UCLA Baseball: First Midweek Game Open Thread, Bruins- Matadors

UCLA plays its first midweek game of the young season today. The Bruins play at Cal State Northridge, with first pitch at 2 pm.

Last year, UCLA scored an average of 3.4 runs per midweek game, and gave up 3.4 runs per game, finishing with a record of 5-5-1 in 11 games. Included in those 11 games was a 7-1 win over Northridge, with Grant Dyer making his first collegiate start and picking up the win. Northridge scored an average of 3.8 runs per midweek game, and gave up 5.6 runs per game, finishing with a record of 5-8 in 13 games, including the loss to the Bruins. But that Matador team finished 18-38, while this year's team has started fast out of the gate with a 4-0 mark.

Both teams will feature freshman pitchers today, with both making their collegiate starting debuts. UCLA starts Griffin Canning from Santa Margarita. Canning pitched 1/3 of an inning in the season opener against Hofstra, so should be well rested. CSUN counters with Andrew Weston from San Marcos. Weston will be making his collegiate debut in today's game.

The Matadors' four wins in 2015 include two each over Utah Valley State, which was not expected to do much, and Gonzaga, which had been tabbed by Baseball America as a preseason pick to make the field of 64. So the Matadors are off to a hot start indeed. CSUN is in the same baseball conference as Fullerton, UCSB and Cal Poly, all of whom are expected to make the field of 64. There was one Northridge player included in the list of 10 top Big West prospects for the 2015 draft- pitcher Jerry Keel, who was the starter in winning pitcher in game 2 of the 2015 season, a 6-2 win over Gonzaga.

You can follow the game with live audio here, with Tim Wilhelm calling the action. You can also follow the game with live stats, courtesy of CSUN's website, with this link.

Every game starts 0-0, top of the first. So far, so good for the Bruins, but this should be a tougher test than the Hofstra Pride.

Go Bruins !!