UCLA’s Espy One of School’s Many June Pitfalls

A chopper skips off the bat of South Carolina shortstop Bobby Haney down the line, escapes the glove of UCLA first baseman Dean Espy and trickles into right field in the bottom of the eighth inning of Game 2 of the College World Series. As junior utility player Robert Beary crosses home plate, the Gamecocks tie the score at 1 and drive another dagger into the hearts of the Bruin faithful. Espy storms toward the dugout at the inning’s end and slams his hand into the wooden bench in aggravation. Unfortunately his catharsis gets the better of him, as he suffers a hand injury and does not return for the remainder of the game. The final twist of the knife occurs in the bottom of the 11th when Gamecock junior outfielder Whit Merrifield smacks a single to right and knocks in classmate Scott Wingo from 90 feet away. His hit has scored the winning run and helped the university win their first championship in any major sport. The month of June is a time for celebrating fathers, the end of the school year and the start of summer. But for UCLA fans it has been a month of loss, controversy and heartbreak. On June 4, the university lost a basketball legend in John Wooden, who had attended many Bruin home games and NCAA tournament games well into his 90s. Fanhouse reported Saturday that three of the school’s football players faced felony theft charges for stealing another student’s purse. You could make the argument that UCLA deserves no pity. After all, the baseball team rebounded from a 27-29 overall record last season to post a school record 51 wins and John Wooden died of natural causes after living a long and prosperous life. But a title slipped through the team’s fingers despite victories over rivals Cal State Fullerton in the Super Regionals and clobbering two-time champion Texas Christian University to earn a spot in the College World Series. Espy, the sophomore infielder, still has a couple years of eligibility and must learn to control his emotions when things don’t go his way. Had he remained poised in front of a national audience on college baseball’s biggest stage, he may have been able to play in the extra frames and have at least one more at bat in the game. So while we are less than 2 weeks away from ESPN’s annual award show commemorating the year’s best in sports, I’d like to propose that UCLA win the first ever distinction of Declining Collegiate Athletic Program.