The UCLA baseball team is headed to Oklahoma.
As unglamorous as that may sound, the Bruins wouldn’t have
it any other way.
Their season-long goal of reaching the postseason officially
became a reality at the Monday morning NCAA Regional selection
show, as UCLA earned the third seed out of four teams in the
Oklahoma City bracket, which starts on Friday.
“After our two out of three victories at Oregon State, it
wasn’t a question whether we would make it,” coach Gary
Adams said. “We’ll take Oklahoma; we’d go to
Timbuktu if we had to.”
“At this point, it’s all about excitement,”
junior Wes Whisler added.
UCLA will face host second-seeded Oklahoma in its opening game
on Friday, while bracket-mates No. 1 Florida and No. 4 Central
Connecticut State will play one another.
The Bruins’ first postseason berth since 2000 postpones
Adams’ retirement for at least two more games because of the
tournament’s double-elimination format.
“He definitely deserves the best,” catcher Chris
Denove said. “We hope to give him more than just two more
games.”
Although it had more losses than any other team that received an
at-large bid, UCLA (33-27, 14-10 Pac-10) reached the postseason
based on a solid overall season and a third-place finish in the
Pac-10. UCLA’s regular season culminated last weekend with a
series win at Oregon State (31-22, 10-14), marking the fifth
straight conference road series that the Bruins have captured.
Likely needing at least one victory to wrap up a playoff bid,
UCLA did better than that.
After dropping the opening game of the series Friday 3-2, the
Bruins battled back, taking Saturday and Sunday’s games in
convincing fashion and slamming the door on any thoughts of
slipping from postseason consideration.
“There was not so much extra pressure because we found out
on Friday we could beat them,” Denove said. “They just
held us to three hits and we made some mistakes.”
Saturday, the sophomore backstop did his share to shrug off any
apprehension. Denove went 4-for-4, including his eighth home run of
the season, to lead the Bruins to a 12-2 victory.
On Sunday it was Whisler who carried the load, both on the mound
and with his bat. The junior lefty supplied the exclamation point
to end the regular season with an opposite field three-run home run
capping a five-run eighth, en route to a 11-6 UCLA victory.
“We took care of business,” Adams said. “It
seems like we’ve had different stars every game. (This
weekend) was such a good team effort, with so many guys
contributing.”
In the end, the Oregon State series will be quickly forgotten,
as the Bruins will have to shift their year-long goal from making
the postseason to thriving there. They will have a tough opening
matchup against the two-time national champion Sooners (37-22), the
second-place team in the powerful Big 12 conference.
Regardless of how it fares in Oklahoma City, UCLA is happy to
have finally made it back to the postseason, where no current
baseball Bruin has ever been.
“There are a lot of college baseball teams out
there,” Adams said. “And to get there to final 64, you
have to be pretty good.”