LONG BEACH “”mdash; Blair Field in Long Beach is without a doubt a pitcher’s park.
There are 400 feet between dead center and home plate, and 348 feet down the lines. To the gaps, it’s 387 feet.
There is little beyond the wall in the outfield to prevent wind from blowing in, and at night, the ball simply does not carry.
One can see how this might pose a problem for a UCLA team that has come to rely on its offensive arsenal.
“One” can. The UCLA players, on the other hand, did not seem to notice a problem.
With 37 hits on the weekend and 17 runs, the Bruins proved they could play to their strengths even in a huge ballpark.
“We’ve played in big ballparks all year,” sophomore third baseman Jermaine Curtis said. “All this year, it didn’t matter about the ballpark. We just wanted to play.”
The Bruins only managed two home runs in the expansive confines of Long Beach, off the bats of sophomore catcher Cody Decker and Curtis, but they made solid contact throughout the three-game set.
STEALING FIRST: The Bruins have made an unusual habit of sliding into first base during the regionals. Conventional wisdom has it that sliding into first is actually a slower way of getting to the bag, but the Bruins have been doing it with some regularity on close plays at the bag ““ and were rewarded for it once on Sunday.
CORRECT-ER CALLS: For most of the college baseball season, there are three umpires for each game, which is less than what is allotted to typical major league baseball games. Occasionally, bad calls are made due to poor position by umpires who have to run across the field to make a call.
For the regionals, the NCAA allots four umpires, which allows for one at every base, but the change was not noticeable.
“I didn’t count (the umpires),” coach John Savage said. “I know there was one at every base. I thought they did a great job.”
NOTES: UCLA’s trip to the Super Regionals next weekend will be the team’s first since 2000. … There were 2,089 people in attendance at Sunday’s clinching game.
During the latter stages of Saturday’s game against the University of Illinois-Chicago, many Bruin fans started chanting “Na Na Na Na Goodbye” ““ despite the fact that if the Flames had won Sunday morning against Long Beach, they would have faced the Bruins again on Sunday.