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College  | Story  | 6/1/2018

UCLA surges back to open Regional

Patrick Ebert     
Photo: Jake Pries (UCLA Athletics)

2018 College Baseball Regional Preview

MINNEAPOLIS – Gonzaga entered the ninth inning in their NCAA Regional-opening game against UCLA with what seemed like a commanding 5-2 lead and their lights out closer on the mound. The frame started with a hits batsman and got worse from there as the Bruins rallied for four runs, ending their comeback with a walk-off sac fly off the bat of Jake Pries for a 6-5 opening win.

Prior to that, the Zags appeared to be in complete control. They were battling at the plate, making strong plays in the field and their starter, towering righthander Daniel Bies, was enjoying one of the better performances of his college career.

Bies went 7 2/3 strong innings, allowing just two runs on five hits and two walks while striking out nine. Most impressively he seemed to get better as the game progressed; after he gave up a pair of runs in the sixth he promptly struck out the side in the seventh.

Closer Casey Legumina, who came out firing 93-94 mph fastballs, may have lit up radar guns but he ultimately took the loss. After hitting Ryan Kreidler he gave up a double to R.J. Teijeiro, putting runners at second and third with no outs. A groundout and a run-scoring infield single by Kevin Kendall brought second baseman Chase Strumpf to the plate for a fifth time, already with a pair of base hits to his credit.

Strumpf singled to left, bringing home yet another run and making it a 5-4 game. Michael Toglia tied the game with a double roped down the left field line, as the Zags temporarily caught a break when the ball bounced over the fence in right field for a ground-rule double.

Instead it brought up Jake Pries – who hit an RBI groundout earlier in the game – and he added a second RBI, this time the winning run, by hitting the second pitch he saw from Legumina to left field that was plenty high and deep to score Strumpf from third.

“Well it always starts with a walk or a hit-by-pitch I feel like,” Pries said of the UCLA comeback. “Once that happened, I mean there was never a doubt in our mind but once that happened, we knew we were going to score some runs.”

UCLA skipper John Savage recognized after the game Gonzaga got the better of UCLA until that point of the contest but gave his players credit for never giving up.

“Well clearly we got out-played for eight-and-a-half innings. I really felt that we didn’t pitch great, but he [starting pitcher Jake Bird] did compete and lasted until the end of the eighth. I tip my hat to Jake, he showed up with a true warrior mentality. They really battled against him, put a lot of quality at-bats together. I give a lot of credit to them.”

Earlier in the game it was obvious both Strumpf and Toglia, UCLA’s primary run producers, were getting thrown to differently than the rest of the Bruins’ lineup. Even in the first inning Bies was able to reach back for a little extra heat, going from 89 to 91 to 92 and ultimately 93 miles per hour against Toglia.

When Kreidler, the team’s No. 7 hitter, was hit by the pitch to open the bottom of the ninth, you knew Gonzaga was especially in trouble if UCLA would be able to flip their order and give both Strumpf and Toglia another chance. The team’s Nos. 3 and 4 hitters, both Strumpf and Toglia played as advertised, combining for five hits, three runs scored and three driven in.

The late-inning victory took starter Jake Bird off the hook. Bird pitched admirably opposite Bies, but clearly didn’t have his best command. While he opened the game with a quick 1-2-3 inning, none of the frames after that went especially easy.

“It’s just a matter of getting in that competitive mindset,” Bird said after the game of his efforts on the mound. “Competing with what I had, I don’t think I was very good tonight, I’m not too happy with myself, but I made sure to keep focusing on the next pitch. Just going forward with as much conviction as I could.”

More importantly the win pushes UCLA to the winner’s bracket where they will play the winner of Friday night’s contest between Minnesota and Canisius on Saturday night.

“When you play in the Pac-12 and the schedule we have, you do prepare for these times,” said Coach Savage about his team almost moving to the loser’s bracket. “We have come back before, it’s not like this is the first comeback of the year. At the same time, in this type of moment, you are talking about having your back against the wall, against a pretty good reliever.

