UCLA Rolls Over Oral Roberts Yet Again To Extend Perfect Start
by Ryan Rosenblatt on Mar 21, 2010 8:28 PM PDT
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It's been 31 days since UCLA kicked off their 2010 baseball season. In that span, the Bruins haven't lost and they made sure that streak continued today by pounding Oral Roberts, 9-1, in the final game of their three-game series. After outscoring the Golden Eagles 41-7 for the weekend, the Bruins hold a perfect 16-0 record on the season and remain in a class of two with Arizona St. as the nation's only undefeated teams.
The offense continued to put up big numbers, but the pitching was strong once again. This time, it was Rob Rasmussen who turned in an excellent start. The junior ran his record to 2-0 by limiting Oral Roberts to one run on two hits while striking out eight in his 5.2 innings of work.
Like the team is streaking, Blair Dunlap is too. The senior went 1-3 to extend his hit streak to 11 games and he had a home run, RBI and three runs scored on the game. Justin Uribe was strong yet again, going 3-4 with three RBI in the contest to boost his batting average to .417 on the season.
It took Dunlap all of two pitches to get things going in the first inning for the Bruins by turning on a pitch and smacking it high off the trees beyond the left field fence for his third home run of the year.
The Bruins waited three more innings to get back on the board and they did so with some help from the Golden Eagles. Brett Krill lined a one-out double to center and when Steve Rodriguez hit a ground ball that was booted by the ORU second baseman, Krill came around to score. Niko Gallego was hit by a pitch and then Cody Regis roped a line drive over the center fielder's head for a double scoring one. With a 3-0 advantage, the Bruins loaded the bases on an intentional walk and then added to the lead when Chris Giovinazzo walked to push a run across. Tyler Rahmatulla came up just short of a grand slam to center, but the ball was caught on the warning track for a sacrifice fly. The scoring in the inning came to a close when Uribe singled to score one more for a 6-0 lead.
After his streak of 17 straight batters retired came to an end in the sixth, Rasmussen walked on and allowed a single, bringing an end to his day. Erik Goeddel came in to relieve him and walked the first two batters he faced to force a run in, but that was it and the Bruins took a 6-1 lead to the bottom of the sixth.
In the bottom half of the inning, the Bruins loaded the bases with just one out and Uribe came through with a high chopper over the first baseman's head for a single to right, scoring two runs. Cody Keefer came to the plate and rolled one to first. The Golden Eagles tried to turn two, but Keefer beat out the throw back to first and another run came across to score for a 9-1 UCLA lead.
Goeddel got two outs in the seventh before Matt Grace relieved him to get the final out of the inning. Grace also threw a perfect eighth inning before Dan Klein came in with a scoreless ninth to put a ribbon on the game.
The Bruins will put their perfect record on the line next when they take on UC Santa Barbara on the road this Tuesday. Garett Claypool (1-0, 2.30 ERA) will be on the mound for UCLA as they go for win number 17.
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This is becoming relivant
With the men’s basketball team out of the NCAA tournament this year the winning streak to start the season is magnified 10 fold.
Ryan, can you some up how unusual and amazing 16-0 is for UCLA baseball? I know that UCLA is the ‘Home of Champions’ but it’s never been a major player in baseball. I remember the Bruins got flattened at the C.W.S. a few years ago. How does this team compare to that one?
You can't really compare the '97 team and this year's
because the teams were so different and the college game was different then. In ’97, there were no real regulations on bats and teams were regularly scoring a dozen runs a game and it was all offense. Our team then fit in very well because we had mashers up and down the lineup who put up huge numbers game in and game out.
This year, our strength is obviously pitching even with our offense doing a great job. We pitch and we pitch and then we toss in some more pitching. Because of that, it’s difficult to compare the two, but because good pitching usually beats good hitting, this year’s team is probably in a better position to succeed than the ’97 team.
