The No. 1 UCLA Bruins remain atop of in the first USA TODAY Baseball Coaches Poll of May, with the poll being released on Monday, May 4.
The Bruins have stayed the leader of the poll for two months, since they took over the top spot back on March 2. UCLA has become a wrecking ball against just about every opponent they have faced with a 44-4 overall record and have yet to drop a game in Big Ten Conference action. The result was 30 of the 31 head coaches who voted on the poll handing the Bruins their first-place vote.
The Bruins batters have exceled and has allowed five of their players to climb up pre-draft boards and become possible top-150 MLB draft prospects.
Juniors Roch Cholowsky, Mulivai Levu, Will Gasparino and Roman Martin have put on a show when they stepped up to the plate, as each have put up a batting average over .320. All four lead the Bruins on their slugging percentage as well with Cholowsky on top at .687.
However, it hasn’t just been the offense that has kept the team securely above the rest of the NCAA. Their pitching has also been superb with their ace, junior right-handed pitcher Logan Reddemann being ranked No. 20 in MLB Pipeline’s pre-draft rankings.
Reddemann was sidelined for their latest series against the Michigan State Spartans for arm fatigue, but the rest of the pitching staff handled their own. The Bruins held the Spartans under four runs in their first two games, but struggled big-time in their finale by giving up 11.
UCLA did enough against Michigan State, but they will need more from their pitching staff with No. 14 Oregon looming around the corner.
The Bruins will begin their second to last series against the Ducks at Jackie Robinson Stadium on Friday with an anticipated start time of 7 p.m. PT.
This article originally appeared on UCLA Wire: UCLA remains at No.1 of USA TODAY poll for two months straight
Reporting by Ryan Lorenz, UCLA Wire / UCLA Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
