The nation’s best pitching staff continues to stifle Big Ten hitters.
Its weekend rotation has been excellent, but the bullpen stands out.
No. 1 UCLA baseball (34-3, 19-0 Big Ten) beat Minnesota (22-15, 5-11 Big Ten) 4-2 in Friday’s series opener, marking the 17th time this season the Bruins have held an opponent to two runs or fewer.
Junior right-hander Logan Reddemann retired the first 11 hitters he faced before running into trouble with two outs in the fourth inning. After a four-pitch walk and a single, right fielder Charlie Sutherland smoked a 100 mph line drive just past the diving reach of junior center fielder Will Gasparino, rolling to the wall and plating two Golden Gophers.
“A really good lineup over there; I felt like they had a really good plan going into this game and they executed well,” Reddemann said. “That kind of allowed me and Savage (coach John Savage) to play that chess match game and go back and forth and dig into some of those secondary pitches a little more.”
Reddemann would work through the fifth and sixth innings without further damage, ending his evening with two earned runs, three walks, three hits and five strikeouts. He induced nine swing-and-misses, his sweeper and changeup both were effective.
A week removed from his record-setting 18 strikeout performance, Minnesota put up a tough fight against Reddemann.
“He wasn’t razor sharp,” Savage said. “It’s hard to be razor sharp each and every time you’re out there, but he’s so competitive and he pounds the strike zone. They made him work, he had to get into some 3-2 counts, he had to make some big pitches. … They made him earn everything he got tonight, that’s for sure.”
Golden Gophers right-hander Cole Selvig held the Bruins scoreless with just one hit through the first four innings, throwing a slider more than 40% of the time. UCLA would respond in the fifth, though.
Following a two-strike hit by pitch on redshirt junior right fielder Payton Brennan and a single from Gasparino, junior catcher Cashel Dugger took a hanging cutter to the opposite field for an RBI double. Selvig’s day would end after he walked freshman designated hitter Trey Gudoy. With the bases loaded, fellow freshman second baseman Aiden Aguayo knocked a single to right field to tie the game at two apiece.
Consecutive sacrifice flies from juniors left fielder Dean West and shortstop Roch Cholowsky put UCLA ahead 4-2, a lead they would not relinquish. Savage turned to junior Cal Randall in the seventh inning, and the right-hander fired his seventh consecutive scoreless appearance.
“He’s much more on-line,” Savage said. “We’re using the middle of the plate. We’re attacking hitters. His direction is much better. Confidence and health, and a little better mechanics, I would say, would be the equation to his success. He’s a really good seventh inning guy right now.”
Zach Strickland was tasked with the eighth inning, a sign of confidence in the freshman from Savage. The right-hander began the season in a piggyback role on Tuesdays, but consistent strike-throwing and a strong array of off-speed throws have thrusted him into an expanded role during the weekend.
“With 34 Ks and three walks, he’s a strike thrower,” Savage said. “He’s learning how to be a reliever, he’s been a starter his whole life. We wanted to give Zach another shot tonight and he passed the test. He faced left, right, left, and he threw a really good changeup and struck out (Davis) Hamilton. That was a big pitch. Another guy that’s developing his secondary pitches.”
Having yet to allow a hit over his previous 10.1 innings, sophomore closer Easton Hawk took the ball in the ninth with a two-run lead. A two-out opposite field double would break the streak, but Hawk worked around the hit without any trouble, punching out designated hitter Jackson Akin on a slider to seal the victory.
The bullpen’s success wore off on each other.
“Cal (Randall) was very dominant today, that fires us up, fires Zack (Strickland) up, fires me up, coming in after them,” Hawk said. “I took that energy they brought and emphasized it in mine. … It’s obviously an honor to pitch for the number one team in the nation. The trust that Savage has in me, it’s unbelievable, because it’s probably more trust than I have in myself.”
Savage has no doubt in his closer, who earned his seventh save of the year and brought his season ERA down to 2.42.
Hawk has struck out 28 hitters in 22.1 innings.
“He has a very slow heart rate,” Savage said. “He’s another guy that’s really coming into his own with his fastball command. You saw the really good slider, and he’s got that really good changeup. It’s nice to have multiple pitches when you close the game, because you have a lot of different matchups. … Easton has been really good for almost two months now.”
After a loss to UCSB in their debut with the Jackie Robinson uniforms, UCLA won its first game in the navy blue and cream jerseys, each with the No. 42 on the back. Savage elected to have the Bruins wear the new uniforms for the entire week.
Major League Baseball commemorates Robinson every April 15, and the whole league wore No. 42 on Wednesday.
“It means everything,” Savage said. “Our guys feel so connected to that family, to Jackie’s legacy, and certainly coming into this ballpark and seeing his statue everyday is an honor and a privilege for us to be able to play at Jackie Robinson Stadium. It’s something that our guys cherish.”
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