The simple game of catch is more than just the start of every
baseball career. It is a poignant symbol of innocence. The
repetition of it is as calming as anything in sports.
It is also what stood between the UCLA baseball team and an
important win as the meat of the schedule looms around the corner.
UCLA coach John Savage didn’t have to wonder too long about
the source of his team’s 4-3 loss to UC Santa Barbara Tuesday
at Caesar Uyesaka Stadium.
He could point to the simple mantra of Ebby Calvin
“Nuke” LaLoosh, a fictional character who will go down
in baseball lore for reducing the nuances of the game to three easy
steps: “You throw the ball, you hit the ball, and you catch
the ball.”
“We just didn’t play catch,” Savage said.
“We’ve been playing tremendous defense all season, but
we just didn’t catch the ball (Tuesday).”
The Bruins (25-20, 8-7 Pac-10) committed a season-high four
errors that led to four unearned runs, all the offense the Gauchos
(21-23, 6-9 Big West) would be able to muster. The Bruins continued
their recent trend of scoring early, but also continued their trend
of leaving runners in scoring position when they have a chance to
take a big lead.
Senior Josh Roenicke singled home freshman Tim Murphy with two
outs in the top of the second inning to take a 1-0 lead. The Bruins
padded their lead to 2-0 an inning later on a sacrifice fly by
freshman Jermaine Curtis.
In the fourth frame, the Bruins had the bases loaded with one
out and a chance to put some breathing room between them and the
Gauchos. But freshman Brandon Crawford grounded into a double play
to end the rally. That marked the beginning of a tough afternoon
that Crawford would just as soon forget.
Freshman Jason Novak delivered in his first start of the year,
working three innings of hitless baseball before the Bruins’
defense turned into the Gauchos’ offense. UCSB cut its
deficit in half on a fielding error by Curtis in the fourth
inning.
Redshirt junior Paul Oseguera relieved Novak, who was kept to a
modest pitch count as he continued to build up his stamina after
handling a reliever’s duties for much of the year. Oseguera
pitched 2.1 scoreless innings before junior Tyson Brummett was
brought in to close out the game.
“It was our plan to use Brummett to close, just because we
wanted to get him some work,” Savage said. “Everything
lined up, and they actually pitched well. We just made some big
mistakes in the field when it mattered.”
With one out in the seventh inning, Crawford committed two
errors in the course of three hitters to tie the game at 2-2 and
put a runner at second base. After Brummett walked a batter, Curtis
committed his second error of the game. He tried to get the force
out at third, threw the ball away, and two Gauchos scampered home
to score what proved to be the winning runs.
The Gaucho bullpen combined to retire 13 straight hitters before
the Bruins scraped together one last run in the ninth inning.
Closing out a forgettable game, Crawford struck out swinging to end
the game with the tying run on second base.
“It’s a tough way to lose a game, but we’ll
move ahead,” Novak said. “We have to.”