By Nick Taylor
Daily Bruin Contributor
All season long, the UCLA baseball team has raised its intensity
for the all-important weekend conference matchups.
This weekend will be the biggest yet.
The Bruins (28-21, 11-4 Pac-10) host the California Golden Bears
(24-25, 10-11) for three critical conference games this weekend.
It’s another must-sweep series for the Bruins, who remain a
half-game behind Stanford in the Pac-10 standings.
“The Cal series is the biggest of the year ““
we’ve got to sweep it,” second baseman Chase Utley
said.
But California is not Washington State, which the Bruins crushed
last week. Case in point, the Bears nearly took two of three from
Stanford last weekend.
“They’ve beat some good teams this year,”
rightfielder Nick Lyon said. “(Xavier) Nady, (Mike) Tonis
““ they can change the game with one swing. If we hold them,
we should win.”
Nady and Tonis, two of the best hitters in the conference, pace
the Golden Bear lineup. Nady’s 18 homers rank second in the
Pac-10, and his 54 RBIs rank fifth. Tonis has 12 homers and 42
RBIs.
“They’re good players,” Utley said, “but
if we hit well, we’ll win the games.”
With the exception of two midweek games last week, UCLA has had
no problem scoring runs this season. They scored 41 runs in three
games against Washington State.
Cal’s pitchers, however, should provide a tougher
challenge. Starting pitchers Brad Steele, Trevor Hutchinson and Jon
Shirley have the Bruins’ respect, even though their ERAs each
hover around five.
“I’ve seen Shirley pitch since high school.
He’s a solid pitcher. He’ll be a test,”
designated hitter Matt Pearl said. “They have one lefty
suiting up, but they’re really a righthanded pitching
team.”
The UCLA lineup, however, is predominantly righthanded, so
Cal’s pitching staff shouldn’t have too many matchup
problems.
On the other side of the mound, the Bruins will start their
familiar three ““ Rob Henkel, Josh Karp and Bobby Roe.
After his success earlier in the year, Henkel has slowed of
late, going only four and two-thirds and six innings, respectively,
in his last two starts. Fueled by the emotion of a big series,
Henkel should be fired up on Friday.
Karp, on the other hand, is already on fire. He’s won five
starts in a row, raised his record to 7-1 and lowered his ERA to
3.45.
As the third starter, Roe keeps plugging away, earning his sixth
victory last weekend.
“Henkel, Karp, Roe: if they’re on, they can
dominate,” Lyon said.
The pressure is on UCLA this weekend. It has nine conference
games left, including the last weekend of the year at Stanford. It
goes without saying that the Bruins must win to keep pace with the
Cardinal, which plays Oregon State ““ a team the Bruins swept
earlier this year.
“There’s definitely some pressure, but it’s
good pressure,” Pearl said. “I’m itching to play.
We have to win these games, and we’re pumped up to
play.”
After what the team described as an “emotionless”
midweek loss to Pepperdine Tuesday, 7-6, the Bruins hope to turn
their emotion on for Cal. And UCLA will find out Friday if they can
keep this Jekyll and Hyde performance going.