FULLERTON “”mdash; Unable on Sunday to close out the team that ended its season last year, the UCLA baseball team will try again to advance to the NCAA Super Regionals tonight against Cal State Fullerton at 8 p.m. on the Titans’ home turf.
The No. 2 Bruins had a chance to knock off No. 1 seed Fullerton on Sunday evening, but failed to do so, losing 11-8 in a four-hour game.
Sophomore pitcher Gavin Brooks was unable to repeat the stellar performance in the postseason that he displayed last season. In two games in last year’s postseason, Brooks amassed a 1.06 ERA over 17 innings, allowing just two earned runs while striking out 19.
Sunday night against the Titans, that command was absent. Brooks lasted only 1.1 innings, allowing three runs off one hit, while walking three, hitting two, throwing two wild pitches and making one bad pickoff attempt.
In the bottom of the first inning, Brooks seemed to be in control, inducing the first two Titan hitters to fly out.
But then Brooks hit left fielder Erik Komatsu. Komatsu advanced to third on a failed pickoff attempt by Brooks, and after walking Jared Clark, Brooks gave up a single to designated hitter Brian Wilson, putting the Bruins in an early 1-0 hole.
The Bruins were able to even the score at one in the top of the second. Shortstop Brandon Crawford drew a walk to open the inning and came around to score on a couple of wild pitches by Fullerton’s starting pitcher Daniel Renken. Yet Bruin left fielder Mickey Weisser struck out swinging with the bases loaded and the UCLA failed to take the lead.
The second inning provided the Bruins with a multitude of wacky scenarios. Fullerton’s Dustin Garneau led off the inning by reaching on catcher’s interference, then advanced to second on a wild pitch. Brooks then hit the next batter, second baseman Joe Scott, and allowed the runners to advance on a sacrifice bunt by center fielder Josh Fellhauer. After Brooks walked shortstop Christian Colon, he was pulled from the game in favor of Matt Drummond.
Drummond struggled initially as well, committing a balk on his first pitch to give the Titans a lead that they would not relinquish. The Titans then added three more in the inning to move ahead 5-1.
Throughout the game, the Bruins struggled to cash in on numerous scoring opportunities. They got the leadoff man on base in six of the nine innings, yet stranded nine runners.
A turning point in the game came in the top of the seventh inning with the Bruins trailing 7-4. Second baseman Alden Carrithers led off the inning with a single to left field. However, Carrithers took a couple of aggressive steps toward second and was picked off by catcher Garneau. That out proved to be crucial as UCLA first baseman Casey Haerther proceeded to hit a home run that would have driven in runs and trimmed the lead to one.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, the Titans seemed to break the game open, scoring four runs off three hits, two walks and two wild pitches to move ahead 11-5. The big blow came from a bases-clearing triple off the bat of third baseman Joel Weeks.
Yet the Bruins refused to go quietly. With one out in the top of the ninth, Haerther singled up the middle off Titan closer Adam Jorgenson, and after pinch runner Eddie Murray advanced to third on two wild pitches, Crawford hit a home run to left field to pull the Bruins within four.
With two outs and runners on the corners, center fielder Blair Dunlap singled to trim the deficit to 11-8, bringing the potential tying run to the plate in Jermaine Curtis.
But Curtis grounded out to third for the final out, cutting the comeback short and preserving the win for the Titans.