Baseball suffers sweep by Oregon in final home series

It was a bittersweet ending for UCLA baseball, as Oregon handed the team its third-straight sweep in its last home series of the season.

“With all the time we spent out there for practice and games, it’s just sort of bittersweet,” said senior infielder Pat Gallagher.

With the excitement of the Senior Day celebration kicking off Sunday’s game, the Bruins were poised for a good game, but fell short once more.

“We battled them this last game and we trusted our teammates,” said junior catcher Shane Zeile. “But sometimes in baseball, there are slumps and the ball doesn’t really roll your way and it’s just tough.”

The team’s biggest shortfall all weekend was, again, its inability to finish games.

“We fought all the way through, but it came down to playing all nine innings and it’s something that we’ve struggled with all year,” said redshirt sophomore catcher Justin Hazard. “(On Sunday), we jumped out to an early lead but got complacent.”

UCLA had a chance to prove naysayers wrong in the bottom of the 10th on Sunday.

“We were just missing the big hit with runners in scoring position,” said senior outfielder Brian Carroll.

With sophomore infielder Brett Urabe on second base, sophomore catcher Darrell Miller Jr. stepped up to the plate and got the hit UCLA desperately needed.

The ball ricocheted off the Oregon shortstop and Urabe blew past third, sprinting straight to home.

But not before the second basemen picked up the ball and threw to the catcher, with Urabe being just two steps away from scoring.

The Ducks came back in the 11th inning, advancing their runner play by play, until an RBI ran him into home, giving Oregon a 5-4 lead.

The Bruins could not come back to score in their final round at Jackie Robinson Stadium, losing the game and the weekend series.

“Frustration is what I feel,” said coach John Savage. “If you don’t finish games, you don’t get the results you want.”

UCLA is currently riding a 10-game losing streak, having lost 13 of its last 15 games, but will look to end that streak next weekend in its final series against Washington.

“We practice starting, maintaining and finishing, but it just seems like something always pops up,” Savage said. “Whether it’s defense, lack of discipline or lack of execution.”

With one week left, Savage is hoping the team uses this week to get better in the area it’s been struggling with.

Despite the bitter ending to this weekend, however, the Bruin seniors recalled their four years playing Bruin baseball, being a part of the team that went to Omaha two times – three for redshirt senior catcher Aaron Weimer – and won the first College World series in program history.

“It’s tough whenever you get swept,” Carroll said. “But I had a lot of fun out here and the guys were great.”