If it’s three steps forward for every step back the rest
of the way for the baseball team, the Bruins will be happy with
that. But they would rather not have been subjected to
Tuesday’s 6-1 defeat by the No. 23 Pepperdine Waves after
completing their weekend road sweep of North Carolina State.
“This is extremely disappointing,” redshirt junior
designated hitter Hector Ambriz said. “We pretty much pounded
on NC State, and then we came out flat against
Pepperdine.”
The Bruins (9-10) may have been suffering some fatigue from
their cross-country trip, but coach John Savage does not see that
as any kind of excuse for the way they played against the
Waves.
“I don’t know (whether the team was tired),”
Savage said. “If that’s the case, we still have a way
to go as a team. We came back on Monday and had that day off to
rest. There’s no excuse for not coming out ready to play
today.”
Junior pitcher Brian Schroeder (2-1), who started against
Pepperdine, issued three walks and hit a batter in a decisive third
inning that left the Waves (10-9) with a 4-0 lead. Schroeder shied
away from excuses for his performance.
“We just didn’t come out with the same intensity
today,” Schroeder said. “You can say umpires, you can
say we were tired, you can say whatever, but the bottom line is
that we just came out flat today.”
UCLA’s offense did not offer the pitching staff much help,
scoring its lone run in the ninth inning on a solo home run by
junior pinch hitter Eric Taylor Jr. The lack of production comes on
the heels of a three-game streak in which the Bruins scored 25
runs.
“It’s just the mentality,” Ambriz said.
“We have to have the mentality to come in and play well every
game. We just weren’t amped to play the game.”
Ambriz went 2-for-4, accounting for half of the Bruins’
hits.
Redshirt senior right fielder Chris Jensen had the only other
hit for UCLA.
With the loss, the Bruins split the season series with the
Waves.
Their first meeting, a 2-0 shutout by UCLA, gave Savage hopes of
a series sweep to pad his club’s NCAA Tournament chances with
two victories over a ranked team.
“Whenever you win the first game, you want to win the
second one,” Savage said. “We felt we had a good
opportunity today to win. You have to give Pepperdine credit.
You’ve gotta give (Waves starting pitcher) James Johnson
credit. He threw a lot of strikes.”
Johnson pitched eight shutout innings, earning the victory.
BRUMMETT HONORED: After pitching one of the
strongest games of his UCLA baseball career, junior pitcher Tyson
Brummett reaped the benefits Tuesday.
Brummett was named the Pac-10 Pitcher of the Week after
defeating NC State last Sunday to cap a thrilling three-game sweep
for the Bruins.
Brummett, a transfer from Central Arizona Community College,
threw eight innings, allowing just six hits, and struck out a
season-high 12 batters.
Brummett improved his season record to 2-3 and lowered his ERA
to 4.55. He now has 30 strikeouts in 29.2 innings pitched.