By Jeff Agase
Daily Bruin Staff
jagase@media.ucla.edu
After a series loss to lowly Washington State, UCLA baseball
coach Gary Adams spent 30 minutes this weekend analogizing his
struggling team’s plight to that of a pummeled boxer.
He and the Bruins probably didn’t expect a no-holds-barred
Royal Rumble in their next game, though.
UCLA out-slugged UC Santa Barbara 18-13 in its second-best
offensive output of the season to extend its record to 20-25
Tuesday afternoon in front of 214 fans.
So unbridled was the afternoon contest that even a
bottom-of-the-ninth seven-run Bruin lead was by no means
insurmountable, as 15-20 mile per hour winds whisked even the most
harmless fly balls over fences.
“A real pitchers’ duel,” Adams said, laughing.
“The prediction before the game (based on the conditions) was
15-13 in our favor, and we missed it ““ it was
18-13.”
The teams combined to use 15 pitchers, 10 of whom threw an
inning or less. The Bruins hit two triples, which doubled the
number they had registered in 44 games.
Kevin Jerkens began the day on the mound for UCLA but yielded
five runs in the first two innings and gave way to Kyle Wilson, who
lasted four more innings.
Catcher Josh Arhart hit two home runs, including a lazy fly ball
in the fourth inning that probably would have fallen 20 feet in
front of the warning track on a calm day. His sixth inning blast
left no doubters, though, sailing well beyond the boundaries of
play.
The teams exchanged bunches of runs so frequently that a
scoreless seventh inning felt like calm before the proverbial
storm.
What followed was a tumultuous eighth inning littered with
bases-loaded situations and three unfruitful pitching appearances.
Ultimately, freshman Billy Susdorf allowed a sacrifice fly and
retired the rest of the side.
“I knew the wind was blowing out pretty hard to the right,
so I had to keep the ball down,” Susdorf said.
“It’s fun because it poses a challenge to focus extra
hard on keeping the ball down.”
Nick Lyon’s two-RBI double capped a four-run UCLA ninth,
and two more Gaucho home runs later, Susdorf put them away after
two final inning home runs.
Senior Rashad Parker, who has filled in admirably for the
injured Ben Francisco, went 4 for 6 with four runs scored and three
RBI.