford needs, but a sweep would be amazing.
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