With a two-run lead in the ninth inning, the UCLA baseball team was three outs away from sweeping UC Davis in the three-game season-opening set. Instead, the Aggies scored the tying runs in the ninth before scoring a run in the top of the 11th to escape with an 8-7 victory Sunday at Jackie Robinson Stadium.
Though the Bruins took the series ““ winning Friday night 13-1 and 5-2 on Saturday ““ fifth-year coach John Savage was frustrated with his team’s inability to play well in the finale.
“Whenever you win a series, you’d say it’s a successful weekend,” he said. “Whenever you lose the game on Sunday, you don’t feel real good about it ““ especially with an opportunity to sweep somebody.”
After UC Davis (1-2) knotted the score in the top of the ninth, No. 12 UCLA (2-1) had the winning run at third base with two outs in the bottom half of the inning. But freshman infielder Chris Amezquita struck out swinging to send the game into extra frames. An inning later, fellow freshman Tyler Rahmatulla faced the same scenario, but he also failed to drive in the winning run by flying out.
“We had our opportunities but we just didn’t deserve to win,” Savage said.
The Aggies capitalized on the opportunity in the 11th, scoring the eventual game-winning run on back-to-back doubles off freshman closer Trevor Bauer.
“It was one of those games where you could have won with an execution at the end,” Savage said.
Though the weekend ended on a negative note, UCLA opened the season in fine fashion. Sophomore left-handed pitcher Rob Rasmussen, who was making just his third collegiate start, pitched five solid innings to earn the victory Friday night. Rasmussen had plenty of offensive support as the Bruins, led by redshirt junior Blair Dunlap’s three-hit effort, scored 13 runs on 11 hits and 12 walks. In the fourth inning alone, UCLA batters capitalized on five walks to score seven runs.
Highly touted freshman right-hander Gerrit Cole lived up to the hype Saturday afternoon, striking out seven to earn the victory in his collegiate debut and give UCLA a 2-0 series edge.
“I was a little nervous but I was pretty fired up and excited,” Cole said. “A lot of the guys were rallying around me before the game. I was ready to go.”
Cole, who was taken with the 28th overall selection in last June’s MLB Draft, threw 83 pitches ““ 49 for strikes ““ over six innings. The Santa Ana native allowed one unearned run and gave up just one hit.
“I felt good,” Cole said. “I had command of two pitches and went out there and competed. The offense put some runs on the board and I held (UC Davis).”
Fellow freshman right-hander Bauer was equally impressive in his debut. The former Hart High standout struck out two of the three batters he faced in the ninth inning to earn the save.
But Bauer faced a tougher task Sunday afternoon. With UCLA leading 6-5, Savage brought his young closer out from the bullpen with two outs in the seventh inning. Bauer answered the call by striking out the first batter he faced. After facing just three Aggies in the eighth, Bauer allowed a two-out single to UC Davis pinch-hitter Tony Bongiovanni that tied the score in the ninth.
“We just didn’t do enough on the mound,” Savage said. “The pitching wasn’t really good. Pitching sets the tone for the day. It was disappointing with the way we came out and executed pitches.”
Junior right-handed pitcher Charles Brewer, who led the team with nine wins last season, got the starting nod Sunday. Brewer threw 68 pitches in just three innings of work.
Despite the disappointing effort from the pitching staff Sunday, Savage was positive about the opening weekend.
“It’s disappointing, but whenever you win a series, you’ve got to say it was a good weekend,” he said.