As for how unusual and amazing the 16-0 start is? It’s so unusual that it’s never happened before at UCLA. Not only is 16-0 the best start in school history, but no UCLA team has ever won 16 straight games. This start is unprecedented at UCLA and as evidenced by us joining Arizona St. as the only undefeated teams left in the country, it’s a pretty phenomenal start regardless of what school and its history. ASU fans are going nuts over their 20-0 start and if an undefeated start a month+ into a season can get a baseball powerhouse excited, it’s damn amazing and we’re undefeated as well.
For everything UCLA baseball, visit my UCLA baseball twitter.
by Ryan Rosenblatt on Mar 21, 2010 4:57 PM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
Comparison with 97 team
After 16 games the 97 team was 14-1-1 in non conference. (The tie was a game at CSUN where they ran out of daylight.. I remember Troy Glaus being annoyed that Bruins let the win slip away.)
The 97 team was much more about power hitters. This team has some power, but it is more about getting guys on base, and manufacturing runs than just hitting home runs. The 97 team had 176 runs through its first 16 games. This years team has 144 runs. The question is whether the current team will be able to continue that pace once the Pac-10 season starts and the opposing pitching imporoves.
The 97 team had some good pitchers (The weekend starters, Parque, Jacquez and Zamora were all Juniors and all pitched in the majors or AAA for extended time.) However, the 97 team did not have the depth of relief pitchers that this team has. The result is that you have more consistent pitching every game (hence the 2.00 era) which means that even in the games where the Bruins “only” score 5 runs they still win. Through the first 16 games the 97 team had given up 72 runs versus the present team which has only allowed 37 runs. Even allowing for the restrictions on aluminum bats that is a big improvement.
While I would agree that in the Major Leagues you can win with pitching, Its hard to win in college baseball with pitching because in the playoffs you have to play a large number of games in a short period of time so unless you go undefeated, you are going to have to start someone other than your weekend starters during the regionals or the CWS. With most good pitchers leaving at the end of their junior year, its really hard to get more than 2-3 good starters and a closer. In contrast if you have good hitters you can use them every game. (Skip Bertman of LSU said that was why he tried to win with hitting rather than pitching.)That being said UCLA has an unusual amount of quality pitchers this year, which combined with an offense that has shown the ability to score and manufacture runs might be the formula to get this team to the promised land in Omaha. However, as Ryan has pointed out we will know more in April
The college game has been led by pitching for a decade now
Skip Bertman coached back in the gorilla ball 90’s and ran through the College World Series with offense, but the rules have changed and the game has gone back towards pitching.
Last year’s LSU team was the first national champion to be considered a hitting team in years and even they said the key to their title was deep pitching. The ‘08 Fresno team you can’t categorize because they were a freaky team, but the ‘07 and ’06 Oregon St. teams were built on pitching and defense. The same goes double for the ’05 Texas national title team, the ’04 Fullerton team and the ’03 Rice team. The game is about pitching and defense and the large number of games in a short period of time in the postseason is why the teams with quality pitching have separated themselves from those who don’t.
For everything UCLA baseball, visit my UCLA baseball twitter.
by Ryan Rosenblatt on Mar 21, 2010 9:13 PM PDT up reply actions
I am looking at the team stats for all of 2009 ,, ,
and I don’t see a huge rennaissance for pitching staffs last year. Last year,college baseball Division I teams hit the fifth highest batting average in the last 40 years.down only .004 from the record mark of .306 in 1998. Last year teams averaged 6.88 runs a game which was the fourth highest in the last 40 years, (not exactly a return to the dead ball era) and was down only 3.3% from 1998 which was the high water mark for runs scored,
by Michael6636 on Mar 21, 2010 10:44 PM PDT up reply actions
That's largely a result of a widening gap between the haves and the have nots
The good teams really beat up on the poor teams now and it results in higher total runs. If you want evidence that good pitching is the way to go, even last year ina high scoring year. The top four teams nationally in ERA all made it to the College World Series and two other teams that went to Omaha were in the top ten in ERA. The national champions, LSU, was in that top ten and despite the hitting getting the pub, their pitching numbers ranked higher than their hitting numbers. Also, the final score that occurred most last season in the entire country was 4-3.
