The UCLA baseball team lived and died by throwing mistakes in a marathon loss to Long Beach State Tuesday.
Freshman second baseman Sean Bouchard threw the ball away on a ground ball to start off the bottom of the 13th, allowing the runner to advance to second. After a swinging bunt that moved the runners over, senior closer David Berg conceded a single up the middle to seal his first loss of the season.
The Bruins’ second matchup of the season against the Dirtbags on Tuesday night, in many ways, mirrored the first in February, but instead Long Beach State came out the victor, winning 2-1. Both teams struggled to string together hits and Long Beach State starting pitcher Ryan Cruz again dominated UCLA, going eight strong innings on 83 pitches and allowing only two hits – the same total he allowed against the Bruins on Feb. 24.
For UCLA (31-10, 16-5 Pac-12), junior right-handed pitcher Cody Poteet started instead of freshman Griffin Canning, who beat Cruz earlier in the season. But Poteet must have been taking notes, as he pitched a similar game, conceding an unearned run and recording seven strikeouts over 5.2 innings. After Poteet exited, the bullpen, anchored by sophomore Grant Dyer, did not give up a hit until the 12th inning.
As evidenced by an 0-9 slump with runners in scoring position, the Bruin bats failed to come through for their pitchers, who could only outlast the Dirtbags for so long. The lineup couldn’t even get a run across without some help from the opposing team.
With two outs in the top of the eighth and trailing 1-0, pinch hitter Brett Urabe stole second. The junior outfielder did not have to work much from there as he scored easily on two wild Cruz pitches, his only miscues of the game.
The away loss marks the Bruins first midweek defeat this season.
Compiled by Conor Cusack, Bruin Sports reporter.