“Strumpf had a big day, he put on hitting clinic with two strikes, and hitting it into the middle of the field.”


Scouting Notables

Daniel Bies, at 6-foot-8, 245-pounds, carries an obvious physical presence on the mound. He did a nice job generating velocity with his whole body, creating momentum from the bottom up to produce low-90s fastballs that touched as high as 93. He maintained that velocity well, and was still able to reach back for 93 mph heat when he needed it. He also mixed in a 83-84 mph frisbee slider, a 73-74 mph curveball that he dropped in for strikes and a changeup that hovered right at 80 mph.

Bird, at 6-foot-4, 210-pounds, has a strong build of his own, with a lower waist and the ability to produce low-90s heat. He maintained his 89-91 mph fastball throughout his 7 2/3 inning outing. He did touch 92 in the first inning, using his size well to power the ball downhill. His fastball command wavered but he really did a good job to battle with the pitch, especially considering his usually hard-spinning curveball also wasn’t working for him on this day.

As mentioned, Strumpf and Toglia were both pitched to significantly different than the rest of the UCLA lineup. Strumpf in particular showed his gap power to right and right-center field, depositing all three of his hits the opposite way with authority. His double, like Toglia’s, was of the ground-rule variety, ripping a hanging slider down the line that bounced over the wall in right. Strumpf also made a dazzling play at second base, ranging hard to his left, turning and firing to throw out the runner at first.

In fact, the entire UCLA infield had their moments. Toglia made a nice diving stop on a ball hit down the first base line while both shortstop Kevin Kendall and Ryan Kreidler had their moments on the left side of the infield as well. Most impressive about this quartet as all four will be back next year as Kendall is a freshman and the other three are juniors.

Hey may have taken the loss but Gonzaga closer Casey Legumina showed a real live arm. The first pitch he threw – which actually came in the bottom of the eighth after he was summoned to get out of a jam with two out – recorded 94 mph, and the second came in at 93, consistently holding that velo into the ninth. He also mixed in a low-80s slider that had short yet sharp break that resembled a cutter more than a true breaking ball. With a wiry strong, 6-foot, 180-pound frame Legumina is able to generate his velocity consistently and easily.


Gophers hit parade begins early

MINNEAPOLIS – Minnesota started a hit barrage in the second inning of the second game at the Minneapolis Regional, leading to a five-run frame that put the Gophers’ contest against Canisius out of reach early in a 10-1 victory.

It didn’t matter that Canisius sent their staff ace to the mound, MAAC Pitcher of the Year J.P. Stevenson. It also didn’t matter that the lefthanded ace faced a mostly lefthanded lineup. In the second inning alone Minnesota pounded out five base hits and also took advantage of an error, a wild pitch and an RBI groundout. Those hits started with a double off the bat of Micah Coffey and ended with a triple by star shortstop Terrin Vavra.

“We knew he was a pretty talented pitcher, I mean he has done pretty well heading into this regional,” Vavra said of facing Canisius’ lefthanded ace. “We didn’t overlook him. We knew we were going to have to compete and grind against him to get a good pitch to hit. Luckily enough we were able to get some good swings on him and Reggie [Meyer] did a good job keeping us in the game early and the rest took care of itself.”

After scoring single tallies in the third and fourth innings, the Gophers tacked on a three-spot in the fifth, which really put the game out of reach. In total they collected 14 base hits, six of which went for extra bases.

Minnesota’s staff ace, Reggie Meyer, cruised all the way through. One week removed from his dominant complete game shutout over Illinois in the Big Ten Tournament, the 6-foot-4, 210-pound redshirt junior pounded the strike zone with upper-80s fastballs and low-80s breaking balls, keeping the Canisius hitters off balance for eight innings. He peaked as high as 91 in the early frames, and allowed only one run on five base hits and a walk while striking out six.

Vavra finished the game 3-for-5 with his triple and three RBI.

With the win Minnesota will face UCLA on Saturday night in the winner’s bracket. Canisius will face Gonzaga early afternoon in an elimination game.
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