The frustration continues to mount for the UCLA baseball team.
The difference this weekend was only four runs, yet the Bruins lost all three games they played, pushing their losing streak to 10 games ““ the longest such streak since coach John Savage dropped 19 in a row during his first season at the helm in 2005.
UCLA fell 6-5 Friday and 7-6 Saturday before losing the finale 6-4 Sunday to No. 16 Oklahoma at L. Dale Mitchell Park in Norman, Okla.
“There’s a monkey on our back right now,” junior outfielder Justin Uribe said. “We’re always in ball games. Realistically, we could be a lot better than we are right now.”
The Bruins (2-10) won their first two games of the season against UC Davis but have since struggled to overcome tougher competition. Six of UCLA’s 10 losses have been by a one-run margin. The last seven Bruin defeats have come against teams ranked in the top-16 of Baseball America’s college rankings.
On Sunday, UCLA fell behind early after freshman right-hander Gerrit Cole allowed six runs (four earned) in three innings. Junior left-hander Gavin Brooks was effective in relief of Cole, holding the Sooners (12-3) hitless for the last five innings.
But while Brooks held Oklahoma scoreless, the UCLA offense was unable to erase a five-run deficit. The Bruins scored a run in each of the sixth, seventh and eighth innings.
Senior designated hitter Cody Decker led off the ninth inning with a double to bring the tying run to the plate with no outs. But Uribe struck out looking, senior Gino Aielli flied out to right field and junior Alex Weber-Shapiro popped out to end the game.
“We have good pitching and good hitting at times,” Uribe said. “It’s just a matter of coming up with those clutch hits.”
UCLA received good pitching from Rob Rasmussen Friday. The sophomore left-hander went into the sixth inning with the Bruins leading 2-0, but the Sooners erupted for six runs in that frame to pull away.
The Bruins responded by scoring twice in the seventh and once in the eighth to pull within one but were unable to muster the game-tying run in the ninth.
A day later the Bruins held another late-game advantage, with a 6-3 lead they built by scoring five runs in the eighth inning. But in the bottom half of the same inning, Oklahoma countered with four runs off Bruin senior pitcher Jason Novak and redshirt senior pitcher Brendan Lafferty to regain the lead.
Like in Friday’s game, UCLA was unable to score in the final inning, giving Oklahoma the win and the series sweep.
“I’m not concerned with the way the season has started,” said Uribe, who combined to hit four-of-seven in the final two games of the series.
“It’s still early. We’re only 12 games in; we still have many more to go. The competition we’re playing helps a lot. There’s still time to dig out of this hole we put ourselves in.”
The Bruins posted an 8-4 record through the first 12 games last season. The team’s longest losing streak last season was a mere four games.
Despite the rough start, UCLA optimistically looks to end the 10-game slide on Tuesday night at Jackie Robinson Stadium against UC Santa Barbara, a team the Bruins lost to by a run earlier this season.
“We have to just take it one game at a time,” Uribe said. “We have to get back to the basics.”