Three UCLA students, Mark Breen, Christian Brown and Deale Hutchinson, possess different insight about the school’s baseball program.

Breen and Brown have attended games, but Hutchinson hasn’t.

That tends to happen, not only at UCLA, but also at other institutions throughout the nation. Students find similarities in supporting particular athletics programs, just like Breen and Brown. in going to baseball games. Others, however, simply pay attention to specific sports. Such is the case with Hutchinson, who only follows football and basketball.

When you hear about UCLA baseball, a bunch of names come to mind. People might say Bobby Brown or Chris Chambliss and, for the most part, others would agree.

However, when you talk about UCLA baseball, it means much more than just trying to win a first national championship. It’s about continuing the impact that Jackie Robinson left behind. 

UCLA’s baseball stadium is not only called the Jackie Robinson Stadium for the middling career he had as a baseball player, but because of his perseverance during the civil rights movement. Jackie Robinson’s determination to beat the odds made him the first UCLA athlete to letter in four varsity sports: baseball, basketball, football and track & field. 

“When I think about UCLA baseball, the first person that comes to my mind is Jackie Robinson,” said Breen, a history major. “Not that long ago in one of my history classes, we had to write a paper on sports during the civil rights movement, and I wrote my paper on Jackie Robinson.”

Jackie Robinson’s accomplishments show that perseverance is a way to become legendary, and the 2013 baseball team could embark on the path to accomplishing just that this season. 

Offensively, infielder Pat Valaika, the team’s power hitter, is second on the team in both hits (21) and RBI (15). He leads the Bruins with two homers and six doubles; he carries a .296 batting average.

Infielder Kevin Kramer sports team bests of 18 RBI and 15 walks to go along with his 15 runs scored and a .297 batting average. 

On the pitching end, the Bruins have a solid trio in Grant Watson (4-0, 1.10 ERA), Nick Vander Tuig (3-2, 1.80 ERA) and Adam Plutko (2-0, 2.73 ERA.) Combined, they’ve tossed 96.4 innings in 15 games thus far.

So far this season, the Bruins have had some downfalls. Before the season started, the squad ranked No. 2 in two prestigious polls: USA Today and ESPN Preseason Poll. However, after suffering losses to Minnesota and Baylor, the Bruins dropped to No. 12. 

Nevertheless, the Bruins now ranked 11 and have an overall record of 15-3 and a Pac-12 mark of 3-0 as of March 17. The Bruins sport a five-game winning streak after sweeping Washington in a three-game series. 

Hutchinson didn’t know the team is ranked that high; in fact, he sounded surprised.

“Wow, that’s awesome,” he said. “It’s great to see that other sports at UCLA are doing well. I, personally, only follow football and basketball, and I always expect them to be at the top. But it’s great to know that baseball is making our school look good.”

Despite their current success on the field, this year is a redemption season for UCLA. In 2012, they suffered an early exit from the College World Series; it was their fourth time making the trip (second time in three seasons). Some had them as favorites to win it all, but it just didn’t happen.

The last time the UCLA Bruins went to the College World Series was in 2010; they experienced an arduous 2-0 defeat to South Carolina. That year, the Bruins were the top-ranked team in the April Baseball America poll. Also, pitching standout Trevor Bauer and 10 additional Bruins were drafted in the 2010 Major League Baseball (MLB) draft. 

Currently, there are several UCLA alumni on major league rosters: Héctor Ambriz (Houston Astros), Brandon Crawford (San Francisco Giants), Ben Francisco (Tampa Bay Rays), David Huff (Cleveland Indians), Casey Janssen (Toronto Blue Jays), and Chase Utley (Philadelphia Phillies), among others.

Both Breen and Brown played baseball in high school and are MLB fanatics. 

“One of the reasons why I came to UCLA was because of the academics and sports legacy that they have,” said Breen.

Brown’s great-great grandfather grew up loving baseball during the Civil War, a time when baseball was popular around the U.S. His father attended UCLA and taught him a variety of things regarding UCLA baseball.

“My great-great grandfather taught my grandfather about baseball, who taught my dad. And my dad taught me,” he said. “I’ve been a UCLA and MLB baseball fan since I was young. I played shortstop in high school, but I was more focused on my academics at the time because I wanted to get into a good school. But I knew that even though I wasn’t going to play baseball, I wanted to make sure I got into UCLA for it’s academics and of course to have free access to its baseball games.” 

For Brown, the hopes continue as he waits for UCLA to make another run this year.

“Right now, the Bruins are doing well,” he said. “I think by the end of the season they have a great opportunity to finish with no more than 12 losses. I’m hoping they can make another trip to the College World Series and advance to the championship series. I’m a senior and it would be sweet if they could win their baseball national title in my last year as an undergraduate.” 

Stats as of March 25.