March 11, 2013
UCLA at CSUN - Game Notes 
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Los Angeles, Calif. -
The 11th-ranked UCLA Baseball team will look to continue their midweek dominance as they travel just up the freeway to play Cal State Northridge on Tuesday at 3 p.m. at Northridge's Matador Field.
PROBABLE STARTING PITCHERS
Tuesday, March 12 - 3:00 p.m.
UCLA - Cody Poteet, RHP, Fr. (1-1, 4.20)
CSUN - John Salas, LHP, Jr. (0-2, 5.23)
LISTEN LIVE ONLINE (click here)
Tuesday's game at Cal State Northridge will feature a live audio broadcast online at uclabruins.com. John Ramey and Tim Wilhelm will have the call. Audio broadcasts of all UCLA home games and select road games will be available at uclabruins.com this season. In addition, fans can follow pitch-by-pitch action of the Cal State Northridge game through a live stats link found here.
UCLA VS. CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE
UCLA holds a slight edge in the all-time series, leading the Matadors 31-27-1. Head coach John Savage has a record of 9-2 against Cal State Northridge in his time at UCLA while the Bruins have won the last three meetings against the Matadors.
WEEKEND RECAP
UCLA played three different opponents at Jackie Robinson Stadium over the weekend, taking home two victories. On Friday night, the Bruins defeated No. 22 Notre Dame, 2-1, in 10 innings on a two-out walkoff single by sophomore Eric Filia. Junior right-hander Adam Plutko was masterful on the mound, pitching seven strong innings and allowing just one earned run on four hits. Junior Zack Weiss pitched a scoreless eighth inning before sophomore David Berg picked up his second win of the year with scoreless ninth and 10th innings. After falling to No. 17 Oklahoma on Saturday, UCLA rebounded by beating crosstown rivals USC for the fifth consecutive time, 6-1, on Sunday in front of a sellout crowd of 2,157. Sophomore left-hander Grant Watson was terrific on the mound, giving up just one run on three hits in seven innings to get his third win of the year. Sophomore Kevin Kramer led the Bruins on offense, going 1-3 with a three-run double in the sixth that put UCLA ahead for good.
TUESDAY STARTER
Freshman Cody Poteet will take the mound this Tuesday for the Bruins, making his third collegiate start. Poteet picked up his first win at UC Santa Barbara on Feb. 26, going five innings and allowing just two hits in UCLA's 12-3 victory over the Gauchos. Poteet followed that up by going 5.1 innings at Long Beach State last week, giving up four hits and one earned run in a no-decision. The right-hander from Bonita, Calif. was drafted by the Washington Nationals in the 27th round of the 2012 MLB Draft after enjoying a great three-year career at Christian High School (El Cajon, Calif.) and competing for club team ABD Bulldogs. Poteet went 10-1 with a 2.10 ERA and 112 strikeouts in 66.2 innings pitched for the Bulldogs in 2012.
MIDWEEK MASTERY
UCLA has won 13 consecutive midweek games dating back to last season, including 11 in a row over Big West opponents. The Bruins concluded the 2012 regular-season schedule having gone 11-0 in all midweek (Tuesday) ballgames. UCLA also posted a perfect 9-0 record against Big West Conference foes in 2012. The Bruins are off to a 2-0 start in midweek games this season, defeating both UC Santa Barbara and Long Beach State on the road. Freshman Cody Poteet has started both of UCLA's Tuesday games and has a record of 1-0 with a 1.74 ERA as a starter.
TAKING THE HITS
UCLA has had a total of 27 batters get hit by a pitch in its last 11 games, bringing the season total to a Pac-12 best 36 hit batters through 14 games. Kevin Kramer leads the Bruins with six hit by pitches while Shane Zeile and Brian Carroll have been hit five times. Eric Filia and Pat Valaika have each been hit four times. Overall, the Bruins have had a batter get hit by a pitch in 15 consecutive games and their 36 overall hit batters ranks second in the country, only behind Campbell's 47. UCLA had a school record 104 batters hit by a pitch back in 2010.
STRONG STARTERS
UCLA's starting rotation of Adam Plutko, Nick Vander Tuig, Grant Watson and Cody Poteet has combined to post a 2.04 ERA in their 14 starts thus far. UCLA's starters have allowed just 20 earned runs in 88.2 innings pitched, striking out a combined 51 hitters. As starters, Plutko, Vander Tuig, Watson and Poteet have a record of 8-2 through the first 14 games with four no-decisions. As a team, the Bruins have posted an ERA of 2.27, allowing just a .207 batting average against them and collectively posting a WHIP of 0.99.
ROAD WARRIORS
Since the start 2010, UCLA has gone 61-27 in all road and neutral site contests. In 2012, the Bruins went 21-6 in games played away from home, posting an 11-4 mark in Pac-12 road games. In 2011, UCLA went 14-13 in road/neutral site games, while in 2010 the Bruins recorded a 22-7 record away from home (including 7-3 at neutral site games). UCLA has gone 31-11 in Pac-12 road games since 2010. In addition, the Bruins have logged five Pac-12 road sweeps in the last three years (2010 at Washington, California; 2011 at Oregon; 2012 at Washington, Utah) and one non-conference road sweep (2012 at Georgia). The Bruins are 4-1 on the road this season, taking two out of three games at Baylor and winning at UCSB and Long Beach State.
FRONT RUNNERS
The Bruins have done an outstanding job through the first 14 games of getting an early lead on opponents. UCLA is outscoring their opponents 15-1 in the first inning and 36-5 through the first three innings thus far. The Bruins are also 10-1 on the year when they score first and 7-0 when they score in the first inning. In addition, UCLA has a record of 10-0 when they score more than three runs in a ballgame.
OFF TO THE RACES
Junior Brian Carroll has gotten off to a fast start on the basepaths, stealing 12 bases in 13 attempts thus far. Carroll, who ranks second in the Pac-12 in stolen bases, is a perfect 7-7 in his last seven stolen base attempts. The Bruins as a team are 20-29 in stolen base attempts, good for a 69% success rate. Last season, UCLA stole 62 bases in 98 attempts (63.2% success rate).
