Meeting tonight will be two teams from opposite sides of the country both trying to win their first National Championship in baseball. This is only the 3rd CWS trip for the Bruins, as it is USC’s 9th trip to Omaha and USC’s 4th appearance in the title game. The last time Carolina played in the National Championship game, it was a winner take all shootout against Texas back in 2002, after having to overcoming losing the first game of the CWS to GT and fighting their way to the title game in the losers bracket. This time Carolina will have the luxury of playing a 3 game series for the title and having a day of rest yesterday.
As announced this morning Blake Cooper will once again throw for Carolina, and will face UCLA ace Gerrit Cole, RHP, So. (11-3, 3.26). This will not be the first hard throwing Ace USC has faced this season. Carolina has faced Pomeranz (Ole Miss), Wojciechowski ( el Cid), Drew Smyly (U of Ark) and Cody Wheeler (Coastal) all who rank in the NCAA Division 1 top 20 in strikeouts.
Carolina pitching isn’t too shabby either, just in the college world series, shutting down Pac-10 champions ASU. Clemson who is ranked top 5 in runs scored, and top 20 in HR nationally, as well as an Oklahoma team that could flat out hit the ball. Oklahoma ranked 2nd in the Big 12 in overall hitting, and 3rd in team pitching. Both schools are talented on the mound and at the plate; this should be a great series.
Here is what you need to know about UCLA baseball for this series —
Gerrit Cole is 11-3 with a 3.26 ERA in 18 starts, was named 2nd team All-America by Collegiate Baseball and has twice earned All Pac-1o honors.
Trevor Bauer, UCLA other pitching ace is 12-3 with a 3.02 ERA in 18 starts, leads the nation in strikeouts with 165 and has registered 10 or more strikeouts in 7 or 18 starts.
Dan Klein is UCLA’s closer with 10 saves this season, and a 6-0 record with a 1.85 ERA in 38 appearances. Klein has registered 10 saves in 13 opportunities, totally 51 strikeouts this season.
Blair Dunlap, UCLA’s senior DH is batting .319 in 59 games with a team high 20 doubles on the season. Another hitter to watch out for in the Bruins lineup is Cody Regis who has posted a .375 batting average with one homer, one double, a team-leading five RBI, three runs and a .474 on-base percentage in four College World Series games.
UCLA will be without sophomore second baseman Tyler Rahmatulla (wrist) and freshman left fielder Cody Keefer (leg). So far this has not slowed down UCLA in the college world series but we will see if it is a factor against the Gamecocks.
Stay tuned for more insight and predictions from LOHD….
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