Bumped. GO BRUINS.-N

The college baseball season is heading into its final five weeks and for UCLA, the pressure is on as the preseason #1 is facing the prospect of missing the postseason. The Bruins struggled early last season, but was one of the nation's hottest teams in the final month, riding a wave of momentum into the Super Regionals. That wave of momentum started with a series sweep over Stanford, the same squad the Bruins will face off against this weekend in what could be their biggest series of the season.

Stanford enters the weekend ranked 10th in the nation and in a first place tie atop the conference at 6-3. Meanwhile, the Bruins have tumbled out of the rankings and are in tie for fourth place int he conference at 3-3. With the season winding down, it is critical that the Bruins win the series this weekend, especially with it at Jackie Robinson Stadium. A series win would not only put them in a solid position in the conference standings, but it would be a huge boost to their postseason resume.

The Cardinal enter Friday's series opener (6 pm PST) in a precarious situation. Their Friday night starter LHP Jeremy Bleich will miss the series with an elbow injury and the Cardinal are unsure about who will get the start. They don't have another readily available starter, meaning they may go with a host of relievers Friday night. Each would pitch two innings or so for the duration of the game, however doing that in a series opener always causes problems because it taxes your bullpen with two games still left to play. While Stanford's pitching situation for the game is up in the air, the Bruins are set to send LHP Tim Murphy to the bump. The junior is coming off a fantastic start last weekend against Riverside when he gave up only one run and four hits in seven innings of work. He picked up his third win of the season in that outing and will carry a 3.28 ERA into Friday's game versus the dangerous Stanford lineup.

Saturday's game (2 pm PST) will see Stanford's RHP Erik Davis square off with UCLA's RHP Charles Brewer. Davis, a senior, has encountered problems with his location this season and has been hit hard as a result of being behind in the count on a regular basis. He enter the weekend with a 5-1 record, but that's due to a powerful lineup backing him. His ERA is 4.37 and the Bruins should be able to pound him if they show patience at the plate. Brewer is coming off a disappointing start against Riverside. The sophomore went six innings and picked up the win, but gave up seven runs. The win was a long time coming for Brewer, who had a string of very good starts, but couldn't get the run support for a win prior to last week.

In Sunday's series finale (1 pm PST) Stanford will send their best pitcher RHP Jeffrey Inman to the hill. Inman has been sensational this year and will bring a 5-0 record into Sunday's tilt. While that number is awfully impressive, equally impressive is his 1.49 ERA. Inman doesn't throw overly hard or strike out a lot of batters, but he had a multitude of offspeed pitches he uses to keep batters off balance and pound balls into the ground. UCLA will counter Inman with a sophomore of their own, LHP Gavin Brooks. Brooks pitched well last weekend, picking up the win in the series finale versus Riverside. While he gave up four runs, two of those could be attributed to a porous defense and only half of the four runs he gave up were earned. It was Brooks' second consecutive strong star and he looks like the pitcher UCLA expected him to be before struggling with injuries midseason.

The Cardinal's lineup is strong one through nine. Five Cardinal starters are batting over .300, four of which are over .350. Those batters don't even include their most dangerous hitter, CF Sean Ratliff who is batting .295 with 11 home runs and 33 RBI. 2B Cord Phelps is the Cardinal's secodn big bat in the lineup with seven homers and 30 RBI, while still batting .356. C Jason Castro is Stanford's most dangerous baserunner, racking up 26 stolen bases on he year. He is not overly effective on the bases though having been thrown out 17 times for a solid, but not spectacular .605 stolen base percentage.

Come on out to Jackie Robinson Stadium this weekend and watch as our Bruins play what could be their biggest series of the season. Friday's game is a 6 pm PST, Saturday's is at 2 pm PST and Sunday's is at 1 pm PST. Tickets are $7 for adults, $5 for children and free for Wooden Club members. Stanford always bring a lot of fans so please come out on to Jackie Robinson Stadium and keep us from the embarrassing site of having more red in the stands than blue. If you can't make it out to the game, you can listen to it or follow it on GameTracker via the official site.