The Cougars took to Bailey-Brayton field this weekend with heavy hearts, as news came in early Saturday morning that the legendary Cougar baseball coach, Frederick Charles “Bobo” Brayton, had died at the age of 89.

Head coach Donnie Marbut had some kind words to say about Brayton, who Marbut became closer with in the later years of his life.

“I remember when I got hired they said ‘Do you want to be like Coach Brayton?’” he said. “Because I used to wear number 14, and I wear seven now instead because I told people if I was half as good as he was I would be OK.”

The Cougars’ struggled in their three-game series against No. 5 UCLA, as they dropped all three games to their visiting Pac-12 opponent and stretched their losing streak to eight games.

The Cougars’ recent trend of offensive ineptitude continued against the Bruins, as they posted only 12 hits through three games. The first matchup Friday saw the Cougars take a one-run lead into the fifth inning, but the team could not contain the Bruins as they posted three runs in the top of the sixth that ended up sealing the game for the visitors 4-3.

Although senior right-handed starting pitcher Sean Hartnett was shaky in the first inning, he never lost confidence in his abilities and credited his teammates with making solid defensive plays.

“There was no fear,” Hartnett said. “We’re out here trying to win every game, we think we can take them every day.”

It was a pitching duel through the first five innings between a pair of seniors on Saturday as WSU’s Joe Pistorese and UCLA’s Grant Watson did not allow much offense.

But the Bruins eventually got to Pistorese and took a 3-0 lead in the sixth off two hits and a pair of Cougar errors. Then in the seventh, UCLA added three more runs to make it 6-0. Pistorese admitted that he lost some confidence in himself after the tough sixth inning, which was a big factor as to why he struggled later in the game.

“Instead of just coming out and competing like I usually do I kind of tucked my tail between my legs,” he said. “That’s something I need to work on in the future.”

The Cougars plated a run in the bottom of the sixth, but couldn’t do any damage to the Bruin bullpen, losing the game by a final tally of 6-1.

Sunday saw the Bruins complete the series sweep and claim an 8-4 victory to continue the Cougars’ struggles. WSU came out swinging in the first inning, posting three runs off three hits thanks in part to two errors by UCLA. However, the Cougs struggled to do much of anything at the plate after that.

WSU’s senior righty Sam Triece was put in an unfamiliar position as the starting pitcher on Sunday, But Marbut said they got what they wanted out of Triece, who went 3.1 innings, giving up four hits and two runs.

Marbut said after the game that the biggest issue on Sunday was the team’s lack of fight, which he partly blamed on himself.

“You want to hang your hat on competitiveness and being tough, but I didn’t see a lot of want today,” he said.

The Cougars will play a weekday game against Gonzaga on Tuesday in Spokane. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m.