After a patch of bad losses, it seems the UCLA baseball team has
rediscovered a way to win.
And what a way it is.
For the second game in a row, the Bruins came from behind in the
late innings with a game-winning home run.
Catcher Chris Denove took Pepperdine’s James Johnson deep
with two outs and a runner on in the eighth inning propelling the
Bruins (16-13) to a 3-2 victory over Pepperdine (14-16). This came
after Sunday’s game where third baseman Preston Griffin beat
No. 1 Stanford with a ninth inning blast.
“(Denove) clutched up in a big situation and took a pitch
that was up out to left field,” first baseman Brandon Averill
said. “All of these games are valuable for us because these
midweek games still count to boost our RPI.”
Even more important than the timely offense, however, was the
stellar showing by the pitching staff, which had been struggling
over the past few weeks.
Six pitchers saw action led by starter David Johnson, who went
five innings giving up two runs on four hits.
“David Johnson was the ringleader today,” coach Gary
Adams. “It was the best game I’ve seen David pitch. He
had good command of his pitches and the strike zone.”
Following Johnson, the UCLA bullpen held strong with Kevin
Brophy picking up his third win and Brant Rustich his first
save.
Griffin drove in UCLA’s only other run in the fifth inning
on a sacrifice fly to center. That scored Ryan McCarthy, who had
reached base on an error.
Souring the victory was a scary injury by center fielder Jarrad
Page.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, the Waves’ David Uribes
hit a long fly and Page dove head-first for it, but crashed right
into the fence.
“He hit that fence at full speed, head on,” Adams
said. “You could hear the collision into the chain-link fence
with a resounding crash.”
Uribes ended up with a triple, but that was insignificant as
Page had to be taken off the field on a stretcher and to a hospital
in an ambulance.
“The Pepperdine coach (Steve Rodriguez) told me it was the
best effort for a ball he’s ever seen,” Adams said.
Page’s status is day-to-day with back spasms.