Though the UCLA baseball team has displayed two different offenses through the first two games of the Fullerton Regional, the result of each has been constant.
After the offense scrapped its way to a 3-2 win against Virginia a day earlier to advance to the winner’s bracket, the Bruin bats came out scorching in Saturday’s 11-4 win against No. 1 Cal State Fullerton in front of 2,912 fans at Goodwin Field. No. 2 UCLA, which came into the NCAA Tournament with the second-lowest batting average (.275) in the field of 64 teams, scored 10 runs on 10 hits in the first four innings.
“It was a good team win,” coach John Savage said. “The second game of the tournament is always big. This thing is far from over, obviously. But we put a lot of quality at bats against a very good pitcher. We battled him early and won some early innings and kind of held them off.”
In addition to the difference in offensive production between the first two games, UCLA earned a rare victory against a team it had not been able to defeat in recent years. The Bruins had lost the last seven meetings with the team, including three this season. Going into the contest, the Bruins were 1-4 when facing Fullerton in the postseason, earning the lone victory nearly 30 years ago. Most recently, Fullerton eliminated UCLA with a two-game sweep in last year’s Super Regionals.
“When we got placed in this regional, you just have to know college baseball to know that you have to go through Cal State Fullerton to get to Omaha,” Savage said. “This thing is far from over; it was a good team win, and we were just fortunate to come out on top.”
The Bruins were fortunate to score twice in the bottom of the first inning. With two outs, Fullerton ace Jeff Kaplan began to walk off the mound after throwing a borderline 2-2 pitch to second baseman Alden Carrithers. Instead, the home plate umpire ruled the pitch out of the strike zone, and Carrithers would eventually take a full-count pitch off the leg to reach base. The hit-by-pitch extended the inning and allowed first baseman Casey Haerther to come up to the plate. Haerther capitalized on the mistake, driving the first pitch he saw over the right field fence and giving UCLA an early 2-0 lead.
“We came out swinging,” shortstop Brandon Crawford said. “We swung the bats well and swung at strikes. We were aggressive, but we were also patient at the same time.”
In the second inning, the Bruins again were able to take advantage of Kaplan’s inability to find the strike zone; catcher Ryan Babineau and designated hitter Tim Murphy both reached base by drawing walks. With one out, center fielder Blair Dunlap reached base on an infield single to load the bases. Third baseman Jermaine Curtis delivered the blow with a two-run double off the left field wall, making it 4-0. Carrithers would add another run with a sacrifice fly to left field to give UCLA a 5-0 lead.
Crawford led off the third inning in fine fashion, blasting the eighth pitch of the at bat over the center-field fence to make it 6-1.
“The home run was a fastball,” Crawford said. “I was just trying to battle with the count 3-2. I was trying to see the ball and hit it.”
Right fielder Brady Dolan began a two-out rally with a single and would come home to score on a double by Dunlap to give UCLA a comfortable 7-1 lead.
Sophomore right-handed pitcher Charles Brewer benefited from the run support to earn the victory in his postseason debut. Brewer pitched effectively, allowing three runs on seven hits while striking out five in five innings. Junior right-hander Jason Novak hurled four innings of relief to earn the save.
“I definitely wanted to come out and make a statement,” Brewer said. “I wanted to show that I belong on the mound. It was great to come out and beat these guys, for sure.”
The Bruins used a three-run fourth inning to put the game out of reach. To lead off the inning, senior left fielder Mickey Weisser doubled into the right-field corner. Carrithers followed with a single to put runners on the corners. Crawford, who had homered in his previous plate appearance, nearly did it again by smacking a two-run double off the left field wall to extend the UCLA to 9-2.
“On the double, I was sitting off-speed,” Crawford said. “With runners in scoring position, I thought they might try and throw a few off-speed pitches to get me off balance. I just stayed back and took it the other way.”