The turnaround of the UCLA baseball team is incredible. It was
only a year ago that this team was mired in a 15-41 season, with
avoiding last place in the Pac-10 the only reason to play.
This year, with only four games left to play, the team has the
chance to finish in first place.
A week ago, when I wrote that the baseball team was my dark
horse pick to win UCLA’s 100th NCAA Championship, it raised a
few eyebrows.
It should’ve ““ even I will admit that the UCLA
baseball team has only a small chance of winning the title.
But the team does have a chance ““ and that, in itself, is
a huge surprise.
I saw the team play this past weekend against Stanford ““
and it’s a different UCLA team from last year. The Bruins
have everything a great team needs and are peaking at the right
time, playing their best baseball at the end of the season.
All year long, we knew they could pitch. But now they can hit,
scoring at least eight runs in five of their last six games ““
all against teams likely to make the NCAA Tournament.
This team has the right type of players too ““ players with
heart and baseball aptitude ““ which is very important come
tournament time. Sunday, they were down 5-0 after the fifth inning
and had only one hit of their own. The Bruins didn’t give up,
scoring six in the sixth inning to take the lead and scoring two
later in the game to regain the lead after falling behind.
“To win like that is incredible. Everyone has been
stepping up,” redshirt senior Josh Roenicke said. “With
our pitching staff and defense, that’s what’s most
important for our baseball team to win. The way we’re
playing, we have a great chance to win, but we have to take it one
game at a time.”
Roenicke is among my favorite UCLA athletes to watch. Roenicke
is one of those rare players who can play center field and then
pitch in a critical situation in relief in the same game. Sunday,
Roenicke displayed his range by running down a ball in straightaway
left field, and in the next inning, pitching a scoreless ninth and
capturing the win for the Bruins.
Another player who has stepped up and shown a lot of heart,
hustle and brains on the field is freshman Jermaine Curtis. Most
athletes try hard and give their best effort, but some, like
Curtis, do even more than that. Curtis is the type of player who
sprints to first base after a walk ““ a rare sight ““ and
gives his all for an infield high chopper when the batter’s
going to be safe at first anyway. He’s speedy in the field
and on the bases, forcing the defense to rush what are usually
routine plays. But he’s not overaggressive, wisely not trying
to go from first to third on a ground ball on Sunday. This was a
subtle move that went unnoticed, but Curtis didn’t take the
bat out of his teammates’ hands and kept the rally going.
He’s talented at the plate as well, with the highest
batting average (.352) of any Bruin regular, and he’s a
patient hitter, especially for a freshman (21 walks and only 15
strikeouts in 125 at bats).
The team is sticking to the “one-game-at-a-time”
cliche even though the Bruins probably assured themselves a bid to
the NCAA Regionals by winning the series against Stanford.
According to Warrennolan.com, UCLA is No. 29 in the Ratings
Percentage Index with the 11th-toughest schedule strength in the
country.
This week, the Bruins have one game against UC Irvine and three
at Oregon State ““ both of which are highly ranked in the RPI.
This means that even if the Bruins were to lose, their RPI
won’t fall that much, making it likely UCLA will enter into
the 64-team tournament field.
“We had a tough nonconference schedule, and the Pac-10 is
one of the better conferences in the country,” UCLA coach
John Savage said. “We’re a good team, we have the
ability to go deep (in the tournament), but we can’t get
ahead of ourselves. We have to keep taking it one game at a time
because nothing is for sure yet.”
Today is your last chance to see the Bruins play at Jackie
Robinson Stadium this season. If you haven’t seen them yet,
you should. You’ll thank me later.
E-mail Quinonez at gquinonez@media.ucla.edu