NICOLE MILLER/Daily Bruin Jon Brandt
pitches in a game against Arizona in March. UCLA
11 Pepperdine 3
By Scott Bair
Daily Bruin Contributor
After giving up a total of 31 runs in the last three games, the
UCLA Bruins were looking for a calming influence to silence the
opposing bats.
That calming influence came from the right hand of fifth-year
senior Paul Diaz, who allowed two runs over five solid innings of
work to lead the Bruins (20-9) to an 11-3 victory over the
Pepperdine Waves (20-12) Tuesday night at Jackie Robinson
Stadium.
“We were in search of a good outing and we thought,
“˜Who better to go with than an experienced leader coming off
of a good outing who has a high level of leadership and
savvy?'” said pitching coach Gary Adcock.
The guy they found was Diaz, who allowed only one walk and two
runs in his first start of the season.
“This was a huge game for our pitching staff,” Diaz
said. “I just tried to relax, throw strikes and get ahead in
the count and have trust in my defense.”
Tuesday’s game was a deciding game for the entire pitching
staff, and they met the challenge. Three Bruin relievers combined
to throw four innings of one-run baseball, holding the normally
strong Pepperdine offense to a mere three runs.
Diaz left the game after the fifth with a 3-2 lead. While the
Bruin pitching helped hold Pepperdine’s bats at bay, the
Bruin bats were creating waves of their own.
The fourth Bruin run came in the fifth inning when designated
hitter Brian Baron increased his .509 batting average by driving
home right fielder Ben Francisco with a double to the right center
field gap. The Bruins again manufactured a run in the bottom of the
sixth, but it was in the seventh when the offensive floodgates
opened.
The heart of the order was again the source of the offensive
outburst, with Baron notching his fourth RBI of the game on a
rocket down the right field line, driving home Francisco for the
second time. Senior Adam Berry added fuel to the offensive fire
with an RBI double to left center, driving Baron home from first
base and Pepperdine reliever Greg Ramirez from the game. Berry
later came around to score on a wild pitch from new Wave pitcher
Dustin Decker.
Decker also had a tough time finding the plate in the Bruin half
of the eighth, giving up walks to shortstop Preston Griffin and
center fielder Matt Pearl. The walks proved costly to both
Pepperdine and Decker, who left a meaty pitch out over the plate
for Francisco.
Francisco ripped the ball well over the left field wall for a
home run that would have landed in the second deck of most major
league ballparks. The UCLA lead increased to 11-3.
The score remained until the end of the game as Bruin Chris
Cordeiro pitched a scoreless ninth inning to secure the
victory.
According to Adcock, whose staff allowed 10 walks to Washington
State in last weekend’s three-game set, the keys to the
Pepperdine game were to eliminate walks and unearned runs. The
Bruin pitching did just that Tuesday, giving up only two walks in
the game.
Stellar Bruin pitching, in combination with an offense that has
been on fire lately, sealed the Bruin victory over the Waves.
“It was a great team effort on both sides of the
ball,” Baron said.