When UCLA baseball won the NCAA championship in 2013, it only lost four Tuesday games all season.
It’s only March, but the Bruins have already accomplished that feat, going 0-4 in their first four Tuesday games of 2016.
Despite a good amount of success in weekend games, UCLA (12-10, 4-2 Pac-12) has yet to find a consistent starting pitcher to handle Tuesday games.
“Pitching on Tuesday has been really bad,” said coach John Savage. “Guys can’t get out of their own way, can’t throw strikes, they’re not competitive enough … We’re still searching for answers on that Tuesday job, obviously. That job is as wide open as any job we have.”
Redshirt junior Hunter Virant started the season’s first Tuesday game, but only lasted 1.2 innings and lost the job to freshman Justin Hooper. Virant reclaimed the job when Hooper only lasted one inning the next week, but Virant didn’t pitch well enough to hold onto it.
Sophomore Jake Bird impressed Savage with a strong outing on a Saturday against Texas to earn the spot, but got shelled in Tuesday’s loss to Cal State Fullerton, giving up seven runs in 1.1 innings pitched.
Hit batsmen have been a big part of the pitching struggles for the Bruins on Tuesdays. UCLA pitchers have hit 20 batters in just four midweek games, compared to only 15 hit batters in their other 18 games.
After a Tuesday loss to UC Santa Barbara on March 1 in which the Bruins hit five batters, junior pitcher Scott Burke said that one of the Gaucho batters wasn’t afraid to get hit by the ball.
Additionally, redshirt senior right fielder Eric Filia gave Fullerton credit for not skating away from pitches after Tuesday’s loss, in which three Titans were hit.
“That’s a lot of people’s offense: Get a hit by pitch,” Filia said. “Especially Big West teams, West Coast teams – they’re trying to look to find a way on base any way they can.”
In addition to walks and hit by pitches, UCLA has also been giving the opposition free base runners with errors. The Bruins have made nine errors in the four midweek games, which is troubling for a program that prides itself on pitching and defense.
“That’s the biggest thing – really being sharp in everything we do and paying attention to every single detail,” Filia said. “We got to have a little more attitude.”
Despite the lack of a true fourth starter, Savage still believes his team can compete in the playoffs. In 2013, the Bruins only used three starting pitchers in the postseason en route to the national championship.
“You could absolutely get through the regionals with three starters,” Savage said. “You don’t need four starters. You need four starters in the West because you’ve got good midweek games. We’re paying the piper right now for poor starting pitching on Tuesdays.”
UCLA has three consistent starting pitchers in sophomore Griffin Canning, junior Grant Dyer and freshman Kyle Molnar, who have led the Bruins to a 12-6 weekend record against a schedule packed with top-25 teams. But the Bruins have yet to find their answer to the midweek problem that pushed a team that’s won four out of six weekend series – including two sweeps – to just a couple games over .500.
Savage said he thinks he’ll go with Bird again next Tuesday and that the righty would learn from his bad outing against Fullerton.
Email Gottlieb dgottlieb@media.ucla.edu or tweet him @broadcasterdave.