UCLA has been playing musical chairs on the base paths for the
past few weeks. Only, when the music stops, all of the Bruins are
left stranded with no place to go. The UCLA baseball team has been
9-8 over the past month after a meteoric rise during February and
March that took a lifeless program and put it right in the middle
of NCAA Tournament contention. It’s not that the Bruins have
come back down to earth. They just haven’t been able to
capitalize on their chances at the plate. And the numbers show it.
UCLA’s last six losses have been by a combined score of 12
runs, and that’s only after dropping the rubber match against
Cal on Sunday, 9-4. For the Bruins to reach the NCAA Tournament
only a year removed from a 19-41 season, timely hitting with
runners in scoring position will need to improve. “We have
been in a position to win almost all of these losses,” UCLA
coach John Savage said. “We’ve had the other
team’s starter on the ropes and couldn’t deliver the
knockout blow.” UCLA (24-19, 8-7 Pac-10) just completed a
disappointing three-game road series against Cal, a mediocre best
Pac-10 team that will be watching the College World Series from
Berkeley. UCLA had an opportunity to win each game in the series
but only came away with one of three, mainly because of poor
hitting in clutch situations. On Saturday, junior Dave Huff gave up
a two-run home run in the first inning but found his rhythm to shut
down Cal for the next nine innings. Huff’s performance
didn’t materialize into a win, however, as the Bruins left 12
men on base. In the sixth inning UCLA was down 2-1 and had loaded
the bases with nobody out, but couldn’t manufacture a single
run to tie the game. The Bruins ended up losing the game 4-3 in 11
innings. “We’ve had guys in scoring position and we
need to get it done,” said Huff, referring to his 10-inning
outing Saturday. “It’s frustrating to have a game like
that and then … still lose. “I know (the hitters) are
frustrated too because they work the count and get on base to put
us in a position to win, but we haven’t come up with a big
hit here or there.” Savage compared it to a similar situation
on April 13 when his club also had the bases loaded and nobody out
against Arizona, with a chance to open up a big lead in the first
inning. But the Bruins couldn’t push across a run and
suffered the same fate, losing 4-3. “It’s not an
excuse, but this is also the result of facing Pac-10
pitching,” Savage said. “A lot of our wins could also
be looked at as if the other team didn’t get clutch hitting.
The games in the Pac-10 are always close.” The eternal
optimist would argue the UCLA offense is consistently putting
runners in scoring position, and it is only a matter of time before
runs are being scored in bunches. “On one hand you can say
it’s nice to get all those guys on base, but it doesn’t
really matter if they stay there.” Why does a team with a
.282 batting average ““ compared with an opponent average of
.253 ““ suddenly lose sight of the ball with runners on base?
Most will admit the source is easy to find but harder to cure.
“It’s all about putting too much pressure on ourselves
to produce,” freshman Brandon Crawford said. “I try not
to put everything on my shoulders when I am up there with runners
on, but it is tough.” UCLA will try to find an offensive
groove soon, because the upcoming series against USC, Stanford and
No. 5 Oregon State will determine whether the Bruins will qualify
for the postseason.
UPCOMING GAME: UCLA will resume a suspended
game against UC Riverside tonight at the Riverside Sports Complex.
The game will be picked up with the Bruins up 6-3 in the top of the
fourth inning. The March 28 game was suspended because of rain, and
will resume with Crawford at the plate with no outs and freshman
Blair Dunlap at first base.