For everything UCLA baseball, visit my UCLA baseball twitter.
by Ryan Rosenblatt on Mar 21, 2010 11:21 PM PDT up reply actions
Correction
The score that occurred most often was 5-4. 4-3 was a very close second though.
For everything UCLA baseball, visit my UCLA baseball twitter.
by Ryan Rosenblatt on Mar 22, 2010 11:21 AM PDT up reply actions
Just got the numbers for this season
Through the first month and change of the season, the most common final score is a tie between 5-4 and 4-3.
For everything UCLA baseball, visit my UCLA baseball twitter.
by Ryan Rosenblatt on Mar 22, 2010 11:50 AM PDT up reply actions
Dissed nationally
I wonder when we’re going to be recognized in the polls. Also, the official NCAA site doesn’t even know we exist.
Hats off to the UCLA Baseball team which is second only to ASU this year (at least so far). I will be taking in some games at Jackie Robinson Stadium this year. I hope other alum will join me.
Bleeding powderkeg blue and gold for 55 years. Go Bruins!
Let's make JRS - Bigger and Better
If this team can keep it up we need to support them in the same way we didn’t show up for basketball games this year. Can JRS hold 5,000 disappointed die hard Bruins fans?
UCLA Baseball is Ranked #1 in RPI
Ryan you might find this amusing.
Yeah
Boyd is a genius and does some ridiculous things with numbers. Great guy.
As for the numbers, you can’t really put too much stock in them this early. The formula really isn’t applicable until the teams have played more games. You end up with some wacky stuff early in the year, but they’re still fun to look at and anything that puts UCLA #1, I like.
If we can stay atop the RPI or in the top five in May, that will be very impressive. The RPI really handicaps west coast teams so you usually see them drop. Personally, I think that Boyd’s ISR is 10x better than the RPI as computer rankings go.
For everything UCLA baseball, visit my UCLA baseball twitter.
by Ryan Rosenblatt on Mar 21, 2010 5:31 PM PDT up reply actions
getting way, way ahead of things
interested on your perspective for the future of the program. it seems like the program has struck gold with cole and bauer. it seems like a once in a decade combo. will savage be targeting a supreme (pitching) talent or two to replace this combo for 2012? is savage known in prep circles (and the baseball community at large) for properly developing pitching talent?
Savage is known as a pitchers coach
Still you are correct that getting a pitcher like Cole to forego first round money is not going to happen very often, or getting a pitcher like Bauer to forego his senior year (and the draft) will not happen with regularity. Rasmussen was also a highly ranked prospect by Baseball America who let the scouts know that he wanted to go to UCLA or else he would have been drafted much higher. Goeddel was also a very highly ranked prospect who didn’t get drafted because he blew out his arm in high school. You can’t count on a confluence of events like that to occur in the future so come out and see this team before these pitchers go to the pros.
What has really surprised me is how Vanderhook has been able to take an offense who lost their two best power hitters (Decker and Haerther) and get them to hit .370 with a .449 on base percentage. It is not just one player either. Ten players are hitting at least .333. Last year only player hit over .333 on the entire team. To me that really bodes well for the future. If Vanderhook is able to take a bunch of guys on offense who were not first round picks and get them to average nine runs per game, then the Bruins should do well in the future,
Yeah, Savage is considered one of the better pitching coaches in the country
He made his name as a pitching coach and has coached the pitchers even since becoming head coach. He is able to reel in a lot of pitchers because they want to come pitch for him specifically even if they may have liked things about other schools/programs better.
