Dean Espy was 4 years old the last time UCLA was the victim of a no-hitter.
In 1994, the Bruins were held hitless in a road game at Stanford, and 17 years later, the feat happened again. The “no-no” hurled by Oregon State redshirt junior Josh Osich was also the first by a Pac-10 pitcher in conference play since that fateful day in Palo Alto and helped the No. 3 Beavers (32-9, 12-3, Pac-10) to secure the 2-1 series win over the Bruins.
Espy, a junior first baseman, was the only UCLA batter to reach base safely in Saturday’s gem of a pitcher’s duel by way of a walk.
“He did a good job,” Espy said of Osich. “He pounded the zone, and we watched a lot of strikes go by.”
UCLA junior pitcher Trevor Bauer was also impressive in Saturday’s contest. He kept with his trend of throwing complete games, allowing just four hits and striking out 15, but was still tagged with the loss to fall to 8-2 on the season as a starter.
“That might have been the game of the year,” coach John Savage said. “There were 28 strikeouts between the two, and it was a one-pitch game.”
On Friday, Bauer’s teammate and fellow junior ace Gerrit Cole surrendered six runs in the fifth inning for his third loss in as many outings. The duo of Bauer and Cole ““ largely considered the best one-two pitching punch in the nation ““ had not lost consecutive games since a series loss to San Jose State in late February.
Cole has already forgotten about Friday’s outing.
“You’ve just got to look forward,” he said. “You can’t dwell on the past. You take a couple of things here and there from the last outing, but you’ve just got to look forward and put the pedal to the metal and keep working hard.”
The Bruins saved themselves from being swept Sunday by scraping across a 5-2 win under the direction of freshman pitcher Adam Plutko. Plutko, boasting a 1.79 earned run average, ran into some bad luck early in the season. Whether it was the bats or the bullpen that let him down, Plutko’s win total was not indicative of his pitching’s quality.
He threw six and one third innings and allowed just two earned runs on Sunday. Redshirt junior reliever Mitchell Beacom and freshman closer Nick Vander Tuig helped hold the lead and close the game.
The series loss for UCLA (23-16, 11-7) comes on the heels of a series loss at Stanford a week ago. After starting Pac-10 play with four straight series wins, the No. 24 Bruins seem to be streaking in the wrong direction.
“I don’t think we’ve taken a step back. … I think you’ve got to look at the bigger picture and realize that we’re still in very good position and that our own destiny is in front of us,” Savage said. “That’s all you can ask for at this point in the year.”