UCLA BASEball UCLA Sports Information u J.D. Morgan Center u 325 Westwood Plaza u Los Angeles, CA 90095 Baseball SID: Alex Timiraos u [email protected] u (310) 206-4008 u (310) 825-8664 FAX 2009 stats LEADERS NO. 9 UCLA TO PLAY IN HOUSTON COLLEGE CLASSIC BATTER GP/GS AVG AB H HR RBI Bruins to face top-10 ranked opposition in three games at Houston’s Minute Maid Park Casey Haerther 5/5 .450 20 9 2 6 Blair Dunlap 5/5 .412 17 7 0 3 LOS ANGELES – UCLA makes its first appearance No. 9 UCLA Bruins (2-3) Chris Giovinazzo 4/3 .385 13 5 0 3 playing in the Houston College Classic this weekend at the Houston College Classic Chris Amezquita 4/1 .375 8 3 1 3 when it faces No. 10 Rice on Friday at 5 p.m. (PT). at Minute Maid Park (home of the Houston Astros) PITCHER GP/GS ERA W-L IP SO The Bruins will face No. 6 Baylor on Saturday at 1:30 Gerrit Cole 1/1 0.00 1-0 6.0 7 p.m. (PT) and No. 5 UC Irvine on Sunday at 9 a.m. Friday, Feb. 27, 5 p.m. PT Rob Rasmussen 1/1 0.00 1-0 5.0 5 (PT). All three games will be broadcast (audio) live at UCLA – Rob Rasmussen, LHP, So. (1-0, 0.00) Jordan Haver 1/0 0.00 0-0 1.0 0 uclabruins.com. The Houston College Classic is one of RIce – Mike Ojala, RHP, Jr. (0-0, 1.42) Mitchell Beacom 1/0 0.00 0-0 1.0 2 the sport’s most respected in-season tournaments. Saturday, Feb. 28, 3:30 p.m. PT 2009 SCHEDULE This year’s Classic features UCLA, UC Irvine, Rice, Baylor – Kendal Volz, RHP, Jr. (0-0, 1.50) 2/20 UC Davis W, 13-1 Baylor, Texas A&M and Rice. The Bruins will send UCLA – Gerrit Cole, RHP, Fr. (1-0, 0.00) sophomore left-hander Rob Rasmussen to the mound 2/21 UC Davis W, 5-2 Sunday, March 1, 11 a.m. PT 2/22 UC Davis L, 8-7 (11) on Friday evening against Rice. Freshman right-hander UCLA – TBD 2/24 at UC Santa Barbara L, 7-6 Gerrit Cole is slated to start for UCLA on Saturday UC Irvine – TBD 2/25 UC Riverside L, 11-1 against Baylor. 2/27 vs. Rice^ (10) 5 p.m. 2/28 vs. Baylor^ (6) 1:30 p.m. 3/1 vs. UC Irvine^ (5) 9 a.m. 3/3 Pepperdine (17) 6 p.m. GETTING TO KNOW UCLA 3/4 Keio University (Japan, exhibition) 5 p.m. UCLA enters the weekend with a 2-3 record, having won two of three games against 2008 Palo Alto Regional 3/6 at Oklahoma (16) 1 p.m. competitor UC Davis last weekend before losing consecutive midweek contests at UC Santa Barbara and at home 3/7 at Oklahoma (16) 10 a.m. versus UC Riverside. Under fifth-year head coach John Savage, the Bruins have earned a berth to the NCAA 3/8 at Oklahoma (16) 11 a.m. Regionals each of the past three seasons, marking the first time UCLA’s baseball program has accomplished 3/10 UC Santa Barbara 6 p.m. that feat. The Bruins have totaled 33 wins, finishing third in the Pac-10 Conference, the last three years. 3/11 San Diego State 6 p.m. 3/13 at East Carolina 2 p.m. WEEKEND IN HOUSTON 3/14 at East Carolina 11 a.m. The Bruins last played in a major-league ballpark in 2004, when UCLA competed in the Aztec Invitational at Petco 3/15 at East Carolina 10 a.m. Park (home of the San Diego Padres). The Bruins have also played at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, 3/21 at USC* 2 p.m. home of the Minnesota Twins, in each of three seasons (1987, 1991 and 1997). UCLA won each of its three 3/22 at USC* 2 p.m. 3/23 at USC* 6 p.m. games at the 1997 Hormel Foods Classic, and went 2-1 at both the 1991 Oscar Mayer Classic and the 1987 3/25 at Pepperdine (17) 3 p.m. Wheaties Tournament. This weekend’s action marks UCLA’s first-ever appearance to Minute Maid Park. The 3/27 Arizona* 6 p.m. Bruins last played in the state of Texas in 2005 (March 11-13), losing all three games at Texas A&M. 3/28 Arizona* 2 p.m. 3/29 Arizona* 1 p.m. CONNECTIONS WITH TEXAS 4/1 Loyola Marymount 6 p.m. Most recently, 2008 staff ace Tim Murphy was selected in the third round of the MLB Draft (89th overall) by 4/3 at Washington State* 5:30 p.m. the Texas Rangers. Last summer, Murphy split time pitching for the Spokane Indians (3-1, 3.03 ERA, 32.2 IP) 4/4 at Washington