UCLA (4-6) won their first series of the season this past
weekend, taking two of three on the road against the University of
the Pacific (4-6). The Westwood Nine capitalized on some superb
starting pitching on the road to victory. After a rain delay on
Friday night, the Bruins took both games of the Saturday
doubleheader winning 5-2 and 5-1, but fell to the Tigers in the
final game on Sunday, 3-0. The big story of the weekend was junior
left-hander David Huff (1-1). Huff started game two of the weekend
by striking out the first nine batters he faced. He went on to
throw a total of 15 strikeouts while allowing just one run on two
hits in eight innings. “Huff struck out the first
nine,” coach John Savage said. “You don’t see
that at the college or pro levels. He had good fastball command,
all four pitches were going. He was as good as anyone in the
country that night.” After the outing, Huff earned Collegiate
Baseball Player of the Week honors by the publication Collegiate
Baseball. “It was one of those days where everything
clicked,” Huff said. “All of my pitches were working
and I was throwing my fastball for a strike. It was probably my
best outing as a Bruin. I’ve had others where everything was
clicking but with not as good results.” Unlike his other
outings where run support was scarce, the Bruin offense was behind
No. 11 in full force. Freshman Jermaine Curtis helped out in a big
way with two doubles, two runs scored, and an RBI to put the Bruins
on the board in the top of the second. “Every time I came up
to the plate I got a pitch I could drive, and I stayed inside the
ball,” Curtis said. Junior Hector Ambriz supported his fellow
pitcher by going 2-for-4 and scoring a run, after helping himself
out in the first game going 2-for-3 and scoring two runs to add to
a solid day on the mound. Ambriz allowed one earned run on four
hits over seven innings in the first game on Saturday, tallying six
strikeouts and improving his record to 1-2. Senior Chris Jensen
topped the stat sheet in game one, going 3-for-5 with two runs
scored and junior Brant Rustich got his first save of the season.
Rustich had a flawless ninth that included a strikeout. On Sunday,
it was all about the double-play ball. The Bruins hit into five
double plays and were shut out by starting pitcher Ty’relle
Harris, who went 8 1/3 innings. Tigers’ reliever Curtis Pasma
closed out the ninth and got the save. The game was scoreless until
the bottom of the sixth when Pacific scored three runs on five
hits. Bruins’ right-handed starter Tyson Brummett (1-2) was
charged with the loss. Coming into the weekend, the Bruins were hit
by injuries to freshman Tim Murphy and senior Sean Carpenter, but
were able to respond well as the days wore on. “We have a lot
of depth,” Ambriz said. “Two guys got injured and two
new people filled their roles. Anthony Norman and Josh Roenicke did
a good job.” “We met our goals,” Savage said.
“Any weekend we want to win the series. It would’ve
been nice to sweep, especially after winning the first two, but we
couldn’t do that.”
LOOKING AHEAD: The Bruins are in the middle of
a marathon stretch. Starting with the Pacific series, by the end of
the week the Bruins will have played eight games in 10 days. This
week includes a one-game matchup against Pepperdine Tuesday at 6
p.m., an exhibition against Waseda (from Japan) Thursday at 6 p.m.,
and a weekend series against powerhouse Cal State Fullerton
starting at 6 p.m. on Friday. The team is looking on the bright
side of having such a hectic schedule. “It’s an
opportunity for young guys to get a lot of at bats,” Savage
said. “We’re looking to improve as a program. Playing
everyday, you learn about your personnel.” That personnel is
riding a huge wave of confidence going into the game against
Pepperdine. When asked what he thought the team’s biggest
problem to solve was, Curtis replied, “You know, I
don’t think we have a problem.”