This might come to be remembered as a seminal moment in the
reconstruction of the UCLA baseball program. In only coach John
Savage’s second year, the Bruins have made the NCAA
Regionals, a feat accomplished just 12 times in UCLA history, on
the heels of a 15-41 record in 2005.
Just a year ago, the Bruins were out of the playoff picture in
February. The 2006 Bruins surpassed all expectations and defied all
predictions en route to a 32-23 record and a berth as the No. 2
seed in the Pepperdine Regional, playing No. 3 seed UC Irvine on
Friday night.
The Bruins received their seed less than 24 hours after a 3-1
win over Oregon State in Corvallis to finish the regular
season.
For UCLA, this season began with the blind hope that it would be
better than the last. Now they have the first piece of tangible
evidence that confirms the players’ talk of renewed
confidence.
“To be honest, I didn’t believe we’d be here
before the season started,” senior outfielder Chris Jensen
said.
“We just had so many new guys. But once they started
playing and we started pitching as well as we did, I started to see
how good we could be,” Jensen said.
The Bruins find themselves in a familiar bracket with two
opponents they played during the regular season ““ No. 1
Pepperdine (40-19) and No. 3 UC Irvine (36-22); No. 4 Missouri
(31-25) rounds out the double-elimination bracket.
UCLA swept a home-and-home series against UC Irvine, the program
Savage rebuilt before moving to Westwood in 2005.
“I’m a little surprised they were (as low as) a No.
3 seed,” Savage said.
“There are a lot of advantages to this matchup. We know
them well, and we’re playing close to home. At the same time,
there are a lot of disadvantages. These West Coast teams are all
very good teams. This might be the toughest regional,” the
UCLA coach said.
UCLA split with Pepperdine this year. The Bruins faced both the
Waves and the Anteaters in Tuesday-night games in a matchup of No.
4 starting pitchers.
“I think they’re all beatable,” Jensen said.
“They’re all good, tough teams, but so are we.
It’s a pitcher’s park we’ll be playing in, which
helps us out a lot. It’s definitely not a hitter’s
park. Of course, I’d like to be able to hit, but for the
team, it’s better to be playing in a pitcher’s
park.”
After a terrible first season, Savage’s Bruins were able
to bounce back and make an almost mirror-image turnaround thanks to
stellar pitching and the contributions of the freshman and
junior-college transfers.
“It just goes to show all the hard work of the players,
and the talent of the guys we brought in,” Savage said.
“This team just has a lot of perseverance. Now we’re
just going to look to extend the way we’re
playing.”
UCLA enters the postseason after splitting a two-game series
against Oregon State after the game on Saturday was rained out.
The Beavers’ 9-2 win on Friday clinched their
second-straight Pac-10 title, while junior Dave Huff propelled the
Bruins to a 3-1 victory
on Sunday to close out the regular season.