UCLA comes to town today. Hopefully, for the UCSB baseball team, this signals that another win is Bruin.

The Gauchos hope to continue their winning ways today against the visiting Bruins at 2 p.m. in Caesar Uyesaka Stadium.

Santa Barbara emphatically emerged from a five-game degringolade with a 14-3 thrashing of Westmont, in which freshmen standouts Matt Wilkerson, Chris Malec and Matt Stevens gave a scintillating offensive performance, going a combined 8 for 14 with three home runs and eight RBI.

Offense doesn’t figure to be much of a problem for the Gauchos. In their only other encounter of the year with UCLA on February 26, the two teams went yard five times, including three from Wilkerson, in a 12-7 UCSB loss.

UCSB Head Coach Bob Brontsema was pleased with the Gaucho’s previous output against UCLA.

“We swung the bats well,” he said. “But once again, we couldn’t find a way to pull it out.”

This weekend, Brontsema feels that improved pitching will be the key to a Santa Barbara win.

Although Brontsema has not decided who will start on the mound for the Gauchos, he anticipates throwing a variety of pitchers at the Bruins in order to conserve his bullpen for the upcoming weekend series against Riverside.

“We haven’t decided who we’re going to start,” Brontsema said. “No matter who we pitch, we need to throw strikes and execute. We’re going to have to keep them from driving in runs.”

Gaucho pitchers are going to have to contend with Bruin slugger senior Adam Berry, whose two home runs in the teams’ previous contest proved fatal for Santa Barbara.

This time, UCSB hopes it can overwhelm UCLA’s offense by relying on its core of talented freshmen and its powerful bats of its veteran stars.

Brontsema hopes junior right fielder Ryan Spilborghs, who went 3-5 with a triple and three RBI against UCLA earlier, will erupt from his recent torpor.

“Our freshmen have been the silver lining on a difficult year … I don’t think [Spilborghs] has been the same guy,” Brontsema said. I fully anticipate he’ll finish strong and help us finish strong – he’s too good a player.”