With the Nevada baseball team two wins away from its first NCAA Tournament berth in two decades, coach TJ Bruce raved about the impact this Wolf Pack team has had on him.
Nevada started the season 10-15 overall and 4-7 in the Mountain West but has reeled off 11 straight conference wins and is on the verge of capturing its third MW regular-season title (it must only split a four-game series with cellar-dwelling San Jose State that begins Friday at Peccole Park to achieve that).
"They're incredible people," Bruce said of his players. "If I had to describe the team and the program as a whole, you have heard the toughness aspect, and I think that's a huge compliment when you talk about Nevada baseball and, 'Are they tough or are they not?' And this team's tough. And the other part is impact. They're having such a huge impact on each other and such a huge impact on me, more than they'll ever understand. They're having a bigger impact on me than I'll ever have on them."
Bruce said his team's ability to navigate out of such a huge self-inflicted hole — during a pandemic no less, which has offered its own challenges — has been inspiring.
"They way they've navigated this thing, they way they've rose up the challenge, they way they've stayed relevant, they way they've answered the bell, it's not easy what they're doing," Bruce said. "We dug ourselves a pretty good hole. There's no question about it. They've crawled and scratched and clawed their way out of it to be in the conversation, and now to be in a position to do something really special, it's all a tribute to them."
Bruce said his team's bond is special, citing the fact 16 of his players went to a recent Little League game his son played. That meant a lot of Bruce and illustrated how bought in the Wolf Pack players are to supporting each other. Bruce said he's taken a more holistic approach to coaching Nevada this season.
"Sometimes as a coach you get so into, 'I have to teach them. I have to teach them. I have to teach them,'" Bruce said. "The biggest thig I've tried to do this year is tried to listen and tried to hear them. That's part of it. In any relationship, friends, family, wives, kids, they've shown me how to listen and they've shown me how to adjust and adapt, and they've shown me, 'Coach, we'll be OK.' We're high-strung. Coaches are high-strung. People know I'm high-strung once in a while. I can get excited. They've shown me patience and resiliency and love. There are a lot of ways to love, but once you love something and are willing to adapt to change, that's what they've done to me."
The Wolf Pack's improved hitting has helped, too. Nevada's offense has gone from below average in the MW to one of the best in the nation from the first half of the season to the second. Nevada ranks in the top 10 in the country in batting average and slugging percentage. Bruce said his players have earned his full trust during this stretch run.
"They've got the keys to the car," Bruce said. "I'll sit in the backseat and stay out of the way. Just tell me what you need. It's been really cool to watch."
Bruce reflects on UCLA game
For the first time since leaving UCLA as an assistant coach to take Nevada's top job in 2015, Bruce returned to his old home to play the Bruins.
While UCLA took an 11-3 win over Nevada, Bruce said it was very meaningful to play his old mentor, John Savage, a Reno High alum and former Wolf Pack assistant who helped get Bruce the Nevada job. Savage also gave Bruce his first paid assistant job 11 years ago after he was bypassed by his alma mater, Long Beach State.
"It was different," Bruce said. "There was no question it was different. And you have to acknowledge that. Seeing him across the way was really cool. He put me in this chair. I'm here because of John. He means so much to my family. What he gave my family 11 years ago, he gave us a heartbeat and gave us a paid position at UCLA. What I wanted him to walk away with was I wanted him to be proud of our program.
"The text I got the next morning from him was really cool. It was something between him and I. John is pretty close to the vest, but it was really cool what he texted me and cool to take the players to dive into a little bit of who I was, who I am and where I come from. That was cool. And the opportunity for UCLA to play Nevada, I thought that was awesome."
Tyler Bosetti goes national
Nevada's Tyler Bosetti was the talk of the college baseball world earlier this month when he broke the NCAA record for consecutive games with a home run with nine. Bosetti's streak made headline news on ESPN and was interviewed on MLB Network.
Bruce said the NCAA home run streak came up earlier this season when Nevada played at Texas because Bruce's former teammate and best friend, Troy Tulowitzki, is a member of the Longhorns' staff and had a player who also was on a home run binge.
"I didn't know anything until it got to seven," Bruce said of Bosetti's streak. "I knew what the streak was only because when we went to Texas they had a guy with six at the time. I told Tulo, 'This will not happen on my watch. I know that for a fact.' And it didn't. We ended the streak. But to watch Tyler go through it and our dugout go through it and the players and program, it's one of the coolest things I've been around. They're servants of each other.
"The (record-breaking) ball was hit. Jake Jackson, yells, 'Get out of here.' The dugout is excited. He touches Tyler Bosetti, gives him a high-five and Jake Jackson B-lines it to right field to go get the ball. I don't know if you see that all the time. You may be so engulfed with your own personal year, but at that time in that moment, it was great to celebrate it. We gave Tyler the ball after the game. It's a national record that may not be broken for another 30 years. To have our program go through it, that was a great moment."
Surgery for Owen Sharts
Nevada's 11-game in-conference win streak has been even more impressive because it's been accomplished without ace Owen Sharts, who had elbow surgery on his right arm earlier this month. The surgery will sideline him for the rest of the season.
Sharts, a junior, last pitched for Nevada on April 3 against Air Force. The right-hander was 2-1 with a 5.12 ERA this season, striking out 35 while walking 32 in 31.2 innings. Sharts got off to a strong start to the season (3.20 ERA in his first four starts) before two poor outings to end the year (8.25 ERA in his last two starts).
A top-150 prospect in the 2018 MLB draft, Sharts turned down the offer to go pro out of high school — he was drafted in the 32nd round by the Texas Rangers — to go to college. In three seasons at Nevada, Sharts is 5-12 with a 5.55 ERA in 24 games, all starts. Sharts is draft eligible this season and could still be selected based on his potential, although he has two years of college eligibility remaining and could return to school in 2022 to boost his draft stock.
You can watch TJ Bruce's full NSN Daily interview below.
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