UCLA, the first team to ever go wire-to-wire as the No. 1-ranked college baseball team in the country, clinched the Big Ten Tournament Championship and is a heavy favorite to win the College World Series.
Freshman Angel Cervantes was a big part of the Bruins' rally against Oregon over the weekend, helping UCLA win, 3-2, in extra innings. Cervantes struck out five in five shutout innings. And he did so while having his emotional support dinosaur, "Jerry," on the mound.
"Jerry" has been a constant for those who have followed the Bruins all season long. Still, the small plastic dinosaur was introduced to a national audience on the Big Ten Network this weekend, when the network's sideline reporter shared a story about "Jerry," who is on the mound during each of Cervantes' starts.
The broadcast at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Nebraska, zoomed in on the triceratops standing on the mound as Cervantes warmed up.
UCLA pitcher Angel Cervantes keeps a mini dinosaur named Jerry on the mound with him every time he pitches pic.twitter.com/teJuXmi1Sb
— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) May 25, 2026
After the Bruins won the tournament championship, Noah Darling from College Baseball Central approached Cervantes to get more info about "Jerry."
"He's just my little guy that's just hanging out with me. Sometimes when I look down, I put my hand on my lid, I like to take two breaths and that’s what I'm looking at the whole time," Cervantes told Darling. "He calms me down. I know it might sound, like, childish, but I mean whatever works for you and that's what works for me, so he's gonna be here for a long time."
College baseball fans don't think it's childish. Far from it.
"If it works, it works," one fan commented. "There's always been weird stuff pitchers do. Today a guy has a dinosaur, in the 70s a guy was tripping balls on LSD," which perhaps is in reference to Dock Ellis pitching a no-hitter while under the influence of LSD.
Another opined, "Smart move. When he’s in the bigs he can grab some marketing/branding from it."
from Men's Journal https://ift.tt/gSzwZdp
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