Mid-week stumbles plague baseball in loss to Gauchos
Loss to UCSB is result of slump in batting, pitching
By Yoni Tamler
Daily Bruin Staff
Wednesday just isn’t UCLA baseball’s day. A spooky statistic
again haunted the No . 4 Bruins yesterday afternoon at Jackie
Robinson Stadium as they fell to UC Santa Barbara, 4-2. The loss
was the third mid-week contest in four attempts UCLA has dropped
this season.
"We gave up seven walks and that was ugly," UCLA head coach Gary
Adams said. "And we made a big error in right field, so it was a
game where we did beat ourselves."
Santa Barbara starter Seth Bean one-hit the Bruins through the
first four innings of the game before being inexplicably pulled,
pitching just long enough to earn the victory. Bean, who began his
collegiate career as a Bruin, allowed just two runners to reach
base in his abbreviated stint, boosting his record to 6-1 with the
win.
UCLA’s Ryan O’Toole (1-1) also cruised through the first four
frames, but allowed Santa Barbara to break the stalemate in the
fifth. The Gauchos sent eight runners to the plate and emerged with
three runs before Jake Meyer came into the game to silence the UCSB
lineup over the next two innings.
However, as much as slumping bats hurt UCLA, pitching control
was as much the reason for the loss.
"When you walk seven people, that’s bad," Adams said. "Two of
the walks scored, and one of the walks drove in a run."
The only scoring of the game for the Bruins came two innings
later when they rallied for a pair off reliever David Uris, the
only one of five Gaucho pitchers to give up a run on the
afternoon.
UCLA (14-7, 5-1 Six-Pac) matched their season’s second-lowest
total in both runs and hits with two and three respectively. UCSB
(15-5) won its second straight against the Bruins, building on its
best start in 12 years.
Freshman shortstop Jack Santora started his sixth straight game
for UCLA, remaining in the lineup despite the return of sophomore
Troy Glaus, who started in right field. Santora had a walk, a run
scored, and two of UCLA’s three hits, including a double down the
third-base line to spark the Bruins’ sixth-inning rally.
Chad Matoian also came off the bench to play the entire game at
second base while Brett Nista watched from the dugout.Comments to
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