Baseball clinches NCAA Regional spot after splitting Oregon games
Daniel Rosica had one of the best offesnive days of his whole career Saturday. The redshirt sophomore catcher had four hits and scored four runs. (Kathy Chen/Daily Bruin)
By David Gottlieb
May 29, 2017 11:11 p.m.
UCLA baseball (30-25, 19-11 Pac-12) split the final two games of its series with Oregon (30-25, 12-18) over the weekend, which turned out to be good enough for both a series victory and a regular season record that won them an at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament.
A 2-1 loss Friday, and a 10-1 win Saturday concluded Pac-12 play for the Bruins. On Monday morning, the team received word that it’ll be headed to Long Beach as the No. 3 seed in its NCAA Regional.
UCLA won five of its last six conference games and finished in sole possession of third place in the Pac-12. Coach John Savage said those two factors were part of what put UCLA in a good position to obtain a playoff berth.
“I just think (Pac-12 play) always prepares you for the postseason,” Savage said. “The 30-game gauntlet. It’s something year in, year out – when you do get into postseason, most Pac-12 teams are fully prepared.”
Friday’s game featured a pitcher’s duel between junior Jake Bird and Ducks’ righty Matt Mercer. Bird allowed a pair of RBI singles – one in the fifth and one in the seventh – over 6 1/3 innings of work. Mercer tossed 7 1/3 innings, yielding just one unearned run to win the battle.
The UCLA offense bounced back Saturday, tagging Oregon’s staff for double-digit runs on 17 hits, 16 of which were singles. Five Bruins had multi-hit performances, and both senior left fielder Brett Stephens and redshirt sophomore catcher Daniel Rosica notched four-hit days.
Sophomore pitcher Jon Olsen fired eight innings and gave up just one run to earn the victory.
Personnel updates
Neither redshirt sophomore shortstop Nick Valaika nor freshman designated hitter Kyle Cuellar made the trip to Eugene, Oregon, but Savage said that both of them could be back and ready for the Regional.
“We’re going to have some tough decisions,” Savage said. “We’re just going to have to see where they’re at physically. We’ll have to get them some rest during the week. If we can do that, we’ll see how game-ready they really are.”
Valaika has been nursing a hand injury, and Cuellar has been dealing with illness.
This time last year
After the last out of Pac-12 play last year, the Bruins didn’t have a Regional to look forward to. That team finished at 25-31, completely out of the postseason mix.
The season ended with a three-game sweep at the hands of this year’s No. 1 team, Oregon State. Following that series, at least one player thought 2017 would be different.
“We’re all disappointed about how it ended up,” said then-junior starting pitcher Grant Dyer. “They’re a great group of guys. I think this season was a little bit of a fluke. I have a lot higher expectations for next year for sure.”
