UCLA baseball looks to extend win streak in midweek matchup against Pepperdine

Just like they were in the 2019 season en route to a Pac-12 championship, the Bruins are undefeated in midweek games so far in 2021.

UCLA baseball (21-11, 9-6 Pac-12) will carry that perfect 5-0 midweek record into its Tuesday afternoon matchup in Malibu with Pepperdine (12-13, 5-4 WCC), also having won 23 of its last 27 midweek games dating back to the start of the 2018 campaign. The midweek track record stands in opposition to the Bruins’ lack of success on the road, however – UCLA went 19-4 on the road in 2019 but sits at 5-6 in its games away from Jackie Robinson Stadium this year.

“We’ve always been a really good road team in my career at UCLA,” said coach John Savage. “We still need to establish ourselves on the road – the road is tough. It’s a different environment, but we’ve always embraced those types of things.”

A road series loss to Cal Poly snapped UCLA’s then-six-game winning streak in early March while dropping two out of three at Stanford sent the Bruins tumbling out of the D1Baseball top 25 for the first time since 2017. This time around, UCLA is riding a five-game winning streak into its road game against Pepperdine, and sophomore designated hitter Josh Hahn said carrying that success into Tuesday could help solve its road woes.

“We just have to ride off our momentum,” Hahn said. “Definitely our road identity hasn’t been what we want it to be, but we can always change that around.”

While the Bruins’ midweek game against the Waves that was scheduled for March 30 was canceled because of COVID-19 concerns, the two programs faced off as part of the College Baseball Classic on March 5. The blue and gold slugged their way to a 16-8 victory that night, using a seven-run eighth inning to put things away.

UCLA used a string of similarly high-powered offensive performances to put together its five-game winning streak and sweep Utah, averaging 13.5 runs per game over the past week. The brief streak has consisted of three double-digit wins, but Savage said the bounce-back performance across the board didn’t have much to do with his team’s fall out of the rankings and an RPI rank of No. 42.

“I don’t know if it was a statement, but we’re not going away – that’s for sure,” Savage said. “We’ve battled quite a few injuries this season, the truth be told, and I think our team’s in a pretty good place.”

The injuries Savage was referring to have started to thin out the Bruins’ bullpen for the time being, with redshirt senior right-hander Kyle Mora set to miss the next few weeks with a knee injury and sophomore left-hander Jake Saum out four weeks with a fractured pinky.

UCLA’s relievers have still posted a 1.50 ERA during its winning streak despite the missing pieces, picking up where the starters left off and helping close out victories.

“That’s all you can ask for,” said junior right-hander Jesse Bergin, who got the start Sunday. “When a guy comes in and picks you up, strikes out the side after leaving a guy on, huge props to (them).”

The steady flow of run support and consistent bullpen performances have been present throughout the Bruins’ active winning streak, but they may have to continue doing so away from home when the Waves host them at 3 p.m. on Tuesday.

“We can always turn it around, so that’s what we’re going to do,” Hahn said. “We’re going to have a good practice and then head up on the bus, go to Pepperdine and win another midweek game.”