At this point, stating that every game remaining on the UCLA baseball schedule holds importance would be an understatement.
Although the season is only halfway completed, the team is still looking to find its groove. UCLA (14-13, 3-3 Pac-10) has played 27 games thus far and will begin the bottom half of its schedule tonight at 6 p.m. in a significant non-conference three-game set against UC Riverside (9-18) at Jackie Robinson Stadium.
In an attempt to find the right combination of players, coach John Savage has recently altered the lineup. Junior left-hander Tim Murphy, usually the anchor of the weekend rotation, has seen regular playing time in center field and in the middle of the batting order. Although senior Alden Carrithers leads the Bruins in a number of offensive categories, including a team-best .385 batting average, 42 hits, and 27 runs batted in, the vigor of freshman second baseman Niko Gallego has forced Carrithers to left field.
“(Gallego’s) our starting second baseman right now,” Savage said. “Alden’s obviously our best hitter, so he has to be in the lineup as well. But I just don’t think we can take Niko out of the lineup right now; he’s really stepping it up.”
Gallego is one of the fastest base runners on the team, yet his defensive ability is considered to be his best asset. Savage also believes that Gallego brings a lot of energy and is comfortable on the field, which makes the Bruins a better team with him on it.
“It’s what I try to do every time I come out there,” Gallego said. “I just try and scrap. It’s basically what we’re trying to get this team to do. If I can be the spark plug, that’s great. I’m just excited that coach is giving me the opportunity to come out here and try to spark something.
“We’re going to keep bringing that energy. We’ll try to make something happen, but we’re not going try to do too much. Riverside is obviously a good team; they always are. But I think we have a different club right now than we did before the USC series, and hopefully we string together a couple wins here.”
The Bruins will also look to receive some momentum from Murphy (2-3), the staff ace who will start on the mound instead of the outfield in tonight’s opener. The left-hander from Vista suffered the loss in relief on Tuesday night against UC Irvine, giving up a run in the 10th inning. UCR will counter with junior right-hander Stephen Penney (3-2).
In Saturday afternoon’s matchup, Bruin right-hander Charles Brewer (3-3) will oppose freshman right-hander Matt Larkins (4-1). Sophomore left-hander Gavin Brooks (2-2) is scheduled to take on fellow lefty Paul Bargas (1-3) in the series finale Sunday afternoon.
Brooks is coming off his best start of the year, which was reminiscent of the dominant way he pitched at the end of last season. In his outing last Sunday against USC, Brooks allowed two runs and four hits, while striking out four in 8 1/3 innings pitched.
With the season not unfolding the way the team expected it to, Savage stressed the importance of having his team worry about what it has to do to get back on track.
“We’re not really focusing on who we’re playing,” Savage said. “We just have to keep on getting better. We’re a team that has played a lot of ups and downs this season. It’s frustrating for sure, but we have a little break from conference and hopefully we can build some momentum this weekend.”