UCLA Looks to Avoid Sweep in Palo Alto, Salvage NCAA Seeding Hopes

The Bruins needed a strong end-of-the-year showing to boost their seeding prospects for the upcoming NCAA regionals, and a end-of-the-regular season road series victory seemed the perfect way to do that. Unfortunately, the Bruins weren't able to get it done, dropping a second-straight game in Palo Alto on Saturday, falling to the Cardinal 7-3. The Bruins had the early lead, taking a two run advantage in the top of the second on a Shane Zeile (1-3, 1 R, 2 RBI, 1 HR) two-run bomb. In a game that seemed like Stanford should be dominating, for a bit, it seemed that Nick Vander Tuig might be able to pull out his eleventh win of the year, until it all came apart for the junior from Oakdale in the sixth inning. Going into the Stanford sixth with a 3-2 lead, the Cardinal hits finally found holes, with Stanford putting across 3 runs to take a lead they would not surrender. With the loss, the Bruins now stand at 38-17 overall and 20-9 in Pac-12 play, with just one game left.

Tonight, the Bruins will try to pick up win #39 on the year, with the sophomore lefty Grant Watson (6-3, 3.38 ERA) taking the hill for UCLA. The regular season finale gets started at 3 p.m. PST in Palo Alto, and this afternoon's game will be broadcast live on the Pac-12 network. If you don't get the network, you can follow all the action on the official GameTracker here, or you can follow on Twitter at the baseball team's feed here or Ryan's feed here.

This is your regular season finale open thread. Fire away with your comments, reactions, and analysis.

GO BRUINS