After its tough 5-4 loss to Cal State Fullerton at Goodwin Field on Monday, the UCLA baseball team huddled around the coaching staff on the grass in right field. Slowly, the group diminished until only a few were left.
The remaining players walked back gradually while trying their best to hold back tears, stopping to hug teammates on the way to the visitor’s dugout.
For the tight-knit group that took its time to return to the bench, the game might have marked the last time they would don Bruin uniforms together.
“Those guys are my best friends,” junior third baseman Jermaine Curtis said following the game. “We’re like our own fraternity ““ we have each other’s backs. They’re my brothers, you know. We fight a little bit, but if anything happens, I’m behind them and they’re behind me. It’s just a Bruin family.”
Glistening eyes on the players’ faces showed that they could not control how they felt, both about each other and about what they had accomplished together. The emotions were clearly not only a result of the team’s elimination from the postseason, but also a realization that some outstanding collegiate careers had just come to an end.
“It’s pretty emotional,” coach John Savage said. “The Babineaus, the Crawfords, the Murphys and the Curtises ““ they really put a stamp on this program by being the only group of players to go to the postseason three years in a row.”
Curtis, pitcher Tim Murphy, catcher Ryan Babineau and shortstop Brandon Crawford are all part of the core of juniors that structured Savage’s first recruiting class at UCLA. After the Bruins went 15-41 in 2005, that class arrived in Westwood the following season. With their help, the Bruins improved their record to 33-25 in 2006. The solid campaign earned the team an appearance in the Malibu Regional. Led again last season by the contributions of the talented class, the Bruins swept through the Long Beach Regional to make a NCAA Super Regional. Throughout this season, the players battled through adversity to secure a third consecutive postseason appearance for the first time ever in school history.
Aside from making Bruin history on the field, the players spent those three years united off the field too, which is something Murphy is going to miss.
“I spent a lot of time with them,” Murphy said. “It’s tough. We’ve been through a lot together and respect each other. It’s just tough to see it all end like this.”
Along with their fellow junior players, Curtis and Murphy are now eligible to be selected in the MLB Draft on Thursday. The class, which helped transformed a reeling program into a relevant power, now shifts its focus to the next phase of their respective careers. Several players could be chosen in the earliest rounds.
“Curtis, Crawford, and Murphy ““ those guys played like Major Leaguers this weekend,” Savage said. “Crawford was the best player on the field. Curtis was outstanding. Murphy put on a show on the mound on Friday, put on a show in center tonight. It’s tough to see those guys leave, but I’m real proud of them. I wish them nothing but the best in their futures in professional baseball.”
As his UCLA career draws to a close, Curtis explained how he feels about being a member of a talented unit that managed to pave the way for UCLA’s possible future success on the diamond.
“I couldn’t ask for more,” Curtis said.
“We’ve got just outstanding players. We were the first team at UCLA to go three years at a regional. You’ve got to start somewhere and I’m excited for upcoming years and ready to see them play.”