Getting someone like Cole is very rare and not something that will happen often. Odds are we won’t have a staff like this often, but we’ll still have a good staff in most years. Even looking forward, we have a guy like Scott Griggs who’s very talented and should emerge as a very good pitcher in the future and we have verbal commitments from a couple top high school seniors.
For everything UCLA baseball, visit my UCLA baseball twitter.
by Ryan Rosenblatt on Mar 21, 2010 9:06 PM PDT up reply actions
UCSB is 9-5
They’re not a great team, but are a middle of the road Big West team so they’re solid. They haven’t announced a starter and probably won’t until tomorrow. It’s a 2 pm PST game so I’ll throw up an open thread and make sure to have the probables in there.
For everything UCLA baseball, visit my UCLA baseball twitter.
by Ryan Rosenblatt on Mar 21, 2010 8:57 PM PDT up reply actions
regionals
Ryan… can you shed some light into how it’s decided who gets to host regionals and super-regionals? Doesn’t it go beyond simple record and ranking and have more to do with politics?
At its heart, it's who deserves it most
but of course, there are other factors.
We start with the national seeds. The top eight are named the eight national seeds and are guaranteed to not play each other until the College World Series, assuming they make it there. Those eight are also guaranteed to host a Regional and Super Regional so long as they have a facility that meets the bare minimum requirements and they put in a bid to host. Those eight national seeds are supposed to go to the eight best teams in the country.
After that, the next eight best teams are supposed to be made #1 seeds in their Regional and host. Theoretically, the top eight and next eight determine the Regional and Super Regional hosts.
Now for the things that make it complicated:
1) Geography- The NCAA wants to spread the Regionals around. They want a minimum of three hosts on the West Coast, but no more than four. They also don’t want to have too many hosts really close to each other so you won’t see four Texas teams host and UCLA, USC, Fullerton and Irvine won’t make up the four Regional hosts, even if they’re most deserving. Also, the NCAA loves to give the North a seed when they can so if a team from up there is a very strong #2 seed, another team could be sent up there to play as the #1 seed away from home. A couple years ago, Arizona was the #1 seed in a Michigan hosted Regional.
2) Bids and Facility- A $50,000 guarantee for a Regional and $35,000 guarantee for Super Regionals must be given to the NCAA in order to host. For a school like UCLA who has a small capacity, it is nearly impossible to make back the money that must be given to the NCAA so the school has to be willing to take a loss when they put a bid in. Also, when you have a subs-standard facility like UCLA has, you have to bring in a lot of temporary facilities to make it possible to host, increasing the amount of money lost. As a result, some teams may not bid. There are also several minimum requirements for a facility to host.
3) Money- Of course, money plays a part in this. While $50,000 and $35,000 are the minimum guarantees and are good enough for schools that are undoubtedly #1 seeds, teams can guarantee as much as they would like. A team that has a 10,000 seat facility can guarantee the NCAA a lot more than the minimum and make it all back easily so they guarantee a lot and if they’re a borderline #1 seed, you can bet they’ll get it over the team bidding the minimum.
4) Politics- Obviously, politics do play a part. Last season, the Big 12 Commissioner was the head of the selection committee and shocker, the Big 12 got eight teams into a Regional. The West Coast is underrepresented on the selection committee and it shows on Selection Monday. That goes for who gets into a Regional and who hosts it.
When you get to Super Regionals, national seeds are guaranteed to host so long as they bid. If there is an upset and a national seed doesn’t get to the Supers, the higher seeded team hosts so if a #1 seed wins their Regional and a #2 seed wins the other, the #1 seed hosts so long as they bid. If the two teams in a Super have the same seed, the NCAA decides who the host is based on a couple factors, but who offered them the biggest guarantee is almost always the one who hosts.
There are other reasons too, but those are the biggest ones. Those aren’t in order either, just throwing them out there.
For everything UCLA baseball, visit my UCLA baseball twitter.
by Ryan Rosenblatt on Mar 22, 2010 1:02 AM PDT up reply actions
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