UCLA is swept by Arizona State

After generating lots of excitement during a school-record 22-0 start to the college baseball season, UCLA is 8-10 over the last four weeks, mostly against strong Pacific 10 Conference competition, and what must be of particular concern for Coach John Savage is a dissipating attack.

On Sunday, Arizona State completed a three-game sweep of the Bruins, hitting three two-run home runs en route to a 12-3 victory at Jackie Robinson Stadium. The Bruins were limited to six hits in the series finale and scored five runs in three games.

Arizona State (38-5, 14-4), ranked No. 3 by Baseball America, became the first school this season to hand losses to UCLA’s three starting pitchers — Gerrit Cole (6-2), Trevor Bauer (6-3) and Rob Rasmussen (6-2). And the Sun Devils beat up on UCLA’s relievers too.

It was such a lost weekend for No. 5-ranked UCLA (30-10, 7-8) that Bruins closer Dan Klein, who began the series with an 0.62 earned-run average, didn’t make his first appearance until the Bruins trailed, 10-2, in the sixth inning Sunday.

UCLA’s hitters did little to provide support. The Bruins had five starters in the lineup who had batting averages below .300, a far cry from February and March, when .400 hitters were plentiful.

Rasmussen, a junior left-hander, gave up two-run home runs to Zack MacPhee, Raoul Torrez and Kole Calhoun before being removed in the fifth inning.

Arizona State is thriving under first-year Coach Tim Esmay, who took over after longtime coach Pat Murphy left the program in November.

The big question for UCLA is whether its young hitters who started hot, such as freshmen Cody Keefer and Cody Regis, can regain their confidence going against Pac-10 competition.

“They’re getting an education,” Savage said. “They have to fight through it.”

But Savage hasn’t lost confidence in his team.

“We’re a quality team,” he said. “We have quality players. We’re going to right the ship.”

Six Pac-10 teams are ranked in Baseball America’s top 25. UCLA finds itself in seventh place behind the Sun Devils, California (11-7), Stanford (10-8), Oregon (10-8), Washington (8-7) and Arizona (9-9).

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