Pac-12 Network Game of the Week: Cal vs. No. 11 UCLA
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 Cal vs. No. 11 UCLA. 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 4/21/2017)
At the Plate
Coming into the series the edge goes to UCLA at the plate. The Bruins come into the series batting .311 as a team. They are led by junior Kylee Perez (.404). Perez also leads the Bruins in hits (55). as a team, they do have some power with two players in Madeline Jelenicki and Brianna Tautalafua, who both are in the double digits for home runs. Jelenicki is batting .339 with 10 home runs and 42 RBIs. Tautalafua has 12 home runs on the season for 32 RBIs.
Cal has struggled at times to generate runs. The one area they have had issues is with their power. They have only hit eight home runs all year as an entire team. As a unit, they are batting just .276 on the year. Junior Jazmyn Jackson is the leader of Bears when it comes to offense. She leads the team in average (.359), doubles (15), triples (3), SLG (.590) and RBIs (27). The good news for the Bears is that they face a UCLA pitching staff that as of late, has had its own ups and downs.
In the Circle
From a pitching perspective the two or not that far apart. UCLA comes in with an overall team ERA of 2.69 on the season. The issue is when we dig deeper and look at their team ERA in Pac-12 action and it blooms to 5.16. Cal comes in with a 3.09 team ERA and nearly double that in conference action with a 6.30 ERA. Both teams are not afraid to throw their entire staff in a game either. from a pitching perspective, the two seem to be on par with one another.
Analysis
On paper and according to the rankings UCLA should be the favorite. The issue is UCLA has dropped three of their last five including a series at home against unranked Oregon State. That was after taking out then No. 1 Oregon. Cal comes in on a four-game winning streak, but have lost their last five straight conference games. This series should have no shortage of runs, but UCLA and their power at the plate should be the difference in the series.
Prediction: UCLA takes two of three.
