Dan Klein helps keep UCLA unbeaten

Therapy waits in UCLA’s bullpen. If the call comes in the late innings, then it takes the mound and the team is soothed. The Bruins know Dan Klein will close it out and send them home winners.

“There’s this calmness in handing the ball over to Dan,” said Coach John Savage, who also serves as the team’s pitching coach. “Nothing gets him rattled.”

He wasn’t Tuesday, when he sealed UCLA’s 2-1 win over Pepperdine, pushing the Bruins to 21-0, the best start in school history that has earned them a top-six ranking in all five major college baseball polls.

So far this season, the sophomore right-hander has made 14 appearances, thrown 16 innings, earned five saves and hasn’t given up a run.

“Everybody on our team loves it when he comes in,” outfielder Brett Krill said.

It’s usually three outs to lights out when he does, such as Tuesday, when he came in to start the ninth inning and he and everyone else in attendance bolted Jackie Robinson Stadium after three straight strikeouts.

“I thrive on this stuff,” he said. “It’s fun.”

Other factors deserve credit for UCLA’s historic start: improved defense, an influx of young bats, one of the nation’s top pitching staffs, two second-year assistant coaches that brought new philosophies the players have now bought into.

But Klein, who sat out last season because of a right shoulder injury, is key. He has drastically improved the bullpen, and now bridges the gap from for a starting rotation that features right-handers Trevor Bauer (5-0) and Gerrit Cole (6-0) and left-hander Rob Rasmussen (3-0).

It’s his first season as the team’s closer, but he likes the pressure. Credit football for that: Klein was a three-year starting quarterback at Anaheim Servite.

“Playing at a high-profile position like quarterback, all eyes are going to be on you and your teammates are looking at you to see how you react to things and I think it carries over to the mound,” Klein said.

As a pitcher, the ball is always in your hands, just like as a quarterback, he added. But he easily could be playing football. He got multiple offers from Pacific 10 Conference programs. California’s Jeff Tedford was after him pretty hard too.

“I always joke with him, ‘The best quarterback at UCLA is Dan Klein and they don’t even know it,’ ” Servite football Coach Troy Thomas said.

Klein thought baseball offered a better future. He throws four pitches for strikes: a two-seam fastball that touches 93 mph, a curveball, a slider and a changeup. He said learning to be consistent has been the key to his success.

And then there’s the thing about him keeping it cool, which he always seems to be.

“Football helped me out with that in high school,” he said. “I try to keep things calm and I think people can see that.”

He has been perfect so far, as has UCLA. But it might soon come down to his football arm and UCLA’s historic baseball winning streak.

“I think I can handle it,” he said with a smile.

baxter.holmes@latimes.com