UCLA baseball to redirect focus for weekend games

Midweek games are crucial in setting the tone for the weekend, according to coach John Savage, and these past two weeks have proved unfavorable for the UCLA baseball team.

With a 7-5 record, the No. 13 Bruins have struggled to find their footing, having lost the last two midweek games.

“After losing two Tuesdays in a row, you gotta redirect your thoughts a little bit and your energy to make sure you’re focusing on the right things,” Savage said.

UCLA will see a full weekend of action, as the team will face Pepperdine (9-3) on Friday and Houston (9-2) on Saturday before heading across town to challenge rival USC (8-3).

Just last weekend, the Bruins played another three-team tournament, which coach Savage said is not as desirable as playing a three-game series.

“It’s a little more difficult. You’re looking at a lot of different hitters in a game,” Savage said. “We really don’t like tournaments a whole lot because of that reason.”

However, the team fared well a week ago against Notre Dame, North Carolina State and Michigan, and coach Savage does not think the upcoming tournament will pose such a big problem.

“We’d rather get into a three-game series, but we’re looking forward to playing them.”

Sunday’s game against USC figures to be an interesting one. Any time UCLA plays rival USC, in any sport, there is a thirst to prove itself.

“There is always that rivalry, but we just have to play Bruin baseball and play our game and the results will take care of themselves,” said senior outfielder Brian Carroll.

In order to see these results, however, the team will need to re-evaluate the problem areas, such as execution on bases and taking advantage of base hits.

“We’re in the early stages of identifying what we need to do as a team and we’ve seen some peaks and some valleys and we’ve seen some tough times,” Savage said.

It is too early in the season to make long-term predictions, so the Bruins are confident that they will find their balance within the team.

Some have already found their groove.

After grinding out 13 strikeouts last Sunday, a career performance, sophomore pitcher Cody Poteet was named National Player of the Week, Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week, and one of NCAA.com’s National Players of the Week.

For now, the team will focus on getting through the weekend by playing “Bruin baseball.”

“They’re all good teams. They’re all competitive,” said junior infielder Chris Keck. “We’re just going to be coming out with our A game and we’re going to be ready.”