After losing two of three games in Westwood last season, Texas Longhorns baseball will face off against the UCLA Bruins for a three-game series in Austin starting on Friday evening at UFCU-Disch Falk Field.
The 6-5 Bruins enter the 6:00 p.m. CT game on the Longhorn Network with a top-10 nationally ranking in staff ERA (2.01). Opponents are hitting only .171 against UCLA. Since the 9-6 ‘Horns rank No. 18 and have struggled with strikeouts this season, the games have the look of potential pitcher’s duels.
Coming off a seven-inning shutout of Stanford last weekend in Palo Alto, sophomore Nolan Kingham will take the mound for Texas on Friday, while ace Griffin Cannon will do so for UCLA. In 21 inning so far this season, Canning hasn’t allowed a single earned run, striking out 32 batters over that stretch, a truly remarkable number.
Offensively, John Savage’s Bruins are led by first baseman Sean Bouchard, who is hitting .350 with four home runs on the season. However, much like Texas, UCLA hasn’t been good at the plate so far this season, hitting only .225 as a team.
In all likelihood, execution and timely hitting will take the center stage this weekend.