This is not how the UCLA baseball team envisioned its upcoming set of weekend games.
The No. 9 Bruins (2-3) will participate in the Houston College Classic, arguably the most competitive tournament in the nation, starting tonight. But after opening the season with wins in the first two games, UCLA’s current three-game losing streak is raising concerns.
“We thought we were playing pretty good,” coach John Savage said following his team’s 11-1 home loss to UC Riverside Wednesday night. “This tournament is big. We’ve got to get back on track.”
The Bruins look to do so tonight against the perennial power, No. 10 Rice (2-2). Another pair of top-10 teams will match up Saturday, as UCLA takes on No. 6 Baylor (4-1). UCLA closes the weekend with a game against local rival No. 5 UC Irvine (3-1) Sunday morning. All three games will be held at Minute Maid Park, the home of Major League Baseball’s Houston Astros.
“This is possibly the toughest tournament in the country,” Savage said. “It’s a big tournament for us.”
Sophomore left-hander Rob Rasmussen is the scheduled starting pitcher for tonight’s game. The Arcadia native was impressive on opening night last Friday, tossing five scoreless innings to earn his first collegiate victory.
Highly touted freshman pitcher Gerrit Cole was equally dominant in his collegiate debut the next day, striking out seven UC Davis batters and holding them to one hit over six innings. The right-hander is slated to take the mound Saturday against Baylor.
Savage has not yet settled on a starter for Sunday’s game. The uncertainty with the back end of the weekend rotation comes after the struggles of juniors Gavin Brooks and Charles Brewer. The duo was ineffective in the series finale against UC Davis, combining to allow five runs on five hits in four innings pitched. Each pitcher also walked three batters. While Brewer improved by allowing one run in three innings of relief Wednesday, Brooks continued to struggle with his command that day. The left-hander from Vista, Calif. gave up six runs, walked a pair, and hit four batters in a wild second inning against UC Riverside.
“Gavin’s going to be better,” freshman catcher Steve Rodriguez said. “He just needs to be himself and work hard like he always does. He’s going to be huge for us this season.”
The UCLA offense was averaging almost eight runs per game heading into Wednesday night, but didn’t fare any better than Brooks did on the evening. The Bruins scored their lone run with two outs in the ninth.
“We didn’t compete at-bat to at-bat,” Savage said.
Despite losing three straight games, UCLA is optimistic heading into a weekend of competition against three top-10 teams.
“It’s going to be fun with an intense atmosphere,” freshman infielder Tyler Rahmatulla said. “It’s going to be like a postseason environment.”
“We’re excited,” Rodriguez said. “We haven’t played too well the last couple of days, but we want to go out there and show how we really play.”