Surging UCLA, USC roll into Big Ten baseball tournament

UCLA’s baseball team wants to follow a record-setting regular season with something better.

The Bruins are seeking a Big Ten Tournament title even though they’ve probably already secured the top overall seed for the NCAA Tournament after going a program-record 48-6 in the regular season.

“Certainly it’s a game of momentum, it’s a game of getting better,” UCLA coach John Savage told The California Post, “so I don’t want to come to a screeching halt and go full-blown load management — I don’t really believe in that. I think certainly we want to win the tournament, and we want to keep continuing our winning ways.”

The top-seeded Bruins did plenty of that in Big Ten play, winning their first 25 conference games on the way to posting a 28-2 record that was also a program best for conference wins. They will face an opponent to be determined in their Big Ten Tournament opener at 11 a.m. PT Friday at Charles Schwab Field Omaha — which will also be the site of the College World Series next month. 

Should UCLA advance, the Bruins could meet fourth-seeded USC (42-14) in a semifinal if the Trojans win their quarterfinal opener at 7 a.m. PT Friday against an opponent to be determined.

Savage said he liked that both LA teams were surging, with the Trojans having posted their best regular season in two decades behind the 1-2 pitching punch of Mason Edwards and Grant Govel.

“They’re a very capable Omaha team — I think that’s been proven out the entire season,” Savage said of the Trojans. “They have met a lot of challenges as well, so I think it’s great for the college baseball community of Southern California.”

Given their seasonlong dominance, it should have come as no surprise that the All-Big Ten teams read like a roll call of Bruins and Trojans.

UCLA shortstop Roch Cholowsky was the Player of the Year, Savage the Coach of the Year and Edwards the Pitcher of the Year. The All-Big Ten First Team included a combined nine players from UCLA and USC.

The Bruins could get significantly better this weekend.

Ace Logan Reddemann, sidelined since April 17 due to arm fatigue, might pitch out of the bullpen while continuing to work toward a return to the rotation.

“The arm’s working good, you know, he’s got a clean bill of health,” Savage said, “it just takes time to ramp back up, and that’s kind of what we’re fighting against right now.”

With Reddemann sidelined, the Bruins have gone with a rotation featuring Wylan Moss, Michael Barnett and Angel Cervantes.

UCLA ended the regular season with hard-fought series wins over Oregon and Washington that also included their first two conference losses of the season.

Does Savage believe a well-timed loss could revive his team’s hunger?

“I do believe in that,” Savage said. “I believe adversity helps make teams build for the postseason, makes them tougher mindset-wise, so you never want to lose, but in baseball whenever you lose and win a series, particularly against those sorts of teams, I think it’s a positive, and certainly we can learn from that.” 

The payoff could start this weekend.

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