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The UCLA Baseball team will take the field tonight, weather permitting, having lost their last six games and seven of their last eight.
In their each of their last 4 games, they've been held to 3 runs or less and, on Tuesday night, CSUN held them to just 3 hits as the Bruins lost 4-1.
What's the best way to break out of a slump? The answer to that may just be a weekend series at home as the Bruins have won two consecutive weekend series at home since dropping the season-opening series to North Carolina.
But, while playing at Jackie Robinson Stadium may get the Bruins back on track, the real answer lies in scoring more runs as they are 1-7 when the team scores 2 runs or less.
Of course, after the last four games, that's obvious, but what may be more telling is that they really need better outings from the pitching staff.
UCLA is 11-3 when their opponent scores 5 runs or less and they are 1-11 when their opponent scores at least 6 runs.
Tonight, Griffin Canning heads to the mound for UCLA. While he is 3-3 with a 4.28 ERA overall, Canning is 2-1 with a 3.18 ERA at home. He's also struck out 27 in 28.1 innings at JRS.
He'll face Chris Castellanos from Stanford. Castellanos is 3-1 with a 4.45 ERA so far this year. But, what really stands out is that Castellanos has a whopping 5.73 ERA in his 4 starts this season, even though he has a tiny 1.74 ERA out of the bullpen.
The differences in his starting ERA compared to his relief ERA means that Bruin hitters should look to take advantage of Castellanos the second time through the order.
All three games in the series will air on Pac-12 Networks where JB Long and JT Snow will have the call. As usual, John Ramey and Tim Wilhelm will broadcast the live streaming audio and you can also follow along with the live stats.
Tonight's game, which UCLA expects to get in despite an afternoon rain in Los Angeles, is scheduled to start at 7:05 pm PT as will tomorrow night's game. Saturday's game is scheduled for 4:35 pm PT.
This is your Bruin baseball open thread.