A team looking to rejuvenate its season suffered another setback. This time, the UCLA baseball team (14-13, 3-3 Pac-10) overcame an early five-run deficit, only to fall 6-5 in 10 innings against No. 7 UC Irvine (21-5) at Jackie Robinson Stadium in the fifth game of their current 13-game home stand.
The Bruins orchestrated a gutsy come-from-behind effort but were unable to manufacture the winning run at the end of the ball game.
“It was a tough loss,” shortstop Brandon Crawford said. “But we battled back and scored some runs late. Things just didn’t go our way there in the late innings.”
UCI came into the game boasting a 2.48 team earned run average, ranking them third nationally among Division I collegiate baseball teams. It showed early in the game, as Bruin batters were unable to muster any runs against UCI starting right-hander Christian Bergman (4-0), who only gave up three singles in an effective four innings pitched. UCLA broke through in the fifth inning once Bergman exited the game on a run-producing single by freshman second baseman Niko Gallego.
Trailing by four runs in the sixth inning, UCLA cut the deficit in half with back-to-back home runs by Crawford and first baseman Casey Haerther. Second baseman Alden Carrithers completed the comeback rally with a single to center field that scored two runners and evened the score at five.
“Any loss is tough,” Gallego said. “It was good to see that we could come back and make it a game. (UCI) is a great team, and any time you can make it a game after falling back like that is impressive.”
The suddenly unranked Bruins dropped two of a three-game series against the Trojans over the weekend but were able to salvage a victory in Sunday’s finale thanks to an outstanding outing by left-hander Gavin Brooks. It looked like the Bruins might receive a similar effort from sophomore right-hander Garett Claypool (1-0), who had allowed one run and one hit in five solid innings in his start last Tuesday against San Diego State.
Claypool got off to a good start, retiring the first seven batters he faced. The eighth batter got the best of a tired Claypool, hitting a 2-2 pitch over the left field fence to give Irvine a 1-0 lead. The Anteaters would add another run on three more hits in the same inning to increase their lead to 2-0.
“Claypool was pretty good the first two innings,” coach John Savage said. “He got a little tired there in the third inning and left some balls up. Irvine is a good club and opened the game up there a bit. Our defense did a nice job of keeping us in the game but we walked too many guys. Whenever you walk eight guys, you’re going to lose.”
Junior left-hander Brendan Lafferty replaced Claypool in the fourth inning and did not fare any better, allowing three runs off a two-run triple and a sacrifice fly.
Although the team erased the five-run deficit and had opportunities to win the game, Savage said he is only interested in victories in this crucial stretch of the season.
“We’re not into morale wins now,” Savage said. “We’re not in that position. We need to play, and we need to get wins. Whenever you lose, you’re disappointed, but we did a nice job of coming back, and the team showed some character.”