What can you say about these Bruin baseball players but "Oh my!" as Dick Enberg is wont to exclaim. Four more wins last week bring them to 20-0 for the season. Led by Tyler Rahmatulla's .453 avg. and 34 hits in 75 at bats, they're hitting .364 to opponents' .188, having scored 181-53 runs, with 163-49 RBIs.
Led by pitchers Gerrit Cole (6-0, 2.63 ERA) and Trevor Bauer (5-0, 2.33), the staff has an overall 2.30 to opponents' 7.95.
My new favorite poll, from the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper, ranks UCLA 2nd, up from 3rd last week. Arizona State (20-5) remains in 1st place. Oregon State (16-5) loses one place, from 9th to 10th, after a 2-2 week in which they dropped a couple of games to Long Beach State. Arizona (20-5) is 18th and UCLA's first conference opponent, Stanford (12-6) is 28th.
How long can the Bruins keep this win streak going? With Stanford, Oregon State, Oregon (18-8), Arizona, and Arizona State on the schedule for April, it seems unlikely that UCLA can escape the month unscathed. Consider Oregon, last season's conference doormat. On Sunday, the fast-improving Ducks brought Arizona's 15-game win streak to an end by scoring four runs in the ninth inning.
The Pac-10 is highly competitive this year, and the inevitable losses to conference foes will cause some teams to fall from the heights of national polls. But the goal of the Bruins should be to make it into post-season play, where their solid hitting, pitching, and fielding can get them to Omaha.