It was a battle between an up-and-coming program and a perennial powerhouse, but ultimately UCLA couldn’t do enough to win that second game against Cal State Fullerton and the series.
After winning Friday night 6-2, the UCLA baseball team lost 7-4 on Saturday and 7-2 to No. 10 Fullerton on Sunday.
The No. 15 Bruins have their highest ranking in a decade, but at 7-7, no longer have a winning record, due in part to playing one of the toughest schedules in the nation.
At some point though, the Bruins would like to win these series against top teams.
“We’re not far away,” UCLA coach John Savage said. “It’s just a mentality. We showed it on Friday night and we have to learn that you don’t win a series on Friday night. You have to win a series over a weekend.”
Friday night at Fullerton, UCLA pitcher Tyson Brummett powered the Bruins to victory, throwing his second consecutive complete game. Brummett struck out 10 and walked only two batters. Offensively, it was a team effort, as five different Bruins tallied two hits.
The series moved to UCLA’s Jackie Robinson Stadium on Saturday and Sunday, but neither the pitching nor offensive consistency of Friday was seen early in either game.
The Bruins fell behind early in both home games and squandered many opportunities, leaving 12 runners on base on Saturday and 10 more on Sunday.
“We need to be tougher and execute better,” shortstop Brandon Crawford said. “When we have guys on third, we need to get them in.”
Over both losses, UCLA hit only 6-for-25 (.240) with runners in scoring position and only 9-for-39 (.231) with runners on base. Only one of those hits was more than a single ““ a double by Tim Murphy in Sunday’s eighth inning that drove in a run.
“We’re just thinking too much,” Crawford said. “A lot of us just get anxious out there and try to find a pitch that we probably aren’t going to get.”
Fullerton had only one more hit than UCLA on Sunday (8 to 7) and UCLA had more hits on Saturday (10 to 8). The bulk of the Bruins’ hits did come late in the game, when they were trying to come back.
“We hung in there and tried to battle back,” Murphy said. “Our at-bats get better as the game goes on. We just have to be a little bit tougher.”
UCLA was down 6-0 early on Saturday and made the game as close as 6-4. The Bruins were down 6-0 on Sunday as well, and scored two runs in the eighth, stranding runners on second and third to end the inning.
“We came out and we were fired up, ready to play on Friday night,” Murphy said. “Saturday and Sunday, we came out a little bit flat. We didn’t come out of the gates really well.”
Friday, UCLA outplayed Fullerton both at the plate and on the mound. Saturday and Sunday were a different story.
“We just have to become tougher,” Savage said. “We’ll get there. We like our team. It’s just a matter of rolling as a team and making sure that when you’re in a battle with a top-10 team over a three-game span, you better have that mentality not only over nine innings but you better have it over 27.”