Each week FPN will focus on a game or series of the week. After opening weekend, we named Sierra Hyland of Cal Poly FPN Pitcher of the Week and Delaney Spaulding of UCLA Player of the Week.
This weekend Cal Poly and UCLA will square off at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic in Cathedral City, CA. The matchup will take place on Friday at 5:30 pm PT.
At the Plate
The UCLA offense exploded opening weekend, outscoring opponents 48-2. Senior Delaney Spaulding (.708 BA) accounted for roughly one-third of those runs with her eight runs and six RBI’s over five games. The Bruin offense finished opening weekend 5-0 with a team .478 batting average, 48 runs scored on 66 hits, and 13 of those hits were home runs. Two first-year starters to watch at the plate are Rachel Garcia and Bubba Nicklas. Garcia, who we will also discuss in the pitching breakdown, hit .583 with six RBI last weekend. Nicklas showed power hitting two home runs knocking in six runs and a 1.077 SLG. Nearly half of their starting line-up batted above .500. The question is “can they keep this kind of pace up?” If so, run support should not be much of an issue for the Bruins pitching staff.
Cal Poly’s offense hit .288 opening weekend accounting for 21 runs scored on 34 hits. They finished the weekend with a 4-1 record. The Mustangs had three players bat above .400 in Chelsea Convissar (.429), Amanda Sandoval (.429) and Crimson Kaiser (.429). Although their numbers are not near what the Bruins put up, they did hit five home runs last week. By normal standards that is a solid weekend. Look for their bats to show improvement in week two.
In the Circle
Cal Poly Senior Sierra Hyland is likely to get the ball against No 8. UCLA on Friday night. This will be Cal Poly’s second game of the Friday double header, they open up against Central Florida at 3 pm. Sierra Hyland shined opening weekend in the circle and started off her senior season with a no-hitter against Purdue, followed by a perfect game against Creighton at the Arizona State-hosted Kajikawa Classic this past weekend. It was her second career perfect game and fifth career no-hitter. Hyland is known for her ability to keep hitters off-balanced by using both sides of the plate, a rise ball and has two different off-speed options. It comes down to her arm versus the Bruins bats.
UCLA used four pitchers opening weekend. The squad uses a “pitch by committee” approach. Collectively they pitched to a 5-0 start on the opening weekend with a .47 ERA and 36 strike outs. As of now, the two main starters appear to be Garcia and junior Johanna Grauer. Each collected two wins in two appearances. Junior Selina Ta’amilo also started one game and went all seven innings only allowing one run.
FPN Analysis and Prediction
This could turn out to be quite the showdown on Friday night. If Sierra Hyland is on her pitching game, she could keep the Bruin’s offense quite. We expect the Bruins to come out swinging. Even though the Bruins don’t have a dominant ace pitcher as of now, the pitchers on staff compliment each other well, making it difficult for opponents to get comfortable and make adjustments in the box. UCLA is the bigger offensive threat and they are very sound defensively, therefore we are picking the No 5. UCLA Bruins in this weeks FPN Game of the Week.
Pick: UCLA
