There would have been joy in Mudville if Mighty Cody had been at
the bat.
With the bases loaded in the bottom of the 10th inning and
Arizona State leading by two runs, UCLA freshman Cody Decker
stepped calmly to the plate. The Bruins, on the cusp of a rally,
needed one big hit to get them back in the last game of the
three-game series. The little-used backup catcher provided.
Down a strike, Decker laced a two-run double into deep left
field, tying the game at 10-10 and putting UCLA on the brink of
victory with runners on second and third with no outs.
“This was by far the biggest hit of my college
career,” Decker said. “Of all of my five or so
hits.”
The Bruins (23-16, 7-5) would seal the 11-10 victory later in
the inning on a bases-loaded infield hit by everyday freshman
catcher Ryan Babineau. The grounder could not be fielded cleanly by
the Sun Devils’ third baseman, and the Bruins began to
celebrate the biggest victory of the John Savage era.
The Bruins took two of three from the No. 10 Sun Devils (28-14,
7-5) and have now won three straight Pac-10 series.
UCLA was able to survive shaky pitching by junior starter Tyson
Brummett (six earned runs in five innings), junior Paul Oseguera
(two earned runs in four innings) and senior Josh Roenicke (two
earned runs in one inning) thanks to great clutch hitting.
The Bruins came back from four deficits in the game.
“This was huge,” said Decker, who now has six hits,
three of which are home runs. “We beat a team that is at the
top of our league. It’s just a big, big deal.”
The Bruins would not have been in a position to win the series
on Sunday if it hadn’t been for junior starter David
Huff’s dominating pitching performance the day before.
On Saturday, with the Bruins needing a win in order to have a
shot at winning the series, Huff pitched a two-hit, one-run
complete game.
It was his second consecutive complete game, but it was a whole
different story than the six-run complete game last week against
Arizona.
“Everything was just working,” Huff said.
“When it got later in the game, I had to start thinking more
about what I was doing up there. When you get later in the game,
you can’t just throw, you have to start making
pitches.”
Huff appeared to make the adjustment just fine, as he retired 22
of the last 23 batters. The Bruins eventually won the game 5-1,
offsetting their 3-2 loss on Friday and setting up Sunday’s
classic.
“This series was huge,” UCLA coach John Savage said.
“To be two games over .500 in the conference rather than at
6-6 means a lot, considering there are only 24 games.
Sunday’s game was a marathon and a very special
win.”