On the road for the last midweek game of the season, UCLA baseball coach John Savage was in familiar territory.
However, Anteater Ballpark, the stadium that the once-UC Irvine coach helped build along with then-UC Irvine athletic director and current UCLA Athletic Director Dan Guerrero, didn’t treat the Bruins so kindly on Tuesday night.
Despite knowing every nook and cranny of the field, Savage and his squad were unable to squash the Anteaters at their park, losing 10-2.
“We’ve played well there for several years. I don’t know about an advantage, but I certainly know the ballpark – we built the ballpark,” Savage said. “But it comes back down to playing solid baseball, and we didn’t do that tonight.”
The loss snapped a five-game win streak over UC Irvine (35-16, 15-3 Big West) and brought UCLA’s (23-26-1, 10-14 Pac-12) record in its last 12 games to 1-10-1.
Freshman pitcher Grant Dyer (6-5, 4.13 ERA) struggled with command once again in his final start of the year, allowing six runs on eight hits, three walks and three hit by pitches in 3.2 innings.
“I think he’s a little tired. The command has not been very good in his last two starts,” Savage said. “It’s frustrating, but he’s still a very young pitcher. He had a good year and we need to build off those things.”
The Anteaters jumped out to a 6-0 lead, scoring in three of the first four innings, before the Bruins got a run on the board. UC Irvine put up a four-spot in the fourth with the help of two triples, a walk, a hit by pitch and an error.
The only runs of the night for UCLA came in the fifth when junior catcher Shane Zeile hit into a fielder’s choice, as two runs would come around to score on an errant throw by the UC Irvine second baseman.
“We’re just pressing right now. We’re trying to win games instead of just playing baseball,” Zeile said. “We just need to step back and take a deep breath and start playing the game of baseball again.”
The defense was sloppy for both teams, as there were a combined seven errors in the game, with UCLA having four of them.
Sophomore shortstop Trent Chatterton attributed the errors to a lack of focus on defense.
“We need to be more present on defense, take it personal,” Chatterton said.
The only positive of the night was junior closer David Berg’s return from a strained biceps injury, as he had missed the previous seven games and 14 of the last 15 before Tuesday.
“He’s been behind us all year. You can see it in his eyes – he wants to be out there so bad,” Chatterton said. “To see him do well like he did tonight, it was good for him and good for the team.”