NCAA Baseball Los Angeles Regional Breakdown
UCLA finished the regular season winning 11 of their last 12 games. The Bruins are a hot team right now and very few teams have had any luck stopping them at the plate. Outfielder Jeff Gelalich is batting .367 with nine homeruns and 39 RBIs. With players like Tyler Heineman, Cody Keefer, Trevor Brown, Beau Amaral and Kevin Williams, it is nearly impossible to find a soft spot in the UCLA lineup. The pitching has been solid too, led by sophomore Adam Plutko and closer Scott Griggs. The problem the Bruins may run into during the Regional is depth on the mound. Grant Watson and Nick Vander Tuig may be needed at times to have some decent outings.
San Diego should be the biggest threat to the Bruins after a superb season under Coach Rich Hill. Infielder Kris Bryant is a beast at the plate and the Toreros have enough quality bats to at least get opportunities to score plenty of runs. But runs will not be hard to come by in this Regional. New Mexico is coming off of a 22-3 win in the Mountain West Conference Tournament final and is one of the best hitting teams in the nation across the board. They hit for average, they hit for power…the Lobos can do it all. But can they win a high scoring affair against a team like UCLA or San Diego? Creighton rounds out the foursome and are riding high after their improbable run through the Missouri Valley Conference Tournament. However, in this Region with all the powerful bats, Ty Blanch and Eric Mattingly are likely to see their ERAs rise quite quickly.
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