UCLA d. Cal 19-2 Cal d. UCLA 10-6
By Jeff Agase
Daily Bruin Staff
BERKELEY “”mdash; The UCLA baseball team hasn’t found
itself in a position to blow out its opponents too much this
season.
But when the Bruins (14-19, 1-2 Pac-10) came across a California
team off its game at Evans Diamond Saturday, they looked like a
Steve Spurrier-coached football team pounding an early-season
creampuff.
UCLA shellacked Cal 19-2 in the second game of a three-game
series to snap a six-game losing streak and truly blow an opponent
out for the first time this season.
And when the Bruins needed a measly one run to tie
Sunday’s rubber match and put themselves in a position to win
their first series in over a month, the solitary score finally came
in the top of the ninth.
The Golden Bears (22-15, 5-4) had scored two in the bottom of
the seventh as UCLA starter Casey Janssen’s pitch count
topped 120. After a Ben Francisco popout brought the Bruins within
one out of yet another series loss, catcher Josh Arhart connected
on a 2-2 pitch and bounced the ball through the right side of the
infield to send home fellow senior Ryan Rasmussen and tie the score
at six.
Adam Berry was unable to register a hit, however, and the game
moved to the bottom of the ninth tied.
Reliever Doug Silva kept the Bears scoreless in the ninth and
the fans were treated to some free baseball.
UCLA got two runners on in the top half of the twelfth, but
freshman Wes Whisler’s long liner was caught in right center
field and Brandon Averill also flew out to right and the game
remained knotted at six.
By the time the 14th inning rolled by, the game was nearly five
hours old, Silva had retired 16 batters in a row and even
players’ parents threw up their arms and headed for their
hotels with the game’s end nowhere in sight.
Silva’s perfect streak ended at 20 batters when Brad Smith
reached base on a chopper to second. Jeff Dragicevich singled,
advancing Smith, then Ben Conley chopped one himself over Silva to
load the bases with one out.
Then came the ironic ending to a game where nobody could score.
David Weiner parked Silva’s pitch over the right field fence
for a grand slam and a 10-6 Cal win in 15 innings.
Sunday’s low-scoring high drama contrasted markedly with
Saturday’s white washing and the 19 runs the Bruins put up in
what was easily their most dominating ““ and encouraging
““ performance of the season.
For all their struggles in the first half of this often
frustrating season, and after a relatively non-descript 5-3 loss
Friday afternoon to kick off the series, the Bruins looked like
another team altogether.
It was as though each and every UCLA player had intercepted the
precise location of every Cal pitch. Eleven different Bruins
registered hits, and the team socked 19 in all.
“It gets almost comical ““ nobody can get out,”
said Berry, who blasted his 14th home run of the season in the top
of the sixth to put the Bruins ahead 11-1.
Added Berry, “We’ve been on the other side of these
kinds of games a couple of times this season, so it was good to win
this one.”
Other highlights during the slaughter included a seven-run ninth
inning when UCLA head coach Gary Adams unloaded his bench and sent
up reserves to pinch hit.
Whisler (2-1) went six strong innings, scattering seven hits
while allowing only one run.
“I felt good and I’ve stayed confident with my
pitching,” Whisler said, “but the main thing is that
everyone around me was playing great.”
The Bruins head to Pepperdine Tuesday for a single game, then
play host to Arizona State this weekend for a three-game series at
Jackie Robinson Stadium.