During the first week of the new season, the Bruin baseball team has seen a little bit of everything.
Last weekend, the season-opening three-game series versus Oklahoma was shortened to a one-day two-game series due to rainy and wet conditions. Then a sunset late in the game at Matador Field in Northridge on Tuesday denied the Bruins their second win of the season. UCLA had dominated Cal State Northridge 22-2 before darkness invaded the field. On a long Wednesday night, UCLA needed heroics from second baseman Alden Carrithers in the 13th inning to defeat UC Santa Barbara.
“We’ve been playing some crazy games lately,” coach John Savage said. “We’ve had a rain delay in the first game and we played a 12-inning loss against Oklahoma. Then we scored 22 and we get suspended because of darkness (against Northridge). In the fourth game, we played 13 innings. You just never know what you’re getting at the ballpark except for right now ““ a long day.”
Savage hopes the length of games shortens this weekend, since UCLA will play three different opponents in three days at three different facilities. To start the busy stretch, the No. 3 Bruins (2-1) will face off against Southern University of Baton Rouge, La., at 6 p.m. at Jackie Robinson Stadium. Sophomore right-handed pitcher Charles Brewer will take the mound to make his first start of the season for the Bruins. Tonight’s game is the first game of the Urban Invitational Baseball Tournament organized by Major League Baseball’s Urban Youth Academy.
On Saturday, the Bruins will take on Bethune-Cookman of Daytona Beach, Fla., (2-1) at the Urban Youth Academy in Compton. The game can be seen live on ESPN2 starting at 5 p.m. Savage will send junior left-handed pitcher Tim Murphy to the hill.
“It should be a good game for us,” Murphy said. “It’s going to be a national game, and it will be good for our program. It’s good to get a TV game in every once in a while. It will be good to put us on the map a little bit and hopefully show everyone what we’re all about.”
The following day, UCLA will travel to Los Angeles and battle crosstown rival USC (3-2) in a nonconference game at Dedeaux Field.
Last season, UCLA swept a three-game series at USC and won the last five meetings between the two teams. Sunday’s pitcher has yet to be determined.
“USC is always good,” Carrithers said. “We should never overlook them. It should be a good game in this tournament, and I know our team is looking forward to it.”
Though it is an important weekend for Major League Baseball and for UCLA to get exposure, the Bruins are still taking it one game at a time.
“We really want to start the weekend off right on Friday,” Savage said. “Major League Baseball is putting on this tournament, and it’s going to be a lot of fun playing at the Major League academy on Saturday on ESPN2. The players are really excited about it.”