UCLA 3 Arizona 2 Arizona 6
UCLA 4 Arizona 9 UCLA 6
By Scott Bair
Daily Bruin Contributor
Late inning heroics, often necessitated by UCLA defensive
blunders, was the name of the game as the Bruins (13-7, 1-2 Pac-10)
kicked off the Pac-10 season against Arizona (16-11, 2-1) at Jackie
Robinson Stadium this weekend by taking one of three games.
Friday’s opener ended on a walk-off base hit by Bruin left
fielder Adam Berry. Right fielder Ben Francisco hit the line drive
double off the left field wall to set up the game-winning
score.
“I was sitting first pitch fastball and he gave me one. I
turned on it, hit it hard, and got a double out of it,”
Francisco said.
Before the late inning outburst, Bruin junior starter Josh Karp
and Arizona freshman Marc Kaiser were locked in a heated pitching
duel. Both gave up two runs over eight innings of work, but to
Karp’s credit, neither of the runs against him were
earned.
The game remained even until Berry and Francisco’s
clutch-hitting put the Bruins over the top, 3-2.
Though Friday’s come-from-behind victory was sweet, Berry
was already thinking ahead to Saturday’s contest.
“Last time we won in the ninth, we came out flat the next
day,” he said.
The Bruins did not come out flat during Saturday’s match,
instead running into a brick wall in Arizona freshman starter Sean
Rierson.
Rierson held the Bruins to two runs on seven innings of work. He
kept the Bruin bats off balance, using a wide array of pitches to
consistently remain ahead in the count.
“I had to attack the Bruin lineup, throw strikes and get
ahead in the count. After that I just kept attacking the strike
zone,” Rierson said.
While Rierson was throwing a stellar game, senior Bruin starter
Jon Brandt was matching him virtually pitch for pitch, allowing one
run through five innings.
But in the sixth the wheels came off the defensive wagon for
UCLA. Five unearned runs crossed the plate during the inning, all
of which scored on seeing-eye singles and sloppy Bruin defense.
“Jon deserved a better fate than he was handed. He had to
get five outs in one inning instead of three,” Bruin Head
Coach Gary Adams said.
The Bruins tried to stage another late inning comeback, scoring
four runs in the eighth, but there proved to be too few outs
remaining to erase the six-run Wildcat lead.
Sunday’s grudge match was identical to the other games.
The Wildcats won the game 9-6, pouncing on the many opportunities
that the sloppy Bruin defense gave them. The Bruins had four
registered errors during the game and eight over the course of the
series, as well as many other defensive miscues that were not
counted.
“Today we shot ourselves in the foot,” Adams
said.
UCLA continued Saturday’s trend of giving up extra outs.
They hurt themselves in the sixth when they gave Arizona five outs
in one inning. With one on in the sixth, Sunday starter Bobby Roe
caught a comebacker from Wildcat catcher Ken Riley and failed to
throw a strike to Josh Canales at second base for what would have
been an inning ending double play. Later a run came around to
score, cushioning the Arizona lead.
The Bruins tried to come back with a line shot over the left
field wall by Preston Griffin in the bottom of the eighth and third
baseman Randall Shelley’s identical home run in the ninth.
But the Bruin attack proved to be too little, too late for another
batch of late inning heroics to surmount the Arizona lead.