The UCLA baseball team may have gotten too comfortable after its four-game winning streak, letting visiting Cal Poly take a 2-1 series win this weekend.
“It’s a tale of two series. We came out and played as well as we have all year,” said coach John Savage. “But in the last two days, they dominated us.”
The weekend started off well enough. After last weekend’s series win and their midweek win against Cal State Northridge, the Bruins were gaining momentum.
On Friday, the No. 12 Bruins were able to hold the Mustangs to six scoreless innings before the seventh inning, in which Brian Mundell homered, scoring one of the only two runs for the Mustangs.
Sophomore pitcher James Kaprielian struck out the next three batters that inning, holding the Mustangs at 5-1 until they scored in the top of the ninth.
The Bruins ended the night with a satisfying 5-2 victory, but it may have felt too satisfying, as the team got really comfortable and let the other two games slip without much of an offensive contest.
“I think we might have been a little too satisfied after coming in and winning one game,” said junior catcher Shane Zeile. “And I think they came out with more fire than us on Saturday and Sunday.”
On Saturday, the Bruins were unable to get a single run on the board, losing 8-0.
“It was kind of embarrassing, but we can always take something good out of the (game) and learn from our losses,” Zeile said.
Sunday began with a 1-1 series tie that could have swung either way.
“You have to have a short memory in baseball,” Savage said. “You have to get to the next pitch and you have to win innings, and then you have to get to the next day.”
However, the Mustangs quickly capitalized on their single-run lead after the first inning, registering six more over the next three, while the Bruins were unable to score for the remainder of the game, losing 9-1.
“(Cal Poly) can put up runs on the board fast,” Savage said. “Probably as fast as any team on the West, and they are very experienced.”
The main lesson the team wanted to take away from this, according to both Zeile and sophomore pitcher Cody Poteet, was to take every game, every error, as a learning experience.
“We were missing a competitive edge and we kind of came out flat after Saturday’s performance,” Poteet said. “But we’re going to bounce back. It’s a process and we’re going to be good and ready to go on Tuesday.”