Bruin baseball closes 2011 season after being eliminated, 4-3, from Los Angeles Regional by the Anteaters
Members of the Bruin baseball team watch their teammates during Saturday’s game. Despite beating Fresno State, UCLA went 1-1 with San Francisco before being eliminated by UC Irvine.
This article is part of the Daily Bruin’s Graduation Issue 2011 coverage. To view the entire package of articles, columns and multimedia, please visit:
By Daily Bruin Staff
June 5, 2011 10:41 p.m.
The 2011 UCLA baseball team couldn’t avoid being compared to the 2010 UCLA baseball team at every juncture of its season.
Its first loss, a shocker to San Jose State, was met with glances at last season’s 22-game win streak. That the Bruins lacked offensive production always lent itself to discussions about last year’s team, which hit nearly 50 more home runs ““ albeit with different bats, a change made by the NCAA. A late-season surge led to the hosting of an NCAA regional, the same as last year.
It’s fitting, then, that both seasons ended similarly, with an RBI single to right field that sent the opposition onto the field in celebration and the Bruins trotting back to the visitors’ dugout.
UC Irvine junior catcher Ronnie Shaeffer took the 2-2 offering from UCLA freshman closer Nick Vander Tuig and laced it down the right-field line to send the Anteaters to meet the Virginia Cavaliers, winner of the Charlottesville Regional, and the Bruins saying so long to their 2011 campaign with a record of 35-24.
Playing in its third straight elimination game, UCLA lost 4-3 to UC Irvine.
Coach John Savage admitted that he put Vander Tuig in an unfamiliar situation this season, as the team’s closer was coming off Tommy John surgery during his senior year of high school. Savage said he plans to use Vander Tuig as a starter next season.
“He was still trying to get his feet on the ground,” Savage said. “We have a ton of trust in him. Nick will be fine.”
The No. 17 Bruins’ inability to drive home runs with runners on base finally did them in. UCLA left 40 total runners on base in its last weekend of play.
“I just feel like the cards didn’t fall for us today,” sophomore designated hitter Jeff Gelalich said.
The UCLA baseball program now bids farewell to junior starters Gerrit Cole and Trevor Bauer, who are both projected to go in the top 10 picks of Monday’s Major League Baseball Draft.
“I think UCLA saw two of the best pitchers they’ve ever seen pitch in this program,” Savage said of the pair. “They made an unbelievable footprint for our younger guys and for the future.”
Many projected draft boards have Cole going as the No. 1 overall pick to the Pittsburgh Pirates. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette confirmed on its website that Pirates’ management is leaning toward Cole.
Bauer, who has been starting behind Cole for three seasons, finished the season 13-2 with a 1.25 earned run average, broke the Pac-10’s single-season record for strikeouts and leaves Westwood as UCLA’s all-time leader in wins, strikeouts and innings pitched.
Weiss, facing UC Irvine for the third time this season, was pulled after giving up a lead-off walk in the ninth, the eventual winning run.
“They battled, and they’ll make you pay if you make a mistake,” Weiss said of the 2011 Los Angeles Regional champions. “They do the little things right.”
Savage was glowing when speaking about Weiss’ maturity, citing him as a cornerstone of next season’s starting rotation. Along with freshman Adam Plutko, who pitched seven and two-thirds innings of one-hit baseball in UCLA’s 4-1 win over San Francisco earlier Sunday, Weiss and Vander Tuig will be back next season.
“That was the most pitches he threw all year,” Savage said of Weiss. “I thought he was done after the seventh, and then he came out in the eighth inning guns a-blazing. I’m so proud of him. The guy stepped up in a major way and I think you saw a pitcher grow up tonight.”
