Baseball Pulls out a Win over Georgia Tech
June 21, 1999 | Women's Basketball
February 6, 1999
LOS ANGELES - For the first time this season, the bats, gloves, arms, legs, and heads of the Bruins came together to pull out a victory. UCLA (3-5) was solid in all aspects of the game as it beat the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (2-3) 12-3 in game two of a three-game set that concludes on Sunday. Bruin Head Coach Gary Adams collected his 800th career victory in twenty-four years and 1,455 games. His record at UCLA now stands at 800-648-7 (.552). Whether it was with baserunning, hitting, fielding, pitching, or just simply heads-up play, UCLA received a solid performance from everyone who saw action.
Freshman Josh Karp made his long-anticipated home debut for UCLA, picking up his first collegiate victory in a promising performance that left fans anxious to see him pitch again. Take away the two "freshman mistakes" Karp threw to Tech 1b Stephen Donaghey and lf Derik Goffena, and he pitches five innings of shutout ball that includes striking out the side in the 2nd inning. Karp was opposed by Jacket sophomore lefthander Cory Vance who was coming off a six-inning no-earned run performance against Oklahoma in the Disney Baseball Blast . Vance looked sharp against UCLA in his first six innings of work, allowing only two earned runs that came on the first of two homers by Bruin redshirt freshman Adam Berry in the second inning. In the seventh, however, he was pulled after allowing another two-run shot, this time by sophomore 2b Chase Utley, the Bruins' leading returning homerun hitter. The homerun was not only Utley's first of the year, but also the first by a Bruin other than Berry. Utley's shot ignited a seven-run seventh-inning rally that put the game away for UCLA. The inning featured six hits comprised of a lead-off bunt single by senior ss Jack Santora, Utley's homerun, a double by sophomore lf Bill Scott, a single by red-hot senior c Jason Green, Berry's second homer of the day, and a triple by freshman 3b Randall Shelley. In the last three games, Green has gone 6-for-13 with eight RBI.
In a game that was full of impressive performances by everyone on the field in a Bruin uniform, sophomore lefthander Bobby Roe's contribution stands out the most. On the heels of what was by far the worst performance of the year by the Bruin bullpen in game one of this series, Roe turned in the best outing of any Bruin reliever thus far. Roe pitched a rock-solid four innings, allowing only an infield single with two outs in the ninth and two walks, literally taking the sting out the Georgia Tech bats. Only striking out one, Roe didn't overpower the Yellow Jackets, pitching not for strikeouts but for groundouts and pop-ups. Give the Bruin defense a major assist as it put together it's first errorless game of the season, allowing Roe's style to work perfectly. In Tech's half of the seventh, Roe threw only seven pitches in a 1-2-3 inning, getting all batters to ground-out to Santora. Roe earned a well-deserved save for his work, his first on the year.
The Bruins set several season highs (and a low) in it's 12-3 win on Saturday. The offense scored a season-high 12 runs off another season-high 13 hits. The three homers (Berry (2), Utley) hit is also a UCLA season-high. Shelley's seventh inning triple was the first of the season for the Bruins, and the seven runs scored in that inning is the most in one inning so far this season. The defense, which was the main focus of the preseason, put up a goose egg in the 'E' column for the first time this season as well.
This ACC-PAC-10 confrontation between the Yellow Jackets and the Bruins concludes on Sunday, February 7 at 1pm. Sophomore lefthander Simon Young (1-0, 1.29) will take the hill for the Jackets, while sophomore rightie Jon Brandt (1-0, 3.65) will start for UCLA in the rubber game. Young will become the eighth southpaw out of a possible nine starting pitchers the Bruins have faced this year. Brandt earned his first collegiate victory in game three of the 1998 edition of the GT-UCLA series. Last year in Atlanta, Georgia Tech won the first game 16-7, but lost the next two 10-9 and 13-11.