May 8, 1999
WESTWOOD, Calif. -- The UCLA Bruins pounded a season-high 20 hits in their most lopsided win of the year, a 15-0 whitewash of the Beavers Saturday afternoon at Jackie Robinson Stadium. Freshman RHP Josh Karp and sophomore RHP Tyler Dersom teamed up to throw the second shutout of the year for the Bruin pitching staff, as the Beavers managed just four hits against them. The Bruins improve to 27-27 overall and move into third place in the Pac-10 standings with an 11-9 record in league play. Oregon State drops to 16-34 overall and 4-16 in conference action.
Senior SS Jack Santora set the tone early, leading off the game with a drive to right-center, his fifth of the year. Sophomore LF Bill Scott hit his team-high 20th home run of the season, with a two-run shot in the fourth. Sophomore 2B Chase Utley completed the UCLA home run hat trick with his 13th of the season, a solo jack to right to lead off the sixth inning.
Senior C Jason Green put together a career day for the Bruins by going 4-for-4 with three doubles, both career-highs. He also chipped in with two runs, and two RBI, and reached base in all five plate appearances, walking in his other turn. Coming in to today's contest, the senior from La Jolla, CA was hitting a solid .291. A perfect 4-for-4 raises his average by .015 points, putting him at .306 on the season. In addition, Green's three doubles gives him a team-high 18 on the season, including an astonishing 14 in 20 Pac-10 games.
UCLA's Josh Karp turned into another superb Pac-10 outing, shutting out the Beavers on three hits through eight innings of work, walking three and striking out seven.. Karp threw just 99 pitches before giving way to Tyler Dersom, who finished off Oregon State in a scoreless ninth. The freshman from Bothell, WA won his fourth decision in a row, improving to 7-3 on the season and 5-1 in the Pac-10. The performance was Karp's third of at least eight innings this season. And, perhaps even more impressive is the fact that they have all come against Pac-10 opponents. Karp went 8.1 IP in victories at Arizona, 3/13, and against Arizona State, 4/17.
UCLA jumped out to a 7-0 lead with four runs in the fourth, and added extra insurance with six runs in the eighth to come up with their season-high tying 15 runs. Junior OF Michael Hymes led off the fourth with a single, and was later knocked home by Utley's eighth double of the year to kick off the inning's scoring run. Singles by sophomore DH Eric Reece and sophomore 3B Nick Lyon laid the groundwork for UCLA's six-run eighth.
Reece made his first collegiate appearance at catcher in the ninth inning, providing a backstop for Dersom, the wily sidearmer.
In all, the Bruins were 20-45 (.444) against five different Beavers. UCLA knocked out Oregon State ace B.R. Cook out after four innings in which he gave up 10 hits and seven runs (six earned). Cook falls to 5-9 on the year.
Eight of nine UCLA starters recorded at least one hit, and seven collected at least two. Santora and Utley, the 1-2 hitters in the lineup, each were 3-for-6 with two runs and two RBI. Finally, sophomore 1B Garrett Atkins continued his hot hitting, as he was 2-for-5 with his 16th double of the year, and one RBI. Atkins has hit safely in 19 of the last 20 games.
The shutout by Karp and Dersom was the second of the year for the Bruin pitching staff. On January 26th at Kona, sophomores RHP Jon Brandt and LHP Ryan Carter combined on a two-hit, 5-0 blanking of the Hawaii-Hilo Vulcans.
Scott's two-run shot in the fourth, his 20th of the year, puts him in ninth-place on UCLA's all-time single-season home run list.
The Bruins and Beavers will do battle tomorrow at 1:00pm at Jackie Robinson Stadium in the final game of a three-game Pac-10 conference series. Starting pitchers for this rubber game were undetermined at time of release.