If winning on the road is important to all coaches, then it is
tough to quantify what it would mean for John Savage to see his
team beat Pac-10 foes on their own fields. The UCLA baseball coach
has seen his young players perform far beyond their years. Perhaps
the last stage in the Bruins’ development during a year of
redevelopment is beating Pac-10 teams on the road. The Bruins
(18-14, 3-3) travel to the desert to play the Arizona Wildcats
(14-16, 2-4) in hopes of winning only their second Pac-10 road
series in two years. They had a chance to win their first
conference road series of the year, but dropped the rubber match of
their series against the Huskies, 4-1, on April 2. Savage knows
that his team can win on the road, as exhibited by UCLA’s
sweep at No. 16 North Carolina State earlier in the year. But
Savage’s team is still in the midst of rebuilding, and UCLA
has a chance to further distance itself from last season’s
team by putting an end to road woes “One thing about our team
is that it doesn’t seem to really matter where we
play,” Savage said. “I think that’s a good thing
because some teams clearly can’t play on the road.
We’re not one of them.” “It’s just kind of
been a general theme of us being able to deal with adversity on the
road,” he said. The moral victory of slow growth is hardly
what motives the Bruins at the moment, even if they have burst onto
the national scene a year or two before most fans expected. USC
leads the Pac-10, but the other nine teams are only separated by as
much as one-and-a -half games in conference play. UCLA is playing
for something tangible: its postseason life. “It’s
going to be a very competitive league with a ton of parity,”
Savage said. “We’ve got to make sure we hold our ground
at home and go win a couple series on the road, so this is a big
series for us.” INJURY UPDATE: Freshman centerfielder Tim
Murphy, who only appeared in seven games before breaking his ankle,
is almost fully healed and is expected to return to the playing
field sometime in the series. Murphy, projected as the starting
centerfielder in his first season, batted .300 with a home run and
four RBIs before suffering the ankle injury. Redshirt senior Josh
Roenicke has started in center in Murphy’s absence.
PITCHING MATCHUPS: Tonight: Hector Ambriz, RHP
(5-4, 3.86) vs. Preston Guilmet, RHP (2-4, 3.33) Friday: David
Huff, LHP (3-2, 2.69) vs. Brad Mills, LHP (3-2, 3.75 Saturday:
Tyson Brummett, RHP (4-4, 3.98) vs. David Coulon, LHP (1-2,
5.40)