'Finally Got To Know Ourselves': Savage Details UCLA's Stellar Pitching

The UCLA Bruins are looking just about as complete as any baseball team to this point of the Men's College World Series in Omaha.

The Bruins bats and gloves have been firing on all cylinders, but it's the pitching that has been lifting UCLA through their 6-0 postseason record thus far.

After giving up just 16 runs through five regional games -- zero in the last 16 innings against UTSA -- junior righty Michael Barnett took the mound to open up UCLA's first CWS appearance since 2013 and threw four shutout innings before giving up a run in the fifth.

The Bruins went up 6-0 early in their win against Murray State on Saturday and the Racer actually started getting to UCLA's bullpen in the second half of the game, putting up a run in the fifth and sixth innings and two more in the eighth before freshman closer Dean West took the bump in the top of the ninth and retired the side to lead the Bruins to victory.

What has been the secret to UCLA's stellar pitching in the postseason? Coach John Savage believes they discovered themselves all the way back in April.

"We finally got to know ourselves probably about April," Savage said after the game. "And we're not going to blow anybody away clearly, you can tell that. Hawk can do that a little bit, and a couple of relievers can do that."

Savage pointed to the versatility of their pen arms being the reason they are so successful. Noting that many of them came to Westwood as starting pitchers with sterting-pitcher pitch mixes in the bullpen.

"But they all have a little niche," Savage added. "They all know what they can do. I have a good feel for them in terms of pitch calling. It's a blend. It's a change. It's a breaking ball. It's a slider. It's a cutter. It's a fastball. It's not just one go-to pitch.And a lot of these guys are somewhat starters that are relievers. Some guys are three- and four-pitch guys. Even if it's one inning some guys are throwing four pitches which is a little unusual nowadays. Usually you see two pitches, right, out of a reliever.So, we do have some guys that really have starter profiles, but not big stuff. That's why we can get into trouble a little bit because they can get hit.

"It's baseball. It's Omaha. You expect trouble. If you're not expecting trouble, you'll be out of here pretty quick. So you better be able to pitch with traffic and pitch out of problems. That's the nature of championship baseball."

UCLA's pitching is what's been taking the squad over the edge. Even as Big Ten Player of the Year Roch Cholowsky struggled against the Racers, the Bruins arms have always been reliable this postseason and need to continue to do so to keep national championship hopes alive.