As his team was quietly eating a Sunday dinner to close out a
rough weekend in the Bay Area, John Savage didn’t want to
blow things out of proportion. But he did want his players to
absorb a simple fact.
“I just told them we have a lot of work to do,” the
UCLA baseball coach said. “We have a big part of our season
coming up, probably the biggest, and we have to do better than we
did this weekend.”
Savage’s pointed criticism came after No. 22 UCLA (24-18,
8-7 Pac-10) dropped its second straight game to California (21-22,
8-10) to lose a very winnable series.
The Bears keyed a 9-4 win on Sunday with back-to-back three-run
rallies in the fifth and sixth innings. Junior pitcher Tyson
Brummett (5-5) was tagged with the loss after allowing six earned
runs in just over five innings.
The Bruins jumped out to a 3-0 lead, but couldn’t overcome
their ineptitude in the clutch once the Bears claimed the lead. In
fact, none of the Bruin runs were produced by a hit with runners in
scoring position.
UCLA scored via the wild pitch, sacrifice fly, error and RBI
groundout.
Sunday’s loss amplified a weekend theme of missed
opportunities. There were blown chances at the plate with runners
in scoring position. But more than anything else, the series was an
opportunity for UCLA to win precious Pac-10 road games before
closing out the season with conference heavyweights USC, Stanford
and Oregon State.
Junior Dave Huff continued his campaign for Pac-10 Newcomer of
the Year by shutting out Cal for the final nine frames after
allowing a two-run home run in the first inning. After 116 pitches,
Savage checked with his left-hander to see if fatigue had set in.
Huff quickly answered no and was sent out for another innings of
work to finish off 130 pitches, the most in any start of his brief
UCLA career.
The Bruins were unable to make good use of Huff’s outing,
leaving 12 men on base and inevitably falling to the Bears 3-2 in
11 innings. In the sixth inning of Saturday’s game and down
2-1, UCLA had a chance to break the game open with the bases loaded
and no outs but couldn’t muster a single run.
“(Cal) made the most out of their opportunities at the
plate, while we didn’t,” Savage said. “We were
counting on at least two wins here and now we have to find them
somewhere else.”
UCLA earned the win 4-2 in Friday night’s series opener as
junior Hector Ambriz earned his first complete-game win of the
year. Ambriz allowed only two earned runs while scattering four
hits.