For third baseman Jermaine Curtis and the No. 23 UCLA baseball team, this weekend’s series on the road against No. 6 Arizona was about one thing: opening the Pac-10 season on the right foot.
“(We went out) just competing,” Curtis said. “We wanted to open the Pac-10 up right. The Pac-10 is one of the hardest conferences in the nation, and we wanted to open up right.”
And by taking two out of three on the road against the highly ranked Wildcats, the Bruins did just that.
The Bruins (12-10, 2-1 Pac-10) snapped their four-game losing streak, winning 4-3 in 10 innings on Friday night and dismantling the Wildcat pitchers on Saturday en route to a 20-8 victory before falling in the finale 8-4.
Despite not being able to sweep the Wildcats, coach John Savage was pleased with his team’s performance and viewed the weekend as a tremendous success overall.
“Whenever you come in on the road and play a top-10 team and win two out of three, you have to feel good about yourself,” Savage said. “Arizona is projected to finish high in the conference and to come in and win two out of three says a lot about the character of our team.”
One of the bright spots on the weekend was the Bruins’ performance at the plate. Throughout the early part of the season, the Bruin offense has been battling bouts of inconsistency. Coming into the weekend, the team was posting a paltry 0.255 batting average.
Yet this weekend, behind brilliant efforts by Curtis and first baseman Casey Haerther, the Bruin numbers were much more pleasing: a 0.313 batting average and 28 runs.
“(Casey was successful) because of his ability to see the field, and he has been swinging the bat well lately,” Savage said. “He and Jermaine both had nine hits this weekend and really stepped up their game, which is good to see because they are a big part of our offense.”
In Saturday’s 20-8 win, Haerther put together the greatest offensive performance in the history of the program, going 7-for-7 with career highs in doubles (four), RBIs (four) and runs (four). Haerther’s seven hits were the most by a Bruin in a single game since current Philadelphia Phillies second baseman Chase Utley went 6-for-6 on May 9, 2000.
“It was one of those nights where everything kind of fell into place,” Haerther said. “I saw the ball real well and saw things in the previous at bats. It was a surreal experience.
“To be mentioned in the same breath as Chase Utley and to break his record is unbelievable.”
Including Haerther, five Bruins recorded two or more hits, helping sophomore pitcher Charles Brewer (3-2) to a win in his first Pac-10 start.
“I give a lot of credit to our offense,” Brewer said. “That game was the first game where we really went off offensively. They scored 20 runs and were the big difference in the game. They went off the charts offensively, and for a pitcher on the mound, that’s what you like to see.”
Perhaps one of the keys to the success the team had this weekend was the players’ mindset. After disappointing losses to Cal State Fullerton, Long Beach State and San Diego State left the team mired in a 6-7 skid after opening the season 5-1, captain Ryan Babineau called a team meeting in an attempt to turn the season around for the team.
“We got together and realized that it was about that time that we played how we were capable of playing,” Brewer said. “Coming into the start of the Pac-10 season on the road against a team such as Arizona and to take two from them, in our position, is great, and hopefully it kick-starts our season.”
The result was a much more family atmosphere in the locker room.
“(This weekend) we were more of a family,” Curtis said. “We talked about it, saying that we are UCLA baseball 2008. We are more of a family now and now are relying on each other. Before we were playing with each other; now we are playing for each other.”