Legendary Los Angeles Dodgers manager Tommy Lasorda said regardless of talent, a team will win a third of its games and lose a third.

It’s the remaining third that counts, he said.

Those numbers don’t always line up in college baseball, where top teams win in excess of 70% of their contests.

This season, the opposite side of the coin has been true for the Bruins – even winning one out of three games has proven a challenge.

“There’s three weekends left and still a lot of baseball,” said coach John Savage. “But it’s been a hard, difficult season.”

UCLA baseball (13-28, 6-18 Pac-12) was swept by Utah (29-13, 14-7) for the first time in program history, falling to a .317 winning percentage overall. With the losses, the Bruins fell to 2-16 on the road and extended their losing streak to nine games.

UCLA was six outs away from a win Friday following a seven-inning, one-run outing by junior right-hander Luke Jewett. The Bruins took the lead behind a two-run third, capped off with an RBI single by freshman infielder Roman Martin.

But disaster struck in the eighth.

With two outs, graduate student right-hander Rashad Ruff attempted to field a dribbling grounder by Utah outfielder Kai Roberts. The Coppin State transfer fumbled the ball, eventually gloving it to first, but freshman first baseman Mulivai Levu was unable to corral the ball.

Roberts stole second and advanced to third on an error by freshman catcher Cashel Dugger before tying the game on a strike-three passed ball that would’ve ended the inning.

“I really thought we were going to be a good defensive team,” Savage said. “We just have not been able to really handle the ball at a very efficient pace. It’s hard to win when you don’t play sound, solid defense.”

UCLA and Utah posted zeroes for the next three innings before Roberts broke through with a walk-off single in the twelfth to secure a 3-2 win. Ruff tossed 4.2 innings on 79 pitches – both season highs in his losing effort.

“With us playing three games a weekend, you can’t really be down after a loss on Friday,” Jewett said. “There’s always two more games. So, we have a lot of confidence in our guys.”

The following afternoon, the Bruins jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the fourth. But just like Friday, Saturday’s contest was soon pushed out of reach because of a misplay in the outfield.

Utah scored three runs in the fifth inning before a dropped fly ball from senior right fielder JonJon Vaughns extended the frame, allowing the Utes to score three more unearned runs and push their lead to 6-1. UCLA eventually clawed back a pair in the sixth but fell 7-3.

Sunday’s game was a different story – one practically completed by the conclusion of the first inning.

The Utes were all over freshman right-hander Landon Stump, tagging him for three runs before recording a single out and adding two more by the end of the opening frame.

Utah tacked on one in the second and matched the Bruins’ two-run third and one-run fourth, ending Stump’s day at four innings, nine runs and 10 hits on 105 pitches.

“Utah’s probably one of the better offensive teams in the league, and I think they just took advantage of a freshman on the road,” Savage said.

UCLA had its best offensive output Sunday – including a pair of homers from junior shortstop Cody Schrier and freshman third baseman Roch Cholowsky – but the seven-run day wasn’t enough to keep up with Utah’s 12-run barrage.

“In all three games, it felt like we were in it,” Schrier said. “I wouldn’t necessarily say it felt like we were on our back foot at all, but I think we just need to be a little bit better dumping on guys and getting a bigger lead than what we’ve had.”

The Bruins are now guaranteed to finish below .500 for the first time since 2016.