Every year, Bruins representing different eras of UCLA baseball history, some hailing from the days of legendary coach Gary Adams, some from the current era of John Savage and all those in between, return to Jackie Robinson Stadium to play another nine innings in Westwood during the UCLA baseball alumni game.
The game, which will take place this Saturday, isn’t an atypical scenario, especially for UCLA baseball alumni. In fact, the Bruins have formed their own squad of alumni players, which has competed regularly on the international stage. They’ve previously traveled to Italy, Spain and France.
In their most recent endeavor, the Bruins journeyed to Australia, where they competed in the Pan Pacific Masters Games in Broadbeach last November.
After eight days of competition, UCLA found themselves as the gold-medal winners of their division.
“It was just a metamorphosis how we started playing so well so fast,” Tim O’Neill, a former UCLA pitcher, said. “Everyone had a competitive fire.”
In their first game, an exhibition, the Bruins played an 18-and-under team from the Australian developmental league. They lost convincingly.
“The sentiment was that it was going to be a long trip,” Martin Stuka, another UCLA alum and general manager said.
Over the course of the tournament, however, the Bruins banded together and put up some solid wins against the oftentimes stark competition.
O’Neill said he first heard of the tournament in a letter from Adams which he received last January. After mulling over the prospect of participating in the games, despite suffering a shoulder labrum cartilage tear two years earlier, he decided he would give it a go.
As it turns out, O’Neill helped propel the Bruins to a win, pitching in the gold-medal match, which is quite an accomplishment considering that he didn’t think he could contribute anything more than a bunt. O’Neill is 52 years old.
Originally, the Bruins planned on competing in two divisions, one of 35 years and older and one 45 years and older. However, because the Bruins’ rostered players filled only one dugout, the Bruins were forced to compete in the younger of the two divisions, even though the average age for the team was 49.
The Bruins rose to the challenge and outplayed each of their six opponents, demonstrating an unwavering commitment to the sport they played back in their college years.
“I’m in better shape now than I was in my playing days,” O’Neill said. “I can still touch with my toes without pulling a muscle.”
Stuka said some other big pieces for the Bruins included pitchers Adam Schulhofer and Mike Fyhrie, and left fielder Jim Auten.
Stuka and O’Neill both credited the team as a whole for the tournament win. “It’s always a team effort,” O’Neill said. “Individually you may hit, play well defensively, but everything comes back to the team.”