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Sophomore Brandon Crawford looks to lead a dangerous Bruin lineup to the Pac-10 Championship this

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The cat’s out of the bag – this team is good.

Less than a year removed from an NCAA regional berth, the Bruins are back on the diamond and in the batter’s box with one of the more potent offensive lineups to call Jackie Robinson Stadium home in some time.

Coming into the year, the Bruins are ranked No. 13 by Baseball America and No. 21 in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches Preseason poll. They are also picked fourth in the Pac-10, due in large part to a batting order that is strong from top to bottom.

“In one year we’ve grown up a lot,” outfielder Cody Decker said. “This year is going to be something special. We have an entire lineup (where) everyone can really swing it.”

INFOGRAPHIC Click here to see UCLA Baseball's starting lineup for 2007.

Shortstop Brandon Crawford echoed the same confidence.

“I think we should score a lot of runs with the big bats we have this year,” Crawford said. “We should put up a lot of numbers.”

The Bruins return most of their batting order, losing only pitcher/DH Hector Ambriz to the major leagues. The batting order has a few key additions.

Jumping into the leadoff role is junior transfer Alden Carrithers from UCSB, who will be followed by third baseman Jermaine Curtis (pending the results of an academic issue) in the two spot.

“When you talk about having him (Carrithers) and Curtis on top of the lineup, boy, that’s a tough two guys to get through, just because they have good eyes and are tough to strike out,” coach John Savage said.

The Bruins also insert highly touted freshman Casey Haerther into the DH role and return big bats in the middle of the lineup in the form of Crawford and first baseman Tim Stewart.

UCLA has a strong batting order from start to finish that goes lefty-righty almost the entire way through, with a No. 9 hitter (catcher Ryan Babineau) who drove in 25 runs a season ago.

“When you’re talking about (Tim) Murphy in the eight hole and Babineau in the nine, I think you’re talking about a pretty potent lineup,” Savage said. “The bottom line is that we’re going to score more runs, be tougher outs, and in the long haul hopefully we’ll be winning a lot of 8-2 games. We’ll have to see because our pitching is untested.”

When asked, the players were candid about the character of the team.

“(Our) biggest strength would probably be our hitting, our team chemistry and depth,” outfielder Blair Dunlap said. “And then our weakness would probably be pitching.”

Pitching is the question mark for the team that sent its two best arms (Ambriz and Dave Huff) to the professional ranks.

The ace of this year’s staff is right-handed senior Tyson Brummett, who was the Sunday-night starter last year.

“This year I’ve got to go out and set the tone and hopefully give us a good chance (to win),” Brummett said.

The Utah native is followed up by two big freshman recruits, righty Charles Brewer and lefty Gavin Brooks.

UCLA will have to wait to call Brewer’s number and will call on senior Paul Schmidt until the freshman returns from illness.

“There could be mono,” Savage said about Brewer. “(The rotation) was going to be Brummet, Brewer and Brooks – senior, freshman, freshman. We hope that to be the case the second or third week. (Until then) we’re going to go with two seniors – Brummett, Schmidt and Brooks on Sunday.”

The freshman, Brooks, who uses his changeup to fool hitters in crucial counts, is excited about jumping right into the rotation.

“I just saw it up on the board,” Brooks said. “It feels good. I feel I can go out there and battle for my team and hopefully bring a quality start on Sunday and help the team get a W.”

With new and unpredictable blood in pitching expert Savage’s rotation, the Bruins expect to use their bullpen as an anchoring force. Whereas last year a fan could be a few hours late to the game and still see the starter on the mound, Savage is hoping to get five to six quality innings out of his starters before handing the game over to his bullpen.

Getting the call in the late innings will be long reliever Jason Novak and closer Brant Rustich, who missed most of last season because of injury.

“I don’t think we’ll be able to go as long into the deep innings with starters (as we did last year),” Novak said. “So our bullpen will play a big role, and we have our closer Rusty back.”

Helping the entire staff from behind the plate will be Babineau, who has stepped up as one of the team’s vocal leaders.

“Being a catcher is a position where you need to be vocal and communicate with teammates,” Babineau said. “It’s important that someone is vocal and lead by example. I guess I’ve assumed that role.”

The sophomore helps to anchor a very tight-knit group of guys who are hesitant to take credit and focused on working together.

“Everyone’s a blue-collar team guy, willing to give up an at bat for the team, and we’re building our identity as hard-nosed players,” outfielder Murphy said.

That identity will get more solidified when UCLA hosts Winthrop this weekend to start the season. While the Bruins haven’t forgotten what competition is like, they are tired of seeing only blue and gold.

“Like riding a bike, you know how to play baseball,” Decker said. “But we’re getting tired of facing each other. We’re looking forward to getting another jersey on the field.”

Thinking about expectations for the upcoming season, the Bruins were not afraid to say the name of the magic five-letter town in Nebraska. When asked how they would do, Crawford had a simple response.

“I think we can go all the way to Omaha,” he said.

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