Senior closer David Berg looked on from the UCLA dugout in the bottom of the eighth inning Saturday, the Bruins trailing 1-0 to the Cal Bears. He uttered two words.
“Redemption time,” he said.
Berg wasn’t referring to himself; he had just tossed a scoreless inning in the top of the eighth. Instead, he was talking about teammate Ty Moore.
The junior left fielder was in prime position to open up the game for the Bruins two innings earlier, when he came up with the bases loaded and one out. Instead, he grounded into an inning-ending double play. Moore’s frustration was clear as he sauntered from first base to his defensive position in left field.
“I was pissed off just because I put too much pressure on myself to be the guy to get that big hit,” Moore said. “I didn’t do what I knew I could do.”
But just as his coaches assured him, he would get another chance in the bottom of the eighth. With two outs and two strikes, redshirt junior center fielder Christoph Bono singled and the next hitter, sophomore first baseman Luke Persico, walked, bringing Moore back up to the plate.
“The coaches were saying (to Moore earlier), ‘look you’re gonna get another at bat, just stay patient, you’re gonna get your chance,’” said senior third baseman Chris Keck.
On a 0-1 count, Moore laced a grounder up the middle, nicking the glove of the outstretched Cal second baseman and trickling into center field, bringing in the tying run.
“(Coach John Savage) said, ‘just don’t try and do too much, just stay within yourself,’ and that’s what I did,” Moore said.
A batter later, Keck knocked in the go-ahead run, and Berg put on the finishing touches in the ninth, sealing the Bruins’ 2-1 win over the Bears (23-13, 10-8 Pac-12).
For the majority of the game, the UCLA lineup could not solve what Cal freshman starter Matt Ladrech brought to the ballpark. Groundout after groundout, the sprint to first base and the jog back to the dugout became all too familiar for the Bruins.
Coach John Savage said that Ladrech’s arsenal was not especially full of “wow” stuff – which, in fact, was a reason for his squad’s woes in the box.
“I would say he’s one of those guys that you’re licking your chops to get to the plate, he’s 82-85 (mph), and then you look at the box score and you’re (zero) for four,” Savage said. “There was some frustration, no question, but that’s what he does, that’s his game.”
While frustration was present in the dugout, the Bruins (28-8, 14-4) did not let it derail them, chipping away until they got their break.
Moore said that tight games like Saturday’s are typical against any Pac-12 opponent, which is why it is so important to keep working throughout such matchups.
“We didn’t hit the ball very hard tonight, but if you keep going at it, the balls are going to fall in, they’re gonna bounce your way,” Moore said.
With UCLA’s 2-1 win over Cal Saturday night, the Bruins won their sixth-straight series, as they defeated the Bears 7-1 in the second game Friday.