Baseball pushing forward
By Gilbert Quiñonez
April 19, 2007 10:07 p.m.
The surging UCLA baseball team hopes to stay on a roll this weekend when it hosts Cal State Northridge.
The No. 24-ranked Bruins have won 11 of their last 13 games, their best 13-game stretch since 2000. At one point, UCLA’s record was just 8-14, but the team now stands at 19-16 (8-1 Pac-10), with the bulk of the run coming during Pac-10 play.
“We didn’t play very well the first two months,” UCLA coach John Savage said. “We know that. But the Stanford series started a new season for us and the players have responded.”
Since the Pac-10 only has nine teams in baseball, each team has a weekend during conference play without a Pac-10 opponent. The Bruins will host a Cal State Northridge team that has struggled, going 13-25, 1-8 in Big West play.
“Every series is taken personally,” UCLA sophomore third baseman Jermaine Curtis said. “You can’t let up. Everything’s going great for us and it’s going to be a big series.”
Curtis was ineligible to play during winter quarter, and his first game back was the Bruins’ first Pac-10 game.
“The guy is just a baseball player,” Savage said. “He takes pride in his defense, he takes pride in getting on base, he’s an on-base percentage guy. It’s just a welcome addition to our team. Jermaine has really made the difference.”
Curtis hasn’t put up the offensive numbers yet that he did last season, but he has been hitting better as of late. He has also made several contributions with his glove, including multiple plays in Tuesday’s win over No. 11 Pepperdine that helped prevent runs.
“He can make just as big of a splash on defense as he does on offense,” Savage said.
The rest of his team has improved greatly as well, as the Bruins have shown great strides at the plate, on the mound and in the field.
The Bruins insist that they will treat this series against Northridge like they treat every other series.
“Every series is big,” UCLA sophomore catcher Ryan Babineau said. “We’ve got to stay on top of it in between conference play. Every game is a big game and it’s a big series for us.”
NOTES: Savage has used Tyson Brummett and Tim Murphy in relief in each of the team’s last two Tuesday games, even though both pitchers are starting on the weekend.
“It’s not something that I like to do a whole lot, but with us being in the position that we are, I’m OK with Murphy going one and Brummett going one,” Savage said. “It’s not really how you draw it up, but, you know what, we need to look at each game as a conference game. We’ll do what we have to do.”
Brummett is scheduled to start on Friday, and Murphy will start on Saturday.
Freshman Casey Haerther got the start at designated hitter on Tuesday, the first game he had started since March 24, a span of 13 games.
“We’ve got some guys banged up,” Savage said, citing injuries to other used options Will Penniall (hamstring) and Mickey Weisser (calf).
Haerther, who was drafted to the pros out of high school, went 1-for-4 with an RBI on Tuesday.
“Casey’s a very capable hitter,” Savage said. “We know he’s going to hit. He’s had a tough time and he responded with a big RBI.”
