June 8, 2007

Bruins around at the finish
UCLA was an out removed from three complete games in winning its regional.

By JANIS CARR

UCLA coach John Savage stood in the dugout and knew he was watching something special. Bruins ace Tyson Brummett experienced the same fluttering feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"It felt pretty special," Brummett said. "It was fun to sit back and watch."

What the coach and player, along with the rest of the UCLA team and the other three teams in last week's NCAA regional at Long Beach witnessed probably wasn't history, but certainly something rare. UCLA came within one out of throwing three consecutive complete games in winning the regional and a berth in the super regionals, where the Bruins (33-26) will face Cal State Fullerton (36-23) starting Saturday at Goodwin Field.

"It's something I haven't seen in my 15 years of coaching Division I baseball," Savage said. "It's rare, especially at this stage of the year. Forms aren't as strong and arms tend to be tired and bullpens have their roles. But our guys seem to have been going strong."

Brummett, a senior right-hander, got the Bruins started by striking out six through 8 2/3 innings in a 7-3 victory against Pepperdine on Friday at Blair Field. Savage said his senior starter might have been able to get the final out, but didn't want to risk dropping into the loser's bracket. Besides, the bases were loaded.

So he brought in Tim Murphy, who made two pitches to earn his second save.

Brummett said he felt strong enough to finish off the inning; he has logged seven complete games this season, so he knew he was capable. But he understood why Savage pulled him.

"I don't think my pitch count was too high, but that last inning they got to me a little bit," said Brummett, who is 10-5 this season, with a 3.57 ERA in 133 2/3 innings of work. He has struck out 109.

"Tyson was a solid Sunday starter for us last season and he has emerged as our Friday starter," Savage said. "That's not an easy task, but with each pitch, he's gotten better and better and he's been able to repeat his delivery. He's gone from a non-drafted junior to someone who should go in the top five rounds."

The next game, Savage handed the ball to freshman Gavin Brooks, who pitched a two-hitter to lead UCLA past Illinois-Chicago, 3-1. After surrendering an unearned run in the first inning, Brooks (6-6, 4.65) allowed just four base runners.

With the regional on the line, Savage turned to his third starter, Murphy, Brooks' teammate at Rancho Buena Vista High. And the sophomore left-hander (5-4) turned in a third impressive performance by holding Long Beach State to one run over the final eight innings in a 7-4 victory. He struck out eight and walked three in his first collegiate complete game.

"In the age of college pitching, this certainly was unusual, that's for sure," Savage said. "But these guys are in very good shape. Their velocity seemed to be up a little bit, so they didn't seem to be getting tired."Savage added that Brummett and Brooks have shown that kind of endurance all season, while Murphy, who pitched briefly as a freshman, has evolved into what he called "a great pitcher. It's rewarding to see how those guys have worked extremely hard. "

Brummett credited Savage for not only the pitchers' performances, but also how the Bruins turned an 8-14 start into a Super Regional berth.

"He has had us working on our mental approach, which is getting one the first batter of every inning and staying ahead of guys to limit the damage," Brummett said.

Brummett, a transfer from Central Arizona College, said he came to UCLA for one reason — Savage.
"He's one of the top pitching coaches in the country who has worked with a lot of good players when he was at USC. He's coached and groomed a lot of major-leaguers."

Savage worked as the pitching coach at USC, where he developed the arms of Mark Prior, Barry Zito and Seth Etherton. He then headed to UC Irvine, where he recruited Blair Erickson, the national career saves leader.