John Savage wasted no time in collecting his first victory as
UCLA’s new baseball coach.
The first-year coach had little time to enjoy the season-opening
win, though, as the Bruins dropped the next two games in the
weekend series against Cal Poly.
“It was great to get that first win,” Savage said.
“I felt that second game could have gone either way, but
(Sunday) wasn’t a very positive day for us.”
Rain forced UCLA (1-2) to delay its season opener to the first
game of a doubleheader on Saturday.
However, the weather didn’t stop the Bruins from beginning
the season on a positive note. They took Saturday’s opener
7-4 behind a stellar day at the plate by sophomore pitcher Hector
Ambriz, who also started and received a no-decision after going
five innings, allowing only two hits and one earned run. Ambriz
went 4-for-4 and had three doubles, three runs, and two RBI.
Junior Daniel Miltenberger picked up the win with 2-1/3 innings
in relief without an earned run, and junior Adam Simon blanketed
the Mustangs for 1-1/3 innings for the save.
“It felt great to go out there,” said Ambriz, who
missed most of last season with a shoulder injury. “The
coaches have done a great job, and we wanted them to get that first
win.”
Saturday’s nightcap turned into a pitcher’s duel
with Cal Poly coming out on top 2-1. Mustang starter Garrett Olson
held the Bruins to one run over eight innings as UCLA wasted a
strong effort by senior starter Bryan Beck who struck out six in as
many innings and gave up a lone run. Junior second baseman Sean
Smith led the Bruins at the plate, going 3-for-3.
Sunday, fatigue from the previous day appeared as the Bruins
only managed three hits in an 8-3 loss. Junior right fielder Josh
Roenicke had two of the hits including a double, UCLA’s only
extra-base hit.
“We did well (Saturday) and battled that second game hard,
but today we came out kind of flat,” Ambriz said.
UCLA didn’t fare any better from the mound as five
pitchers combined for nine walks and allowed twelve hits.
“There were a lot of deep counts and too many
baserunners,” Savage said. “We messed with fire and got
burned.”
It’s a long, five-month season and Savage, who also serves
as pitching coach, will have plenty of time to work out the
kinks.
For now, it will be a five-day wait before he can go for win No.
2 on Friday at Fresno State.
“Teams that rebound after losses are the teams that are
progressing,” Savage said. “We saw a lot of things this
weekend, good and bad.”