The UCLA baseball team went into the weekend hoping for some momentum-building wins before Pac-10 play resumes.
A three-game sweep seems to have worked just fine.
The UCLA (17-13, 3-3 Pac-10) offense pounded the ball all over Jackie Robinson Stadium in the three nonconference wins over UC Riverside (9-21). Sophomore first baseman Casey Haerther led the way with a tremendous weekend at the plate, going 10-for-15 (.667 batting average) with eight runs batted in.
“We needed a series like this,” coach John Savage said. “We really swung the bats. You have to give a lot of credit to our offense. I really thought we handled their pitching, and we built some confidence for the Northridge and Stanford games.”
UCLA started the weekend well, winning 5-3 on Friday night. The Bruins received a strong outing from junior left-hander Tim Murphy. The southpaw pitched seven innings, allowing one run on four hits and struck out eight to earn his third win of the season.
Down by a run in the fifth inning, Bruin batters responded with three runs off four hits. In the following inning, the offense added a pair of runs to give Murphy a comfortable 5-1 lead. But that comfort vanished in the ninth inning. After already having scored two runs in the final frame, UCR had Bruin junior right-hander Jason Novak up against the ropes with a runner on third and the tying runner on second with only one out. Novak got the last two batters to foul out and ground out to end the threat and the game.
On Saturday, the Bruin bats matched the 92-degree weather at the start of the game. UCLA smacked a season-best 26 hits on the way to an 18-7 rout. The home team also connected for a season-high five home runs, two of which came off the bat of Haerther. Every starter in the lineup registered at least one hit.
“Alden (Carrithers) and Jermaine (Curtis) did a great job of seeing pitches and getting on base,” Haerther said. “They were great leaders this weekend, and that’s why we put up so many runs.”
The offense maintained its scorching performance in Sunday afternoon’s 9-5 win. Haerther continued his torrid hitting in the first inning, driving in a pair of runs on a line-drive double down the left-field line. Carrithers doubled, Crawford tripled, and Haerther singled in the second inning to give UCLA two more runs.
UCR responded with three runs in the third inning and another in the fourth off Bruin starting left-hander Gavin Brooks to inch within a run.
Brooks settled down after that, throwing an impressive total of eight innings to earn his third win of the season, allowing four runs (two of them earned) on six hits while striking out eight.
“We really wanted to go out and get that sweep this weekend,” Brooks said. “We needed a big weekend to jump start us a little bit, and I think getting that win today will get that done for us.”
The Bruins widened the lead to five points with runs in the fifth and seventh innings. UCR got three hits to bring the tying run to the plate in the ninth inning, but Novak induced a game-ending ground out to third base.
UCLA’s offensive outbursts wound up being the difference in the series, which is something Savage hopes can continue as the second half of the season carries on.
“Our top four hitters are swinging the bat extremely well,” Savage said. “Carrithers, Curtis, Crawford and Haerther had huge weekends. They used the whole field, got into good counts, hit mistakes, and did what good hitters do. They really stepped up, and hopefully they can build off that and carry that over into next week.”