University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
UCLA
Washington St
Bruins Stave off Cougars in Game One
June 21, 1999 | Baseball
April 24, 1999
Sophomore rhp Chad Cislak tossed a scoreless ninth to pick up his third save of the year as the UCLA Bruins stopped the visiting Washington State Cougars 7-4 on Friday night at Jackie Robinson Stadium. The win was the fifth straight in Pac-10 action for the Bruins (22-24, 6-7 6th Pac-10), while the Cougars (18-20, 1-12 9th Pac-10) dropped their 11th straight conference outing.
Sophomores 2b Chase Utley and 1b Garrett Atkins each hit solo shots in the fourth to put the Bruins up 4-0 heading into the fifth frame. The home run was Utley's third in as many games and 11th overall, while Atkins hit his sixth on the season. The Bruins are now 6-0 when Atkins goes deep. The home runs enabled each to extend their hitting streaks to 12 games apiece.
UCLA scored two runs in each of the second, third, and fourth innings to take a commanding 6-0 lead over the Cougars. RBI singles by senior ss Jack Santora and sophomore 3b Nick Lyon, and an RBI double by sophomore 2b Charles Merricks keyed the UCLA scoring drive.
Sophomore rhp Jon Brandt picked up his seventh victory of the season in holding the opposition to one run and striking out eight after six complete innings of action.
Down 7-1, the Cougars battled back with three runs in the top of the seventh courtesy of a 2-RBI double by sophomore rf Jason Grove and a two-out RBI single by senior c Jeff Scherer. That was all the Cougars could manage however, as Bruin reliever lhp Bobby Roe struck out junior 1b Steve Curran to end the inning and afford UCLA some breathing room heading into the two innings of play.
The series continues tomorrow, Saturday, April 24 at 1:00pm at Jackie Robinson Stadium. UCLA will throw freshman phenom rhp Josh Karp (5-3, 5.20) at Cougar senior rhp Jamaal Gaines (2-3, 6.97). Karp is coming off what is perhaps the best performance of the year for the Bruin pitching staff. Against Arizona State on April 17, he carried a four-hit shutout into the ninth against the number one lineup in the country (batting average and runs per game), and had a career-high 10 K's. Tomorrow's game can be heard on UCLA's student station, KLA.
