Baseball to play Pepperdine following first home loss this season

After surrendering their first home loss of the season, the Bruins will have a chance to get back on track at Jackie Robinson Stadium.

No. 2 UCLA baseball (9-2) will square off against Pepperdine (3-6) on Tuesday, coming off a 2-1 loss to Sacramento State that put an end to the team’s five-game winning streak and undefeated home record.

In their loss to the Hornets, the Bruins’ one run was their lowest total of the season, and their eight base runners tied their season low as well.

“We just didn’t do enough offensively to win the game,” said coach John Savage. “It was a tough series. They gave us everything we could handle.”

UCLA has had key members of its starting lineup go through slumps recently.

Junior first baseman Michael Toglia is hitless in his last 14 at-bats, including 0-for-9 with five strikeouts during Sunday’s doubleheader. Meanwhile, junior second baseman and No. 3 hitter Chase Strumpf is three for his last 17 at-bats with 10 strikeouts.

“Some guys, including me, had some uncharacteristic days this weekend,” Strumpf said. “We don’t want to worry about what’s going on with each other individually, but just worry about finding ways to win games. We can use this past weekend as a lesson for what doesn’t work.”

Strumpf will have an opportunity to break out of his slump against a team he has seen success against in the past. Last season, the Bruins defeated the Waves 2-1 on Strumpf’s walk-off double in the ninth inning.

“Pepperdine’s got a great program that they run over there,” Strumpf said. “Maybe not always the most talented guys, but as a team, they’re always competitive. They always put up a good fight and we have good games against them.”

While UCLA had its home winning streak end Sunday, Pepperdine has been on a losing streak since Feb. 17. The Waves have dropped six games in a row and have yet to win a game on the road this season.

The weather has affected Pepperdine’s schedule during its winless stretch, with four games being either postponed or canceled. Last weekend, a split home-away series against UC Santa Barbara saw both the Saturday game at Pepperdine and the Sunday game at Santa Barbara get rained out.

The Bruins had their own schedule change with the doubleheader Sunday, but Savage said that they would not miss a beat.

“We have a schedule and it’s pretty well set,” Savage said. “We play four games a week, we practice twice and we have a day off. This doesn’t disrupt any schedule whatsoever.”

Freshman right-hander Nick Nastrini will take the mound for his third Tuesday start, looking to notch his first win. With freshman right-hander Jesse Bergin surrendering a run Sunday, Nastrini is now the only starter with a 0.00 ERA, having pitched 10 2/3 scoreless innings to begin his collegiate career.

However, the shutout streak will be the last thing on Nastrini’s mind Tuesday.

“I’m not focused on that at all,” Nastrini said. “I’m just going out there, pitch to pitch, trying to execute all of my pitches.”

Savage said the loss Sunday, while disappointing, could be helpful for the team in the long run.

“It’s all about getting better at this stage and really evaluating guys to see what they can handle and what they can’t handle,” Savage said. “A lot of those guys have passed a lot of tests so far. We’ve won three series and had a tough loss, but we can use this loss in our favor at the end of the day.”

First pitch will be at 6 p.m. Tuesday.