With 11 games remaining in what thus far has been a discouraging season, the UCLA baseball team is confident.
Confident in their ability to play well on the road.
Confident in their ability to make a run through the final stretch of Pac-10 play to earn a regional bid.
Confident that once in the playoffs, the Bruins have the talent to make a run similar to last season’s, when they went to the NCAA Super Regionals.
The Bruins (24-21, 7-8 Pac-10) continue the push up in the Pac-10 standings this week when they travel to Corvallis for a three-game series against the two-time defending national champions Oregon State (22-18, 9-9). Currently, the Bruins are sixth in the conference standings, half a game behind Oregon State, three games behind first-place Arizona State.
“A lot of things happen with teams beating other teams in the conference,” said junior Tim Murphy, who is slated to take the mound for the Bruins tonight. “We’re looking to take two of three up there. I don’t want to say that our backs are totally up against the wall, but we need to play well and take two of three.”
Coach John Savage added that due to the compact nature of the standings, where the first-place team and the seventh-place team are separated by four games, one or two weekend series can alter the entire make of the standings.
An added source of confidence for the Bruins is the team’s stellar road record, especially during Pac-10 play. In the first Pac-10 series of the season, the Bruins took two of three at Arizona. Two weeks ago, the Bruins traveled to Husky Park for a three-game series against Washington ““ a team that was 18-5 at home coming into the series. They were again able to take two of the three games.
“We won at Cal Poly, we won at Arizona, we won at Washington, all tough places to play,” Savage said. “We know time is running out, we know the numbers, we know the record, we know all of that. We have complete confidence in our ability to play well on the road.”
Historically, the Bruins have fared well against Oregon State, posting a 26-17 all-time record against the Beavers, including 13-8 at Goss Stadium. Yet, last season, the Bruins hosted the struggling Beavers in the final series of the season and lost two of the three games. The series win buoyed the Beavers’ hopes and sparked an Oregon State run that ended in the program’s second College World Series title in as many years.
“Coming into the series last season, they were on the bubble and needed to at least take two of three, and they did,” Murphy said. “I would say that this season we are in a little better position than they were in.”
For the Bruins, it has been a struggle throughout the season to maintain consistent play and put together long winning streaks. Last season, the Bruins had two separate seven-game winning streaks; this season, the Bruins’ longest winning streak is five games.
“It seems like we are still looking for that streak to begin,” first baseman Casey Haerther said. “We are hoping that this weekend can be the one that sparks us. The Pac-10 has been the toughest it has been where you face a Friday-night guy every game of the weekend.
“We still have a shot to make that run. All you need is one hot series and you can get on a roll.”
In order to start that roll and maintain it, catcher Ryan Babineau believes that the key is staying together as a team.
“I think the main thing is, sometimes it’s easy when things aren’t going your way to separate, lose that chemistry a little bit,” Babineau said. “This is the time where we really need to rally as a team and make sure everybody’s real close and connected.”