A series win this past weekend would have left the UCLA baseball team breathing a little easier.
A series win would have also kept the Bruins in sole possession of second place in the Pac-10 standings ““ a crucial spot for a team looking to make a last push toward the postseason.
Instead, the Bruins lost to California by a score of 8-3 on Sunday afternoon. With the defeat, UCLA (24-24, 14-10 Pac-10) dropped the series, meaning there’s now even less room for error.
“This was a disappointing weekend, that’s for sure,” coach John Savage said. “We felt like we really needed to win this series and keep that momentum going in league.”
After losing a tough 3-2 game Friday night, the Bruins won 9-4 on Saturday. With the series at stake on Sunday, UCLA fell behind early and was unable to find its rhythm.
The Golden Bears (22-27, 8-16) scored a run off junior starting pitcher Charles Brewer in the first inning to take an early lead. Senior first baseman Cody Decker then led off with a home run ““ his team-leading 17th of the season ““ in the second inning to knot the score at 1-1.
But the game didn’t stay tied for long, as Cal junior second baseman Jeff Kobernus gave the Golden Bears a two-run edge with a home run to left-center field in the top of the third.
“I don’t think our starting pitcher (Brewer) came out with enough competitiveness,” Savage said. “That kind of set the tone.”
The Bruins added a run in the bottom half of the third inning to cut the deficit to 3-2, but that was as close as they would get. In the third, Cal freshman pitcher Dixon Anderson came in from the bullpen and shut down the Bruin offense.
“Anderson really held us in check,” Savage said.
Anderson threw 108 pitches to limit UCLA’s offense to one run in the final 6.2 innings. Bruin sophomore pitcher Matt Grace kept up with Anderson in relief of Brewer, striking out a career-high eight batters in 4.2 innings.
“Anderson and Grace really matched each other,” Savage said. “Grace was fantastic. We just could never get it going offensively.”
“It was my job to come in and settle the game down,” Grace said. “We just didn’t really get it done, so it doesn’t really mean a whole lot.”
The Bruins’ inability to hit Cal’s pitching, which touted a 5.92 ERA heading into Sunday’s game, hurt them on Friday as well. Despite freshman pitcher Gerrit Cole’s solid outing, the Bruin bats could not break through.
Cole scattered two hits and allowed just one earned run in 8.1 innings, but UCLA left nine runners on base.
Trailing by a run with runners at the corners and just one out in the ninth inning, UCLA had an opportunity to tie game. Yet, junior outfielder Justin Uribe bounced into a game-ending double play to strand the tying run 90 feet from home plate.
“Cole pitched as well as you can on Friday,” Savage said. “He ended up losing with 11 strikeouts; ended up losing in nine innings.”
UCLA bounced back with a 9-4 victory on Saturday behind freshman pitcher Trevor Bauer’s second consecutive complete game. Bauer surrendered eight hits and struck out a career-high 10 batters to earn his team-leading eighth win of the season.
The momentum from Saturday’s victory did not carry into Sunday’s game. As a result, UCLA can’t afford to make many more mistakes this season if they expect to make it to the postseason.
“Now the sense of urgency has gotten even higher,” Savage said.