The instant his foot hit the plate, Tim Stewart was swallowed up
by a circle of celebrating teammates. With two outs in the bottom
of the ninth, the junior hit a walk-off home run to give UCLA an
8-7 win in Sunday’s rubber match against visiting
Stanford.
“I saw the pitch, and right when I hit it, I knew it was
gone,” Stewart said.
Freshman Jermaine Curtis knew it was gone even before that.
Stanford’s Matt Manship threw a hanging curveball, and Curtis
predicted Stewart’s second home run of the game if the next
pitch was also left up and over the plate.
It was, and Curtis began celebrating before Stewart even made
contact with the ball.
“Right when he threw the ball, I raised my hands and he
hit it out,” Curtis said.
Starter Tyson Brummett struggled early, and the Bruins found
themselves down 5-0 by the fourth. Capping off a big fifth-inning
rally, Stewart gave the Bruins (30-22, 12-9 Pac-10) the lead with a
three-run homer that sailed just over the outstretched arm of the
Stanford outfielder.
The win went to Josh Roenicke (2-3) who came on in relief and
pitched a scoreless ninth.
With the win, the Bruins took their first series from the
Cardinal since 1997 and defended their home field, winning every
home Pac-10 series this season.
“(It’s) big,” UCLA coach John Savage said.
“Where we’ve been the last year to where we are today,
it says a lot about the hard work of the players
— and (their) perseverance —
that we won every Pac-10 series at home. We’ve taken care of
Jackie Robinson Stadium, and that was one of our goals.”
Friday night’s game was decided much earlier than was
Saturday’s. The Bruins tallied runs early and often in
support of starter Hector Ambriz, who dominated on the mound with
eight strikeouts in as many innings. The Cardinal (29-23, 11-13)
were held scoreless until the sixth, when Ryan Seawell scored the
team’s only run on a wild pitch. The Bruins went on to win
8-1.
Stanford answered back on Saturday, getting to starter Dave Huff
for five runs in 6.2 innings, and went on to beat the Bruins 6-2.
UCLA clung to a 1-0 lead early on, but after Stanford took the lead
on a two-run home run by Chris Minaker, the Bruins never mounted a
serious comeback.
After Saturday’s game, Savage did some shuffling with the
lineup card. Freshman Brandon Crawford had been leading off with
Curtis in the No. 2 spot, but for Sunday’s game, the two
switched places.
“When we (face) a left-hander, we’ll lead off with
Jermaine (who bats right), and then when they throw a right-hander,
we’ll lead off with Brandon, (who bats left),” Savage
said.
With Sunday’s win, the Bruins find themselves in sole
possession of second place in the Pac-10, trailing conference
leader No. 5 Oregon State by three games. The Beavers swept the
Washington State Cougars over the weekend to wrap up at least a
share of the conference title. In order to get a part of the Pac-10
crown, the Bruins would need to sweep the Beavers in Corvallis next
weekend.
It is likely that UCLA will finish second in the Pac-10 and
stand as a legitimate contender for a regional bid and a shot at a
postseason run.