State* 2 p.m. in short-season single-A ball and for the Clinton LumberKings (1-0, 2.40 ERA, 3 starts) in the Midwest League 4/5 at Washington State* 1 p.m. (low-A). Additionally, former UCLA ballplayer Eric Taylor, Jr. has spent the last three seasons in the Houston 4/7 UC Irvine (5) 6 p.m. Astros minor league organization. Taylor batted .255 with nine homers and 56 RBI in 132 games for the 4/9 at Stanford* (14) 5:30 p.m. Lexington Legends (single-A) in 2008. He spent the 2005 and 2006 seasons playing baseball at UCLA. 4/10 at Stanford* (14) 5:30 p.m. 4/11 at Stanford* (14) 1 p.m. GOING YARD 4/14 at San Diego State 6 p.m. Freshman Chris Amezquita crushed his first collegiate home run in his first plate appearance as a Bruin on 4/17 Washington* 6 p.m. Friday, Feb. 20, in a pinch-hit at-bat with one out in the bottom of the seventh inning. Amezquita became the 4/18 Washington* 2 p.m. 4/19 Washington* 1 p.m. first Bruin to record his first collegiate home run in his first game since Tim Murphy accomplished the feat on 4/21 at UC Riverside 6 p.m. Feb. 3, 2006, versus Fresno State. However, Murphy’s home run came in his second at-bat. 4/24 Oregon State* (TV – FSN) 6 p.m. 4/25 Oregon State* 2 p.m. CELEBRATING 90 YEARS 4/26 Oregon State* 1 p.m. The 2009 baseball season marks the 90th year of UCLA baseball. The Bruins have fielded a baseball team 4/28 Long Beach State 6 p.m. every year since 1920, when head coach Fred Cozens led UCLA to a 3-10 overall record. Including that 5/1 at Oregon* 3 p.m. inaugural season, UCLA has registered a record of 2,102 wins, 1,816 losses and 34 ties. In 90 seasons, the 5/2 at Oregon* 1 p.m. baseball program has seen eight head coaches and totaled 15 NCAA Tournament appearances. 5/3 at Oregon* 1 p.m. 5/5 Cal State Bakersfield 6 p.m. RUNNING THE OPTION 5/8 California* 6 p.m. UCLA’s infield, still in flux, will feature several new faces in 2009 and offers the ballclub several intriguing 5/9 California* 2 p.m. options. The Bruins have considered moving junior first baseman Casey Haerther to third base (served as DH 5/10 California* 1 p.m. in 2007, first baseman in 2008). Along with Haerther, junior Alex Weber-Shapiro and senior Cody Decker will 5/12 Long Beach State 6 p.m. compete for playing time at first base. Sophomore Niko Gallego, freshman Tyler Rahmatulla (Mater Dei HS), 5/15 at Cal State Fullerton (7) 7 p.m. senior Eddie Murray and freshman Chris Amezquita (Servite HS) are all pushing for playing time around the 5/16 Cal State Fullerton (7) 6 p.m. 5/17 Cal State Fullerton (7) 1 p.m. infield. Gallego started all three games at shortstop last weekend against UC Davis. 5/19 at UC Irvine (5) 6 p.m. 5/22 at Arizona State* (8) 6:30 p.m. OUTFIELD PATROL 5/23 at Arizona State* (8) 6:30 p.m. The Bruins’ seven outfielders have all been in UCLA’s program at least one season. Redshirt juniors Blair Dunlap 5/24 at Arizona State* (8) 1 p.m. and Dustin Quist are the unit’s eldest players, as each outfielder enrolled at UCLA in the fall of 2005. Last 5/29-6/1 NCAA Regionals TBD weekend, Dunlap made all three starts in center field, a position in which he earned 29 starts in 2008. Junior 6/5-8 NCAA Super Regionals TBD Justin Uribe has logged 51 starts in the outfield and looks to assume the starting role in left. Junior Gabe Cohen 6/13-24 College World Series TBD has patrolled right field the past two seasons and has collected 86 outfield starts (all in right). Pushing for time, ^ Houston College Classic (at Minute Maid Park, Houston, TX) along with Quist, include sophomores Raul Duran and Brett Krill and redshirt freshman Marc Navarro. * indicates Pac-10 Conference game Rankings are from Baseball America’s weekly top-25 poll UCLA BASEBALL – STEELE FIELD AT JACKIE ROBINSON STADIUM – HOME OF THE BRUINS MEDIA INFORMATION FREQUENT FLYERS UCLA Sports Information Ranked No. 1 in strength of schedule by Boyd’s World, a nationally-respected ranking service, the 2009 UCLA J.D.