One of the UCLA baseball team’s sayings, according to junior catcher Shane Zeile, is “passing the baton and (getting) the next guy up to the plate.”
This weekend, the team did just that, as the Bruins set up play after play to advance their teammates.
After falling to Portland on the Friday of its opening weekend, UCLA came back with full force, winning the series 2-1.
In Sunday’s game, it really did feel like a relay race as the No. 12 Bruins finally set up the perfect opportunity to put a run on the scoreboard following six scoreless innings.
In the bottom of the 11th inning, senior center fielder Brian Carroll was on first base, sophomore infielder Brett Urabe bunted out, advancing Carroll to second, and sophomore left fielder Ty Moore was walked on to first base.
“Coach talked to me before about what was going to happen if Brian got on base. I knew I was going to (sacrifice) and just let the other guys get the runs in,” Urabe said.
Zeile was, then, in the perfect position to redeem himself after committing an error on Saturday that led to Portland’s sole run that day.
On the first pitch, Zeile doubled to left field, Carroll scored and the team flooded the field chasing Zeile in celebration of the series win.
“I just kind of leaned on my team and tried to separate defense and offense,” Zeile said. “I don’t have to do it all myself and I know I have a good team behind me.”
Zeile had a successful weekend, going 2-3 on Friday, recording one run and an RBI on Saturday and the game-winning RBI on Sunday.
Friday’s game showed the team’s weak points, as it had trouble translating hits into scoring runs.
Despite having bases loaded in both the fifth and eighth inning, the Bruins ended the night with a 1-0 loss.
Their biggest problem this weekend was execution. Many instances demonstrated the Bruins’ inability to score after having runners in scoring position.
“I think we’re going to swing the bat just fine this year, but we need to execute a little bit better and maybe have more quality at bats with guys in scoring position,” Carroll said.
This is just one of the many obstacles the team will face and have to overcome to defend its College World Series championship title.
“You sit back and think we should have put that team away and we didn’t,” said coach John Savage. “But we won and that is ultimately the goal.”
However, the Bruins’ defensive game was on point, managing to keep the Pilots down to just one run on both Friday and Saturday.
“With our bullpen, you’d have to feel pretty good about us staying in games because we have some good arms,” Savage said. “If we play defense the way we did this weekend, we’re going to be hanging around teams.”
Two starting pitchers, sophomore James Kaprielian and junior Grant Watson, had career-highs in strikeouts this weekend, with seven strikeouts on Friday and eight strikeouts on Saturday, respectively.
“At the end of the day, good teams know how to find ways to win and that’s what we did,” Savage said.
Tuesday night, the Bruins will face the Cal State Northridge Matadors, who won their series against the Bethune-Cookmam Wildcats this weekend. The game kicks off at 6 p.m. at Jackie Robinson Stadium.