June 3, 2017
LONG BEACH, Calif. - San Diego State and UCLA will meet this afternoon at the NCAA Regional at Blair Field in Long Beach, Calif., in an elimination contest. The winner will remain alive in the four-team tournament while the loser will see its 2017 season come to an end.
UCLA (30-26) dropped into the losers' bracket after falling to Texas, 3-2, Friday afternoon.
The Bruins are expected to start either junior right-hander Jake Bird (5-4, 3.00) or sophomore right-hander. Jon Olsen (7-1, 2.91) on the mound for today's contest.
Leading hitters for UCLA include designated hitter Kyle Cuellar (.324, 9 doubles, 20 RBI) and first baseman Sean Bouchard (.305, 9 home runs, 43 RBI).
San Diego State, meanwhile, will go with senior lefty Dominic Purpura (6-3, 4.36) as its starting pitcher this afternoon.
In Friday's 6-0 loss to tournament host Long Beach State, the Aztecs were limited to six hits, two of which were collected by second baseman Alan Trejo. With those two singles, the junior from Downey, Calif., upped his season batting average to .340.
Junior right fielder David Hensley, who had a hit in four plate appearances on Friday, continues to lead SDSU in batting average with a .373 mark. That average is the highest for an Aztec since Brandon Meredith finished at .383 during the 2010 season.
The winner of today's SDSU-UCLA Game will advance to Sunday (at 1:00 p.m.) when it will face the loser of this evening's Texas-Long Beach State contest that gets underway at 7:00 p.m. PT.