The baseball team celebrating a victory over USC at Dodger Stadium on March 13.
The Bruins have remained a mainstay in Baseball America’s Top 25 this season, a testament to their steady play and ability to come back from rough losses.
No. 12 UCLA will try to make use of that style of play against No. 13 Stanford this weekend.
UCLA has taken a basic approach to their play, focusing on each step of the game as it comes at them.
This is especially true on offense, the Bruins’ main struggle last year, and what has been their downfall the times that they lost this year.
Sophomore infielder Pat Valaika outlined the Bruins’ approach simply.
“Get the lead-off guy on, move him over, bring him in. That’s what we’ve been doing all year.”
UCLA is very much focused on their own game. While the Pac-12 brings teams of all levels, the Bruins have made their own game the nucleus of their system.
“We’re not worrying about the opponent but just playing our game,” said junior centerfielder Beau Amaral. “Doesn’t matter who we play, we’re going to come out with a lot of energy and play Bruin ball.”
The rankings would suggest that No. 12 UCLA and No. 13 Stanford are a nearly even match, but coach John Savage is not discounting the challenges that come with facing the Cardinal.
“They’re one of the best teams in the country,” Savage said. “We’re going to have our hands full, and we know that. We have to go game to game and come out and play.”
The Bruins will be at home this weekend ““ with the exception of Tuesday night matchups, they have not been home for a weekend series since their April 5-7 series against Oregon, in which they only won one. They have only lost two series at home this season, and will look not to increase that number this weekend.
Savage acknowledged that the Bruins’ struggles handling the ball have led to issues in past games, and fixing those problems has been a focus for him.
“You’ve got to be able to take care of the baseball against good teams. If you do make errors, they’ll come back and get you. I think taking care of the baseball will be one of our priorities as it is every weekend.”
The Bruins have noted time and time again that they do not need to get fancy in order to win games ““ what it takes for them to do well is to keep it simple. In this sense, consistency is in their favor.
“We’ve just got to play our game, play how we’ve been playing the whole year,” Valaika said. “Good pitching and good defense and our offense will always be there ““ we’ve got to stay with ourselves and not try to do too much.”