Pac-12 Game of the Week: No. 12 UCLA vs. No. 6 Washington
The Pac-12 Game of the Week is determined by the spotlight game on the Pac-12 Network. This week’s game is set for Sunday at 5 p.m. PT start time and features No. 12 UCLA vs. No. 6 Washington. The Pac-12 spotlight game will be game three of the series with game one on Friday and game two on Saturday. (All stats are through 3/28/2017)
At the Plate
The Bruins have had their ups and downs at times this year with run production. With that said, five of their nine starters are batting above .300 and .310 as a team. Three players have seven or more home runs in Brianna Tautalafua (9), Delaney Spaulding (7) and Madeline Jelenicki (7). Kylee Perez leads the team in average (.452), hits (47) and doubles (11). The offense is there, it just needs to have all the hitters on the same page.
Washington on the other hand essentially has all nine of their regular day starters above the .300 mark and are batting .340 as a team. Although they have not displayed as much power as UCLA, they have been scoring runs. They hold the edge their 209-160. Leading the Huskies is Sis Bates with a .383 average. Morganne Flores (.349) and Casey Stangel (.378) have shown the most power with Flores hitting eight and Stangel six. They play as a unit well and have capitalized well on scoring opportunities when they arise. Although the struggle last week against Arizona.
In the Circle
UCLA, for the most part, has gone with a two-pitcher rotation in Rachel Garcia (8-4) and Johanna Grauer (9-3). They have both thrown 80.1 innings. Selina Ta’amilo (7-0) has seen action as well picking up 39.2 innings for the Bruins. All three hold solid ERAs with Ta’amilo at 1.06, Garcia at 1.66 and Grauer at 2.18. One thing that has hurt them as a staff is walks and errors. They have allowed 57 walks and 16 unearned runs.
Washington has relied heavily on Taren Alvelo (15-3) who has thrown 103.1 innings which are near twice as many as Madi Schreyer (6-2) who has thrown 52.2 and Samantha Manti (5-1) and her 38 innings. For the most part, they have been solid in the circle. Last week they got no run support and got hit pretty hard. As a unit the hold a 2.17 ERA with 173 strikeouts. They could also cut back on the walks (64).
Analysis and Prediction
It is an interesting match-up. Last week the Bruins bounced back to win three after being swept the week before by Utah. Washington was swept by Arizona and was outscored 20-5. Do the Huskies bounce back this week? That is the question. In all likelihood, the Sunday Night game will be the rubber match. Look for Washington to take two of three at home.
Prediction: Washington wins two of the three.
