Closer starting to come into his own
By Gilbert Quiñonez
April 23, 2007 9:13 p.m.
As the season began for the UCLA baseball team, many expected Brant Rustich to be the team’s star reliever. Rustich, however, has struggled at times this season, seeing his ERA balloon to 6.17.
But he may have turned a corner after his best and most dominating performance of the season on Sunday, at a time in the game when the Bruins needed him the most.
While normally closers are saved for the later innings, Rustich was brought into the game in the sixth inning with two outs. The bases were loaded, and Cal State Northridge had just scored six runs off three Bruin pitchers to take the lead. Jorge Andrade Jr., the Matadors’ best hitter, was up after hitting a monster home run earlier in the inning. Rustich struck out Andrade and then threw three more scoreless innings, giving UCLA its 14th win in its last 16 games, the first time the Bruins have done that since 1997.
“I knew I had to go out there and keep it close,” Rustich said. “I had a lot of confidence. I’ve been throwing the ball well. Everything’s just starting to come together for me. I just kind of try to stay within and go after hitters and throw a lot of strikes.”
“When he’s himself and he competes, he’s as big of an arm out there in the country,” UCLA coach John Savage said. “He needed some confidence and he got that today so that might be able to kick-start him.”
Rustich’s fastball was clocked as high as 96 mph on radar guns and he was able to locate his slider in the strike zone. As UCLA enters the second half of the conference schedule, having a dominant reliever in the bullpen is essential. Both Savage and Rustich are confident Rustich can be effective down the stretch for No. 18 UCLA (22-16, 8-1 Pac-10).
“It’s still long from over. We need him,” Savage said. “We need him to be what he was today. If he’s that same guy every day, we’ve got a pretty good chance because he can go out and strike people out.”
“This is the time to do it,” Rustich said. “There’s not a better time than right now for things to come together for me. I have a lot of expectations for myself and to the team.”
Rustich’s performance wasn’t the only key performance out of the bullpen over the weekend. Jason Novak threw 4 1/3 innings of relief on Saturday, allowing only one run. The UCLA pitching staff as a whole struck out 40 batters in four games played last week.
BRUINS TO TAKE ON RIVERSIDE: UCLA travels to UC Riverside today for a 6 p.m. non-conference game. UCLA won the first meeting between the teams 3-2 back on Feb. 13. UCR is 23-16, 4-2 in the Big West Conference.
“Tuesday games are just as important as weekend games,” Rustich said. “When we drive all the way out to Riverside you definitely want to go out and win because it’s a really long drive.”
The game precedes the big looming series against No. 12 Arizona (31-9, 9-3 Pac-10) this weekend at Jackie Robinson Stadium.
“Riverside is a good team. We’re really trying not to look ahead to Arizona,” first baseman Cody Decker said.
Pitcher Garett Claypool (1-0, 3.89 ERA) gets the start tonight for UCLA.
