Cal State Fullerton poses titanic challenge for UCLA baseball

UCLA baseball has a rivalry with Cal State Fullerton dating back to its early years, one that stems from the tough competition the Titans bring to the field when playing against the Bruins.

“We know Fullerton’s always a good game and they can compete against us,” said junior catcher Shane Zeile. “It’s somewhat of a rivalry, so it’s going to be a good game.”

For Tuesday’s game, UCLA will face No. 18 Cal State Fullerton for the first time since defeating the Titans in the 2013 NCAA Super Regionals.

The tension of this rivalry is fresh, after UCLA ruled out Fullerton’s chances of continuing on to the College World Series.

“I guarantee you the older guys and the coaches have some history with Fullerton,” said freshman outfielder Kort Peterson. “So it’s going to be interesting to see how it all plays out.”

However, UCLA knows that Cal State Fullerton will not let up so easily this time around.

The Titans have won four of their last seven games and were picked as the favorites to win the 2014 Big West title by the nine conference coaches that voted in the Big West baseball preseason coaches poll.

“They’re one of the best programs in the country,” said UCLA coach John Savage. “From here on out, we’re going to play a lot of good teams.”

Recently, the Bruins have emphasized playing their own game and not focusing solely on beating their opponent, whomever that may be.

“Just like any other game, we’re not playing against the opponent,” Zeile said. “We are just concerned about playing our Bruin baseball.”

However, “Bruin baseball” has been falling short in some aspects of their game.

One weak point the team pointed out was its tendency to play passively and with little confidence, which is something they are hoping to change Tuesday.

This past weekend, UCLA had a total of two throwing errors and three fielding errors. According to Peterson, these are unusual errors for plays that they normally execute perfectly.

Zeile attributed these errors partly to their lack of confidence and assertiveness out on the field, something they will need to improve on if they want to compete against the Titans.

“We need to be more aggressive on defense,” Zeile said. “We’ve been playing a little bit timidly, so we just need to come out and play with confidence.”

Coach Savage, however, wants the team to focus on getting the basics down in practice in order to avoid simple errors that can cost the team runs.

“We always talk about getting better and we do that by practicing,” Savage said. “It’s about pitching, it’s about defense and it’s about getting back to the basics, so that is what we’re looking to do.”

UCLA, now 18-12, will play the second of its eight-game road series as it heads down to Fullerton to compete at Goodwin Field Tuesday at 6 p.m.