The Bruins got their hearts broken this Valentine’s Day,
ending up on the losing side of a strange 6-4 contest against the
Highlanders.
The game was knotted at four going into the top of the ninth
when things fell apart for UCLA (2-5). Senior pitcher Josh Roenicke
gave up a leadoff double and was replaced by closer Brant Rustich.
After a single put runners on first and third, a grounder to the
first baseman ended with bizarre results. Sean Carpenter, who had
come into the game as a defensive replacement, fielded the ball and
charged at the runner headed for the plate. Just before throwing
the ball to home, Carpenter tripped and fell backwards to the
ground, allowing the run to score and injuring himself in the
process.
“It was an unfortunate play,” coach John Savage
said. “I feel terrible for him. He hurt his knee on the play.
Anyone who saw it could tell it was pretty serious. It definitely
put a damper on the rest of the ninth.”
The rest of the ninth was not without intrigue, however. Soon
after Carpenter’s fall, Savage disputed the umpire’s
ruling on a pitch that was called outside of the strike zone and
was ejected from the game.
“We felt it was a strike and the catcher dropped the ball.
The umpire responded by saying, “˜The ball was on the
ground.’ I felt how he spoke was not appropriate so I said
some things back. It was unfortunate because I wanted to stay in
the game,” Savage said.
The Highlanders tacked on one more run in the inning on an RBI
single, making the score 6-4.
Freshman shortstop Brandon Crawford had a great view of the
mayhem on the field.
“It was really strange,” Crawford said. “A lot
of things went wrong but Rusty held together pretty well and only
gave up those two runs.”
The win went to Daniel Runzler (2-0) while Roenicke (0-1) was
charged with the loss.
The two teams had been close the entire game with the Bruins
battling back to tie up the game on three different occasions.
In the bottom of the sixth inning with UCLA down 3-1, junior
first baseman Tim Stewart pulled a line drive double past the third
basemen to bring home two runs and even the score at 3-3.
“He threw me a hanging change up,” Stewart said.
“I was able to see it and hit it hard.”
In the end, the Bruins ended up being one comeback short of a
victory. After the tough loss, Savage focused on the team mentality
as the main thing to work on.
“I saw things I didn’t like in the dugout,”
Savage said. “Everyone needs to be pulling for one another.
We have a lot of different combos and players need to understand
that we are going to play different people.
“We want to give them an opportunity to establish
themselves as Division I players so we can be competitive in
conference play.”