UCLA @ Cal State Fullerton Friday Super Regional Gamethread

The Bruins have made the trip down to Orange County this weekend for the Fullerton Super Regional, the next step on the journey to the Omaha. This is a best of 3 series between UCLA and CSU-Fullerton, hosted by the Titans, with the winner advancing to the College World Series.

Adam Plutko (8-3, 2.51 era) will be starting for the Bruins, countered by Fullerton's star freshman righthander, Justin Garza (12-0, 1.92 era). Ryan wrote a thorough preview for this weekend's series this morning. Series notes from the official site are here. Bad news for any OC Bruins - tickets for today and tomorrow's games are sold out.

The Super Regionals are not the only notable event this week involving amateur baseball - the MLB Draft is in progress. The first two rounds were held last night, with the remaining picks being made throughout the day today and tomorrow.

After 10 of 40 rounds, three Bruins have been selected. Nick Vander Tuig was selected in the 6th round (192nd pick) by the Giants; Zack Weiss was taken three picks later by the Reds, and the Rockies went on to select Patrick Valaika at the start of the 9th Round, #259 overall. All three are juniors and may elect to come back to Westwood for their senior years, depending on the offers given by their respective teams. Adam Plutko has surprisingly not been drafted yet - he was not going to be a first day selection, but I do recall recent talk of him being a 4th or 5th round guy in this draft.

Fullerton saw a pair of players drafted early: junior outfielder/closer Michael Lorenzen was picked at the end of the 1st round by the Reds, #38 overall, and junior catcher Chad Wallach was drafted by the Marlins with the 142nd pick. Senior first baseman Carlos Lopez was also drafted by the Marlins, coming off the board in the 10th round. After losing out to Dave Berg for Pac-12 Pitcher of the Year honors, Stanford's Mark Appel settled for being the #1 overall pick.

First pitch is scheduled for 4pm Pacific time. Tonight's game will be televised on ESPN2, and will also be streamed through ESPN3.com. Live stats will be available as usual via Gametracker, and an audio broadcast is available here via the official site.

This is your open thread for tonight's game, MLB Draft talk and other NCAA Super Regional action around the country.

GO BRUINS.