WESTWOOD, Calif. - With the bases loaded and nobody out in the bottom of the tenth, sophomore cf Charles Merricks slapped a line-drive single to left, easily scoring senior c Jason Green, to give the Bruins a key 6-5 victory and a three-game sweep of the Washington State Cougars Sunday afternoon at Jackie Robinson Stadium. UCLA (24-24, 8-7 Pac-10) has now won seven straight Pac-10 games and nine of it's last 11 overall. The Bruins are back at .500 for the first time since March 16. With a three-game sweep of Arizona State last weekend, the Bruins sweep back-to-back Pac-10 conference sets for the first time since 1986, when they swept the Sun Devils and Trojans in succession.
Down 5-4 with one out in the ninth, Washington State (18-22, 1-14 Pac-10) tied the game on a pinch-hit solo home run by 1b Zach Bode. In the top of the tenth, the Cougars had runners at the corners with one out against UCLA sophomore reliever rhp Chad Cislak. After a strategy meeting on the mound between Head Coach Gary Adams and the entire UCLA infield, Cislak got lf Dusty Edler to ground into a picture-perfect 1-6-3 double play to end the inning and leave the game knotted at five apiece. Merricks' game-winning single in the bottom of the inning allowed Cislak to grab his third win in his last five appearances, and improve to 3-1 on the season.
Sophomore lf Bill Scott erased an early 1-0 deficit with a two-run home run in the bottom of the first off Cougar starter Reggie Rivard. The shot was his second of the series, as he homered in Saturday's 15-8 victory, and team-leading 17th of the year.
Sophomore 2b Chase Utley established a new career-high by hitting safely in his 14th straight game. Sophomore 1b Garrett Atkins also extended his season-high hitting streak to fourteen games. Both streaks began on March 29 at Washington.
On March 7, Scott launched a solo homer in the bottom of the tenth to lift the Bruins to an 8-7 victory over crosstown rival USC. On April 18 versus Arizona State, Utley came through with a bases-loaded grand slam to propel the Bruins to an 8-6 victory and a three-game sweep of Arizona State. Today, with an important Pac-10 sweep on the line for the second straight weekend, Merricks came through with his first collegiate game-winning hit and RBI.
The Cougars used seven pitchers to UCLA's three, with Wade Parrish giving up the game-winner, and Les McTavish getting the loss, falling to 0-3 on the season.
Next up for UCLA is a crucial nonconference showdown with #3 CS Fullerton (37-8, 19-2 Big West) on Tuesday, April 27 at 6:00pm at Jackie Robinson Stadium. The Bruins plan to throw freshman rhp Brian Strelitz (0-2, 9.14) at a Titan to be named. The Bruins are 2-9 this season in nonconference midweek games played in southern California.