Up-and-up Bruins to face Ducks
Junior infielder Casey Haerther and the Bruins venture to Oregon to take on the Ducks in their first meeting since 1979
By Blair Angulo
April 30, 2009 9:20 p.m.
One team is playing its best baseball of the season. The other is on a downward slide.
The teams couldn’t be more different when the UCLA baseball team opens a three-game set against Oregon today in Eugene.
The Bruins, hoping to make a late push toward the postseason, have won 10 of their last 14 games. The Ducks are at the opposite end of the spectrum, having lost 14 of their last 15 games.
Regardless of the disparity, UCLA coach John Savage is not taking anything for granted this late in the season.
“We expect Oregon to be good,” he said. “They’re a Pac-10 team. Like any other Pac-10 series, we’re going to be prepared to play.”
UCLA (20-21, 11-7 Pac-10) and Oregon (13-29, 3-12) have not played one another in 30 years. That’s because the Ducks’ baseball program was dormant until this season, when it got reinstated after a 28-year absence.
“To be honest, I know absolutely nothing about them,” junior infielder Casey Haerther said. “All I know is that it’s going to be a pivotal Pac-10 series. We need to go up there and take care of business. We’re fighting for our lives.”
The Bruins, winners of five of their last six Pac-10 games, currently sit in third place in the conference standings behind first-place Arizona State (32-9, 15-3) and second-place Washington State (21-18, 10-5). But since the Bruins have a losing overall record, they are still trying to make a case for a regional berth.
“People say the conference is down,” Savage said. “I want them to play in the conference and then tell me it’s down. It maybe doesn’t have the big-name players it had in the past, but if you play anybody in the conference, you’re going to have a tough weekend.”
Savage will send freshman starter Gerrit Cole to the mound today. The hard-throwing right-hander said he likes having the responsibility of anchoring the weekend rotation, even though the Bruins have little room for error.
“I like being in that role,” Cole said. “I want to give the team a good kick start and set a good mentality for the next two games. I feel like I’ve fit into that position pretty well.”
Cole leads the team in strikeouts (78) and has held opposing hitters to a team-low .197 batting average.
Fellow freshman right-hander Trevor Bauer will start Saturday’s game and junior right-hander Charles Brewer will start Sunday.
Bauer, who made the transition from closer to midweek starter and now to weekend starter, has registered a 4-0 record as a starter.
Brewer allowed only two runs in five innings to earn the victory last Sunday against Oregon State.
“Our weekend rotation is pretty good,” Cole said. “Between Charles, Trevor and I, it’s a good 1-2-3 punch. We’re all throwing the ball well. I don’t see us losing games if we keep pitching the way we are.”
“If we can get in that upper echelon of the conference and get into a regional, we’re a pretty dangerous team,” Savage said.
