2013 Baseball World Series Los Angeles Regional Breakdown
UCLA, Cal Poly, San Diego, San Diego State
This may be one of the regionals where all of the teams are located close by. Five hours separate the northern-most school (Cal Poly, in San Luis Obispo) from the two San Diego-based teams, and the three schools will converge on Los Angeles to battle it out for the right to move on to the Super Regional round. UCLA (39-17) finished third in the Pac-12 behind Oregon State and Oregon, good enough for an at-large bid. This is the Bruins’ seventh trip in eight seasons to the NCAA Tournament, and this is the fourth straight year UCLA hosts games at Jackie Robinson Stadium. UCLA has a fairly weak batting average (.249 as a team) but its pitching helps make up the deficit. Nick Vander Tuig (10-4, 2.30) has 14 walks and 74 strikeouts, and Adam Plutko (7-3, 2.60) and Grant Watson (7-3, 3.50) are reliable starters.
Cal Poly (39-17) finished with the same record as UCLA, but it was tied for second place in the Big West Conference. This is the Mustangs’ second trip to the regionals, having last been to the postseason in 2009. Denver Chavez (.362, 84 hits, 17 stolen bases) leads the hitting lineup and Nick Torres hit .336 with 19 doubles. Joey Wagman (12-3, 3.11) has 100 strikeouts. San Diego (35-23) finished in a tie for second for the West Coast Conference, no doubt because of Kris Bryant’s hot bat. Bryant finished with a .340 batting average, 73 hits, 13 doubles, three triples and 31 home runs. The homer mark is tops among all Division I baseball players, and no other player has hit more than 30 homers since the NCAA switched to new bats. P.J. Conlon anchors the pitching staff with a 9-0 mark and 1.65 ERA. San Diego State (31-29) overcame an early slump to take third in the Mountain West Conference. This is the Aztecs’ first trip to the tournament since 2009. Tim Zier has a .346 average and 85 hits to lead the SDSU offense.
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