Even though Cal State Northridge is located 30 minutes away from campus in the San Fernando Valley, it still provided a learning experience for UCLA baseball’s youngest players.
As UCLA’s first road game of the season, it served as a precursor for what to expect this weekend, when the team hops onto a plane to go face the University of North Carolina.
Only there was one problem.
UCLA didn’t know where that plane would be headed.
During Tuesday’s 7-3 victory over CSUN, it was announced that No. 11 UCLA (4-0) would not be facing No. 17 UNC (3-0) in Chapel Hill, N.C., due to inclement weather, leaving the two teams discussing potential alternative sites.
On Wednesday morning, the series’ location was officially moved to Orlando, Fla., at the University of Central Florida. This is the second consecutive year in which UNC has had a significant schedule change due to the winter weather.
“We’re gonna go with the flow, wherever we play, we play,” said junior catcher Darrell Miller Jr., after hitting the go-ahead home run in Tuesday’s victory. “(No matter) the time or place, we’ll be ready to get after it and play our game.”
The Tar Heels are coming off a sweep of the Seton Hall Pirates, in which they scored an average 8.7 runs per game and allowed an average of 3.3 runs per game.
In comparison, the Bruins are averaging 12.5 runs per game and have held opponents to 3.25 runs per game through the first four games of the season.
“They’re an (Atlantic Coast Conference) school that has a lot of good players,” said coach John Savage. “They’ve been to Omaha multiple times and they just have one of those prestigious programs that you look forward to the opportunity to play.”
Also looking forward to the opportunity are UCLA’s freshmen, who will be embarking on their first true collegiate road trip. As a result, many freshmen rely on the team’s veterans to help them prepare for the nuances of travel.
Freshman second baseman Sean Bouchard said he even talked with the upperclassmen on the team to ask what he needed to bring for the half-hour bus ride to CSUN.
“I have a lot of upperclassmen sitting around me in the locker room, so I always talk to them and probably annoy them,” Bouchard said. “(But) they’ve always been helpful.”
Most importantly, the older players are able to give the younger ones tips to help them travel in comfort, which the freshmen might overlook.
“(They) just (give) me little veteran tips, like (to) bring a neck pillow,” Bouchard said. “Something you wouldn’t think about, but definitely helpful on a plane ride across the country.”
And now that the Bruins know that their plane ride will take them to Orlando – where cold weather won’t be an issue – there is a lot more certainty to what the team can expect this weekend.
“(Our goal) is to keep that (weather) factor out of the equation and to just go out there and play baseball,” Bouchard said. “And to trust our preparation to hopefully get us a few wins out there.”