The best things are worth waiting for.
But as inning after inning went by, the Bruins’ offense never showed up.
No. 1 UCLA baseball (6-2) fell to San Diego State (5-3) by a score of 4-3 on Tuesday night at Jackie Robinson Stadium.
The Bruins tallied just three hits, their fewest in 38 games dating back to a matchup last year on April 18 against then-No. 16 Oregon. Just as that game ended in a loss, Tuesday’s offensive woes were too much to overcome.
“We’ve been about as good as any team in the West on Tuesdays for over 20 years, so it was disappointing,” said coach John Savage.
However, the boys in blue and gold did get on the board first.
After a groundout to second by junior first baseman Mulivai Levu, junior left fielder Dean West was able to score. The play would be followed by just one hit in the next four innings as the Bruins were unable to build on the early 1-0 lead.
Right-hander Alec Belardes kept the Bruin offense quiet, pitching 5.1 innings for the Aztecs. Belardes had three strikeouts, one of which left West looking at the ball as it zipped by to end the fifth inning.
On top of the offensive drought, UCLA committed two errors after being perfect on defense in its first seven games.
The first came at the top of the sixth, when an overthrown ball by junior third baseman Roman Martin allowed shortstop Jabin Trosky to advance to third. This proved to be costly, when two pitches later, Trosky scored for the Aztecs following a hit to the right side.
The second error was another wild throw, this time in the top of the ninth by freshman second baseman Aiden Aguayo. While it did not lead to an SDSU score, it did allow right fielder Zane Kelly to reach third and mount the pressure on the Bruin defense.
Though Martin’s error was costly, he provided offensive bright spots for the Bruins in the bottom of the sixth.
After a double to right center field allowed junior shortstop Roch Cholowsky to add a run for the Bruins for the first time since the beginning of the game, Martin later stole third following a wild pitch by Belardes.
Martin then brought the Bruins within one run after a groundout to third in the bottom of the sixth.
“We didn’t win, so I obviously didn’t do enough to help the team,” Martin said. “But it felt good being able to hang in there. I was trying to pump up the team and show them that we were still fighting.”
Despite the energy the Whittier, California local brought to an otherwise stagnant UCLA, the team would once again go several innings without a hit. This time, the dry spell would last for the final three frames of the game.
On the pitching side of Tuesday’s matchup, seven Bruins took the mound in total, the most Savage has sent out so far this season.
Just like a week prior against Tulane, Savage gave the start to the new faces on his veteran-filled roster. Freshman right-hander Angel Cervantes pitched the first three innings, but gave up a solo home run to right field to designated hitter Anthony Marnell.
Cervantes was followed by another new talent, freshman right-hander Zach Strickland.
And while it is often believed that solo home runs won’t kill you, they might have done just that to the Bruins. Strickland gave up two solo shots of his own and was pulled at the top of the sixth for junior right-hander Cal Randall.
“It’s baseball. There’s going to be deficits and there’s going to be leads,” Randall said. “In my role, especially, I have to be ready to play in any situation.”
Randall – who did not receive much playing time in his freshman season – saw his role elevated last year for the Bruins.
In 28 relief appearances, he struck out 31 batters and held opposing batters to a .185 batting average. Randall’s most notable appearance came in the Big Ten Tournament against Illinois, striking out four batters in one of his 19 scoreless outings of the season.
After taking over for Strickland, he made an immediate impact with back-to-back strikeouts, though he would only pitch 0.2 innings in total.
UCLA is hoping to use the loss as fuel for a tough three-game series ahead in Arlington as part of the Amegy Bank College Baseball Series. They will face a gauntlet of SEC ranked opponents that includes No. 20 Tennessee, No. 23 Texas A&M and No. 4 Mississippi State.
“We feel like we can beat anybody at this level,” Savage said. “We’re not going to be dwelling on Tuesday when we’re in Arlington. But if we learn from it, that will really help us.”
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