University of California, Los Angeles, Athletics
UCLA
Loyola Marymnt
Baseball Defeats Loyola Marymount
March 06, 2001 | Baseball
March 6, 2001
LOS ANGELES - UCLA defeated Loyola Marymount, 8-4, at Page Stadium on Tuesday afternoon in Los Angeles. It is LMU's (11-9) second straight loss to the 20th ranked Bruins (12-5) this season.
LMU starting pitcher Matt Gruber gave up five earned runs in 3.2 innings to earn the loss, dropping him to 1-1. The Bruins three-run fourth inning did the most damage, giving them a 5-4 lead that was all they needed. After the Lions got three on starter Bobby Roe and another one against reliever Brandon Averill, the Bruins had four relievers finish the final four innings to allow only one hit. The Lions were out hit, 13-7.
The Lions scored in the first inning on a groundout by Tommy Perez that scored David Maffei, who led the game off with an infield single to rightfield. UCLA would then take a 2-1 lead into the bottom of the third with a run in the second and the third innings.
In the third, the LMU loaded the bases with no outs on singles by C.J. Wilson and David Maffei and a walk to Billy Lockin. Wilson would score on Rob Hirsh's walk. Tommy Perez would hit a sacrifice fly to center that would score Lockin. The two runs in the third gave them their second lead of the contest at 3-2.
With one out in the third, Bruins' catcher Casey Grzecka hit a two-run homer over the left field wall to give the Bruins the lead for good. Back-to-back doubles by Josh Canales and Matt Pearl added another run to make the score 5-3.
LMU would add a run in the fourth on Billy Lockin's fielders choice that would score Mark Carroll, who reached on a single. The Bruins would then use Mike Davern, Wade Clark, Mike Kunes and Kevin Jerkens to shutout the Lions the rest of the way.
The Bruins would added insurance runs with a pair in the seventh and another in the eighth for the final scoring. Grzecka finished the game 3-for-4 with three RBI. Brian Baron extended his hitting streak to 16 games this season by going 3-for-5 with a run and an RBI. Most impressively, not a single Bruin batter struck out today.
UCLA will host Arizona in its opening Pac-10 series this weekend. Friday's game starts at 6:00 p.m and the weekend games start at 1:00 p.m.
