With March right around the corner, UCLA baseball will be searching for the luck of the Irish this weekend as it embarks on its first road trip of the season.
The Bruins will travel to Cary, N.C. for the USA Baseball-Irish Classic beginning Friday. This is the event’s second year, but the first time UCLA will be a participant.
No. 19 UCLA (4-4) enters on a three-game losing streak and will face Notre Dame (3-4), No. 6 North Carolina State (7-1) and Michigan (1-5-1).
“We’re beat up, we’re hurt, we’re young and I think it’s shown up,” said coach John Savage. “I wish we could sit here and say we’re 8-0, but it’s really not about that, it’s about getting better as a team.”
In the past three games, the team scored only five runs, but gave up a whopping 23. To make matters worse, during this stretch the players are 14-for-90 at the plate, a .156 clip.
Savage, however, emphasized how this three-game skid is exactly that, only three games. He praised his young players’ performance in their 5-2 win over Cal Poly last week, but he also said he realizes their lack of experience hurts them at times.
“I kind of like it, in some regard, in the sense that when you do make mistakes at this level, you should pay for it and that’s what we’re doing,” Savage said. “They’re learning on the job.”
The players know that the team has historically played well on the road, which is a trend they expect to continue despite their current struggles.
“We’ve played well on the road in the past and we embrace playing on the road,” said senior outfielder Brian Carroll. “We’ll live up to the challenge.”
The road trip will also feature a rematch from last season’s championship run when UCLA faces North Carolina State on Saturday. The Bruins defeated the Wolfpack 2-1 in the second round of the 2013 College World Series.
But the players are not focused on just this one game; they are preparing for the entire weekend and working on improving their weaknesses.
“We’re playing three quality teams … three teams we don’t usually get a look at, so that’s a really big deal for us,” said sophomore outfielder Ty Moore. “I think this is a really good opportunity for our team to come together and find out who we really are.”
There will be plenty of opportunities for the players to bond with all the time they will spend in cross-country flight and hotels this weekend.
Nevertheless, Savage said he is more concerned with finding a pot of gold to swing luck in his team’s favor when the Bruins step out onto the field at the USA Baseball National Training Complex.
“Win games. That’s the best bonding we have, is to win games,” Savage said. “Maybe we’ll get lucky. We need to get a little mojo on our side.”
Email Drantch at jdrantch@media.ucla.edu