Baseball: Losing streak reaches 18

Ben Peters
Published: Wednesday, April 13, 2005

In other years, UCLA’s 4-2 midweek loss at Loyola Marymount would be unremarkable, and at most annoying.

Every loss such as this one, however, now adds another dimension to the UCLA baseball team’s school-record losing streak that, at 18 games, has become quite remarkable.

In that way, the losing streak has accentuated the Bruins’ dismal performance and drained a team that, believe it or not, started out strong.

“I didn’t see a sense of urgency today that I really wanted to see, especially with the results that we’ve been getting,” UCLA coach John Savage said. “It is pretty disappointing.

“It’s my responsibility that we come out ready to play. We haven’t done a real good job of that lately,” he said.

The streak has lasted long enough that more than one theme has developed. The most recent is a lack of hitting, which was again the culprit Tuesday, as the Bruins managed just five hits.

“Today, I thought it was a lack of focus (at the plate),” Savage said. “The way we struggle with at-bats, every mistake with pitching and defense is magnified.”

On the bright side, after being overwhelmed by a combined score of 26-1 last weekend at USC, the Bruins (7-22, 0-6) did keep Tuesday’s game within reach.

The Lions (14-18) jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the second inning off of starter Adam Simon, who lasted two innings.

The Bruins responded in the fourth inning by posting a pair of runs. After second baseman Sean Carpenter led-off with a walk, shortstop Tommy Lansdon drove him home with an RBI single and center fielder Josh Roenicke knocked Lansdon in with an RBI groundout.

Three UCLA relievers kept the game close. Brant Rustich allowed a lone run in 2-1/3 innings, and then Brian Schroeder and Hector Ambriz combined to effectively shut down the Lions for the rest of the game.

“I thought Schroeder was the one bright spot,” Savage said. “He gave us two good innings. He really competed.”

In the sixth inning, UCLA managed to load the bases with two outs, but catcher Chris Denove hit a soft line drive that the second baseman caught. Five feet in either direction and they would have been tied, and the Bruins would still have been threatening.

But that’s the way it’s gone lately for UCLA.

Missed opportunities such as that have ensured that the streak stays alive.

And that the spotlight on the Bruins’ struggles continues to intensify.