The three starters that led the way to UCLA's near-historic win streak

It takes more than explosive offense to put together a 27-game win streak like the No. 1 UCLA baseball team did over the last few months - it takes shutdown pitching.

Bruins coach John Savage said earlier this month that his players were as good defensively, or better, as they are at the plate. Across almost all statistical measures, the numbers agree with Savage’s sentiment.

Junior pitcher Logan Reddemann is second in the Big Ten Conference in both ERA (2.87) and strikeouts (84), being bested only by Top 100 MLB prospect and Southern California junior pitcher Mason Edwards. Where Reddemann beats the Trojan ace is in the walk department. The Bruin starter has walked just 11 batters in his 59 innings of work. That's good enough for a 1.7 walks per nine innings.

In the middle of this historic win streak, Reddemann tied the single-game strikeout record against Rutgers on April 10, matching Rob Henkel’s 18-strikeout record from 2000.

Senior pitcher Michael Barnett has allowed only 35 hits in his 43 innings of work, allowing just a .229 batting average. His ERA is nothing to scoff at either, following up his fellow starter Reddemann at 3.35, making UCLA one of two teams in the Big Ten Conference with a couple of starters in the top 10 in ERA.

Since his first start on Feb. 14, Barnett hasn’t issued more than three walks. His best performance came on March 28 against Iowa, where he pitched a 5-inning shutout, struck out five, and allowed just three hits and no walks. Lastly, junior pitcher Landon Stump has pitched exceptionally well in conference play. In his seven Conference starts, Stump has the third-best ERA at 2.22, struck out 23 batters in 28 innings, and allowed just 8 walks.