In its two Tuesday matchups this season, the UCLA baseball team failed to find a way to beat Cal State Fullerton.
Turns out Fridays aren’t much different.
In falling 4-3 in the opener of the best-of-three Super Regionals, the Bruins were baffled by Titans starter Noe Ramirez for seven innings and squandered a number of golden opportunities late in the ballgame.
“We had a ton of opportunities,” UCLA coach John Savage said. “We left way too many guys on base, and we struck out too many times.”
UCLA (46-14) appeared destined to tie the score in the bottom of the ninth against Fullerton’s first baseman-turned-closer Nick Ramirez. The Bruins got runners to the corners with nobody out and their third-place hitter sophomore Tyler Rahmatulla at the plate. But redshirt senior Blair Dunlap was picked off first, Rahmatulla struck out and junior pinch hitter Chris Giovinazzo grounded out to allow Fullerton (45-16) to escape with the victory.
“You saw two teams that went after each other pretty good,” Savage said. “It’s a tough loss, but we’ll bounce back tomorrow. We still have confidence in ourselves, and we’re not going to change a whole lot.”
The ninth wasn’t the only inning in which UCLA got a man to third with nobody out and failed to score. The Bruins loaded the bases in the seventh but left them all on board when two batters struck out and Fullerton shortstop Christian Colon leapt to snag a line drive off the bat of Dunlap.
UCLA managed two runs in the eighth to chase Noe Ramirez and turn a 4-1 ballgame into a one-run affair. It was the first time the Bruins scored since the first, when they got doubles from freshman Beau Amaral and Rahmatulla.
For the rest of the night, though, Noe Ramirez was lights-out. The sophomore struck out 13 in seven-plus innings of work.
“Ramirez came out throwing pretty good,” said Rahmatulla, who had two of the team’s eight hits, both doubles, but also struck out three times. “He kept us off-balance, made some really good pitches.”
The Titans found success their second time through the order against UCLA starter Gerrit Cole, getting to the sophomore for three runs in the fourth and another in the fifth.
“I didn’t jump ahead of them like I should have,” Cole said. “Good hitters are going to punish you.”
The second game of the series will take place Saturday, with Fullerton starting junior Daniel Renken and UCLA going with sophomore Trevor Bauer. Despite the early deficit, Savage was adamant that his team isn’t about to lose any confidence.
“We knew this was going to be a battle, so we’re going to have to flush this one out,” he said. “We’re disappointed, but we’re not down and we’re not out.”