Baseball: Freshman James Kaprielian will be UCLA’s closer

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Former Irvine Beckman starting pitcher James Kaprielian is going to get the chance to show he has ice water in his veins. The freshman at UCLA has been tabbed to become the Bruins’ closer starting with Friday’s season opener against Minnesota.

‘He can handle the pressure and has really great stuff,’ UCLA Coach John Savage said Monday.

Kaprielian was one of the steals in Savage’s 2012 recruiting class. He grew up a USC fan, like his entire family.

But he has said he’ll do whatever it takes to help his team, and for now, with UCLA having three starting pitchers back, Kaprielian will assume the role of closer.

Above is video from his senior year at Beckman.

-- Eric Sondheimer