By: Jon Nowacki, Duluth News Tribune

All eyes were fixated on the clubhouse televisions after each Duluth Huskies game last month.

There, on the screen, the College World Series played out before the Huskies’ players, all of whom have dreamed that would one day be them.

For three Huskies, that wasn’t a dream. It was reality.

Outfielder Christoph Bono and pitcher Max Schuh of NCAA Division I champion UCLA will join the Huskies on Friday, while catcher Justin Hazard was a last-minute addition to the team this past weekend. They hope to provide a spark for a team that just missed earning a playoff berth in the first half of the Northwoods League season.

“We’re still on cloud nine, to say the least,” Schuh said. “It honestly hasn’t set in, and I don’t know if it will for a while, but it sure was a crazy ride.”

UCLA opened the 2013 season with a 6-2 loss to visiting Minnesota in February before rebounding to beat the Gophers twice that weekend. The Bruins went on to go 49-17 on the strength of a back-to-the-basics approach that emphasized pitching and defense. UCLA didn’t have a .300 hitter, and the Bruins’ .227 batting average in the CWS was the lowest since the NCAA approved the use of aluminum bats in 1974.

After dropping back-to-back games to Stanford in late May, UCLA won 11 straight, culminating with an 8-0 victory over Mississippi State last week that completed a two-game sweep of the College World Series finals. It was the first national baseball title for a school that has an NCAA-record 109 national team championships, and it quickly made the Bruins the darlings of ESPN.

UCLA allowed just four runs in five games to set a CWS record for fewest runs allowed since teams went away from wood bats. The Bruins’ 19 runs during that span were the fewest by a champion since the CWS went to eight teams in 1950.

“It definitely was not smooth sailing all year long, but we came together at the right time,” Schuh said. “It was pitching, it was defense, it was timely hitting, and without a doubt, an entire team effort.”

The Northwoods League helps college players adjust to using wood bats and prepares them for potential careers in professional baseball. College coaches often send players who need experience.

Of the three UCLA Huskies, Bono played the most for the Bruins this spring. The son of former NFL quarterback Steve Bono is very skilled defensively and appeared in 55 games, starting 15 of them, and batted .216 with a .337 on-base percentage.

Bono, a freshman from Palo Alto, Calif., had a run and a hit in the 8-0 victory over Mississippi State after coming into the game late.

“I was used like a reliever, but on defense,” Bono said.

Hazard, a freshman from Tustin, Calif., played in 14 games, making six starts. He had seven hits in 21 at-bats.

Schuh, a sophomore from Fresno, Calif., made 12 appearances for the Bruins during the regular season, but didn’t pitch in the playoffs. The former high school first baseman and outfielder didn’t take up pitching until college and needs to work on his control. He throws in the upper 80s.

“I’m very excited about getting a lot of time on the mound this summer,” Schuh said. “The No. 1 thing I need is experience. I’ve hardly pitched at all, and that’s why I’m so excited for this summer. I’m not sure how the Huskies plan to use me, but I don’t have a preference. I just want as many innings as I can get, and however that works out, I’ll be happy.”

Bono and Schuh are good friends who also know each other from football, where they were backup quarterbacks for the Bruins before shifting their focus to baseball.

Competition at a renowned athletic school such as UCLA is tough, but it is something Bono and Schuh relish. Schuh hopes to see the same thing this summer in Duluth. The closest either player has ever been to the Twin Ports was the CWS in Omaha, Neb., though Bono’s father was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings in 1985 and played two seasons with the club.

“You’re talking about some of the best recruits coming in, and that makes everybody better,” Schuh said. “That’s what you want, is competition. I couldn’t be more excited about it. Competition is good. It’ll make me better, and hopefully make everyone around me better.”

Duluth has had players from UCLA before. The Huskies also have had players from the CWS, but they’ve never had one from the national champion. Now they will have three.

One of the teams UCLA beat on the way to its title was LSU. Huskies pitcher Nate Fury is from LSU.

“I looked at the roster before I got here and noticed those guys right away,” Fury said. “UCLA got hot at the right time and outplayed us. There’s certainly no hard feelings, and I look forward to being teammates with those guys this summer.”

Huskies general manager Craig Smith has had ties to UCLA baseball coach John Savage going back to Savage’s days at California-Irvine, but the latest UCLA connection originated with Huskies assistant clubhouse manager Dale “Hogie” Haagenson, who heard about Christoph Bono through a family friend. Huskies pitching coach Kevin Brockway, a Los Angeles native who is friends with Savage, took over from there.

Smith said signing players from the California university system is an added challenge because school goes later in the Golden State. Even if the Bruins hadn’t made a postseason run, Bono, Hazard and Schuh would not have joined the team until late June.

The risk was worth the reward in this case. The Huskies are getting three talented but raw players to help them in the second half, while the players are getting an opportunity to gain experience in a high-level wood bat league.

“I had plenty of time to think about the national championship on the drive home from LA, but still, it’s sinking in slowly,” Bono said. “I think it was a big surprise to a lot of people. I think a lot of people downplayed us because we lacked offense, but as a team, we embraced it. Now, the bar has been set even higher.

“I’m looking forward to having a great summer. It should be an interesting experience. I think the baseball will be just what I need. I want to get as many at-bats as I can, and hopefully come next spring, I’ll be out there in the outfield for UCLA, playing every day.”