UCLA Baseball Makes the Cut, Advances to Postseason

The UCLA Bruin Baseball team (30-25, 19-11 Pac-12) finished the last weekend of its season strong, taking the series from Oregon with two emphatic wins, finishing out a conference stretch (9-3 in last 12 conference games) that took UCLA from 10-8 to 19-11 in conference, good for third place.

Would it be enough? Especially after a tough pounding that the Bruins took in Irvine on Tuesday night, a 12-4 blowout loss to the middling Anteaters. And especially after the "bubble" shrunk yesterday due to several conference tournament upsets, and the automatic bids that came with them.

Today, the NCAA college baseball selection committee decided that, YES, the Bruins made the cut.

In the end, the committee decided the UCLA did enough, but put the Bruins in a tough, yet local, regional. Long Beach State, San Diego State, and Texas, the other participants in the Long Beach Regional, have all played UCLA this season, so the Bruins will be familiar with their opponents. The winner of the Long Beach Regional will face the winner of the Stanford Regional next weekend.

Here are some of the data points that the committee chewed on:

• 30-25 overall record
• 19-11 Pac-12 record (3rd in Conference)
• UCLA finished the conference season strong, going 9-3 in its last 4 series
• UCLA was not swept in conference this season, but had three sweeps of its own (Berkeley, Southern Cal, and Utah)
• 52 RPI
• One of only four teams to beat top ranked, top seeded, four loss Oregon State
• Won conference series on the road at Stanford, one of only two series losses in conference (the other being Oregon State) for Stanford, the #8 national seed

Check back in with Bruins Nation later in the week for more UCLA Bruin Baseball coverage as the Bruins prepare for the 2017 postseason.

Go Bruins!