Oct. 23, 2012

Follow @UCLABaseball

UCLA's All-Time Major Leaguers | UCLA Baseball on Facebook

Los Angeles, Calif. - Former UCLA shortstop Brandon Crawford has helped lead the San Francisco Giants to their National League best 19th World Series appearance. The Giants came back from a three games to one deficit to defeat the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games in the National League Championship Series.

The Pleasanton, Calif. native has hit .206 in 12 playoff games this year with six RBI, three runs and six walks while playing stellar defense at shortstop for the Giants. Crawford had three RBI in Games 5, 6 and 7 of the NLCS to help the Giants come back from a 3-1 deficit to the Cardinals. He also came up big in the Division Series against the Cincinnati Reds, going 2-4 with a RBI and a run in the deciding Game 5 to help the Giants secure a 6-4 victory to advance to the NLCS.

Crawford played in 179 games in three seasons with the Bruins from 2006-08, batting .319 with 20 home runs, 136 RBI and 145 runs. He enjoyed his finest season in 2007, posting a .335 batting average with seven home runs and 55 RBI en route to earning All-Pac-10 honors for the first time in his career. His 13 career triples also rank second on UCLA's all-time career triples list. Finally, Crawford helped lead the Bruins to three consecutive postseason appearances from 2006-08 before being selected in the fourth round of the 2008 MLB Draft by the Giants.

UCLA's baseball alumni have competed in the World Series on 30 occasions and have won a collective 16 titles. Most recently, Chase Utley led the Philadelphia Phillies to the 2008 World Series title, their first since 1980.

Jackie Robinson (Brooklyn Dodgers) and Bobby Brown (New York Yankees) were the first former Bruins to play in the World Series when their teams met in the 1947 Fall Classic. The Yankees defeated the Dodgers in seven games. Robinson made the most trips to the World Series of any former UCLA ballplayer, appearing in the Fall Classic six times. Meanwhile, Brown finished his major league career with four World Series titles, which is the most by any former Bruin baseball player. Brown guided the New York Yankees to championships in 1947, 1949, 1950 and 1951.

Troy Glaus, a standout UCLA infielder from 1995-97, has been the only former Bruin to capture World Series MVP honors. Glaus led the Anaheim Angels to the 2002 World Series title, defeating the San Francisco Giants in seven games.

The Giants will square off with the Detroit Tigers in Game 1 of the 2012 World Series on Wednesday, Oct. 24 at 5 pm PT at AT&T Park in San Francisco, Calif. All World Series games will begin at 5 pm PT and will be nationally televised live on FOX.